Study of point- and cluster-defects in radiation-damaged silicon

Non-ionising energy loss of radiation produces point defects and defect clusters in silicon, which result in a significant degradation of sensor performance. In this contribution results from TSC (Thermally Stimulated Current) defect spectroscopy for silicon pad diodes irradiated by electrons to fluences of a few 1014 cm −2 and energies between 3.5 and 27 MeV for isochronal annealing between 80 and 280 ∘ C, are presented. A method based on SRH (Shockley–Read–Hall) statistics is introduced, which assumes that the ionisation energy of the defects in a cluster depends on the fraction of occupied traps. The difference of ionisation energy of an isolated point defect and a fully occupied cluster, ΔEa , is extracted from the TSC data. For the VO i (vacancy-oxygen interstitial) defect ΔEa=0 is found, which confirms that it is a point defect, and validates the method for point defects. For clusters made of deep acceptors the ΔEa values for different defects are determined after annealing at 80 ∘ C as a function of electron energy, and for the irradiation with 15 MeV electrons as a function of annealing temperature. For the irradiation with 3.5 MeV electrons the value ΔEa=0 is found, whereas for the electron energies of 6–27 MeV ΔEa>0 . This agrees with the expected threshold of about 5 MeV for cluster formation by electrons. The ΔEa values determined as a function of annealing temperature show that the annealing rate is different for different defects. A naive diffusion model is used to estimate the temperature dependencies of the diffusion of the defects in the clusters.