Measurements of heavy doping parameters in processed silicon devices

Limits on the magnitude of band gap narrowing and Auger recombination in heavily phosphorous diffused silicon layers ∼10²⁰cm^-3have been measured by electron beam induced current. It is determined that the slope of the band gap narrowing versus doping must be nearly zero above 3 × 10¹⁹cm^-3to be consistent with previous data at lower doping levels. It is also shown that the low level minority carrier lifetime in these layers is consistent only with an Auger recombination coefficient CN< 0.4 × 10^-31cm⁶sec^-1.