CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INTERACTION OF ISOVALENT GERMANIUM IMPURITIES WITH INTRINSIC DEFECTS IN SILICON

An investigation was made of the defect formation processes in n -type Si doped with isovalent germanium. This gave rise to gerManium-vacancy ([GeV]) acceptor complexes which were in one charge state. The energy levels of these complexes were located within a band approximately E(c) -0.05-0.08 eV. The [GeV] complexes were annealed in the temperature range 220-300 K and the annealing temperature decreased on increase in the germanium concentration. The positions of the energy levels and the characteristics of the annealing kinetics of these complexes were determined by the existence of germanium impurity clusters in silicon. An estimate was obtained for the average hydrostatic pressure created by clusters of germanium impurity atoms in silicon. The resultant shifts of the energy levels of [GeV] were estimated to be of the order of almost-equal-to 10 meV, in agreement with the experimental data of the present study.