Nitrogen-related deep electron traps in float zone silicon

Two deep levels (electron traps) associated with nitrogen were identified in high resistivity float zone silicon employing deep level transient spectroscopy. The levels are formed during annealing at high temperatures (≥900 °C). They exhibit activation energies of Ec −0.58 eV and Ec −0.5 eV. The electron capture cross section for the 0.58 eV level is about 5×10−14 cm2. The levels appear to be associated with complexes rather than isolated nitrogen atoms.