Neutron irradiation effects on standard and oxygenated silicon diodes

Silicon diodes processed on standard and oxygenated silicon substrates by two different manufacturers have been irradiated by neutrons in a nuclear reactor and by the ⁹Be(d,n)¹⁰B nuclear reaction. The leakage current density (J_D) increase is linear with the neutron fluence. J_D and its annealing curve at 80°C do not present any sizeable dependence on substrate oxygenation and/or manufacturing process. On the contrary, standard devices from one manufacturer present the lowest acceptor introduction rate (β) for the effective substrate doping concentration (N_eff), showing that the β dependence on the particular process can be important, overtaking the small substrate oxygenation effect. Finally, the average saturation value of the N_eff reverse annealing is slightly lower for the oxygenated samples, pointing out a positive effect of the substrate oxygenation even for devices irradiated by neutrons.