Investigation of trapping levels in standard, nitrogenated and oxygenated Si p–n junctions by thermally stimulated currents

The trapping levels induced in p–n Si junctions by irradiation with 24 GeV proton were investigated using Thermally Stimulated Currents (TSC) methods in the 90–300 K temperature range. Several trapping levels, with activation energies between 0.27 and 0.57 eV, were put into evidence. The spatial distribution of the traps was investigated using different wavelengths for the light used to fill the traps. The results lead to the conclusion that the deepest trapping levels are not uniformly distributed in the volume of the sample. For the most important trapping level the average introduction rate was estimated to 0.9–1.2 cm−1. The activation energy and the capture cross-section of this trapping level seems to depend on the impurity element introduced in Si.