Radiation-induced carbon-related defects in p-type silicon

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Abstract
The production and removal of carbon‐related defects have been investigated in 1‐MeV electron‐irradiated boron‐doped silicon solar cells using deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). In Czochralski (CZ) material, the interstitial carbon defect (hole trap at Ev+0.27 eV), CI, decays by thermal and charge injection processes. We find that irradiation by MeV electrons creates CI while simultaneously removing it through the minority‐carrier injection process. Removal of CI correlates with significant growth in the density of a complex reportedly consisting of carbon and oxygen (hole trap at Ev+0.38 eV). Thermal annealing produces a different DLTS signal than does minority‐carrier injection indicating that the carbon and oxygen complex (C+O) is at least two species. The effective cross section for minority‐carrier‐induced annealing of CI is found to be 2×10−18 cm2 in these samples.