Isothermal deep-level transient spectroscopy study of metastable defects in hydrogen-implanted n-type silicon

Isothermal deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) with a single pulse has been used to study the transformation behavior of a metastable defect labeled EM1 (Ec−0.29 eV) which is observed in n-type silicon implanted with hydrogen ions at 88 K and subsequently heated to room temperature. It is found that EM1 shows a decrease in isothermal DLTS peak height with filling pulse duration time in the range from 1 ms to 1000 s. Isothermal DLTS allows us to detect another metastable defect labeled EM2 (Ec−0.41 eV) as well as EM1 at the same temperature and reveals a corresponding increase in EM2 peak height with filling time. This indicates that EM1 filled with electrons is transformed into EM2 during application of filling pulse.