The long-term annealing of the cluster damage in high resistivity n-type silicon

The annealing of the cluster damage after fast neutron and high energy π⁺-pion irradiations is studied employing the deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) method. The clusters consist mainly of divacancies. However, other unidentified defects contribute to the signal of the single negative charge state of the divacancy. The unidentified defects are located in the cluster region. Strain and deformation fields are assumed to change the emission parameters of the defects in the cluster region resulting in a distribution of energy states. Simulations of the DLTS signals, which take into account an exponential density distribution of energy states, were carried out. During annealing a decay of divacancies and the other unidentified defects is observed.