Influence of Annealing and Bulk Hydrogenation on Lifetime-Limiting Defects in Nitrogen-Doped Floating Zone Silicon

A recombination active defect is found in as-grown high-purity floating zone n-type silicon wafers containing grown-in nitrogen. In order to identify the properties of the defect, injection-dependent minority carrier lifetime measurements, secondary ion mass spectroscopy measurements, and photoluminescence lifetime imaging are performed. The lateral recombination center distribution varies greatly in a radially symmetric way, while the nitrogen concentration remains constant. The defect is shown to be deactivated through high temperature annealing and hydrogenation. We suggest that a nitrogen-intrinsic point defect complex may be responsible for the observed recombination.