The Use of Different Pulsed Electron Irradiation for the Formation of Radiation Defects in Silicon Crystals

This paper reports the formation of structural defects in the lattice of silicon ( n -Si) single crystals, as a result of irradiation by different intensities and pulses of electrons. The samples were studied by means of Hall effect measurements of electro-physical parameters (specifically the concentration of the main charge carriers) as a function of temperature and radiation dose. The role of the radiation current density (pulse height) is discussed, which gives rise to a peculiar behavior in the electrical-physical properties of n -Si. In particular, thermal processes are found not to develop, due to the ultrafast (pulse duration in the range 10 −12 –10 −13 s) nature of the incident radiation, which causes an almost “pure” energy interaction to occur between the radiation and the atoms within the crystal, and the formation of cluster defects. A scheme for the time-scale of the formation of these radiation defects is presented. From the dose and temperature dependences of the concentration of main charge carriers, the radiation defects introduction rates were determined.