Bismuth-related defects in n-type silicon irradiated with protons: A comparison to similar defects formed under electron irradiation

Electrical properties of defects produced in strongly bismuth-doped silicon by 15 MeV protons are investigated in detail. Electrical measurements on irradiated samples by means of the van der Pauw technique are conducted over a wide temperature range of 20–300 K to furnish information on radiation-produced complexes. It is shown that the properties of the dominant bismuth-related defects are the same as earlier found in the electron-irradiated material. These complexes are tentatively identified as bismuth–vacancy pairs being deep donors. Their atomic configuration appears to be radically different from what is known about similar vacancy-related defects with other group-V impurities. These bismuth-related pairs are stable up to T ≈ 300 °C. Some special features of defect formation and annealing processes of radiation defects in bismuth-doped silicon subjected to electron and proton irradiation are discussed. This information may be of advantage in modeling impurity-related complexes containing oversized impurity atoms in silicon.