Defect centers in silicon produced by room temperature electron irradiation. I. Optical and photoconductivity studies

The results of photoconductivity measurements on high resistivity, oxygen free, electron irradiated silicon are presented. Narrow peaks, seen in photoconductivity, are shown to arise from local excitations of the defects produced. It is shown that the dominant defects produced are the divacancy and a second type of defect, possibly the K-center. The results support the view of a charge state dependent lattice distortion near the defects. The defect lattice interaction energy is estimated to be ≈60 meV.