We utilize a very sensitive electron spin resonance technique called spin-dependent tunneling to identify defect centers involved in the negative bias temperature instability in plasma-nitrided p-channel metal-oxide-silicon field-effect transistors. The defect's ²⁹Si hyperfine... (Read more)

The authors combine metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) gated diode measurements and very sensitive electrically detected electron spin resonance measurements to detect and identify negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) generated defect centers in fully processed HfO₂ pMOS field effect... (Read more)

An experimental demonstration of electrical detection of coherent spin motion of weakly coupled, localized electron spins in thin fullerene C₆₀ films at room temperature is presented. Pulsed electrically detected magnetic resonance experiments on vertical photocurrents through... (Read more)

In conventional Si/SiO₂-based metal oxide semiconductor devices, performance-limiting semiconductor/dielectric interface traps are localized precisely at the Si/SiO₂ boundary. The authors show that in high-quality SiC/SiO₂-based devices, this is not necessarily the... (Read more)

The authors present the results of electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) experiments on ion-implanted Si:P nanostructures at 5 K, consisting of high-dose implanted metallic leads with a square gap, in which phosphorus is implanted at a nonmetallic dose corresponding to 10¹⁷ ... (Read more)

The authors have employed deep level transient spectroscopy to investigate the defects introduced in n-type Ge during 160 keV indium (In) ion implantation. Our results show that In implantation introduces three prominent electron traps with energy levels at... (Read more)

Spin-polarized transport properties have been investigated in diluted-magnetic-semiconductor/semiconductor quantum wires. We stress the effects introduced by the structural configuration and geometric parameters as well as the external magnetic field. It is found that the symmetric quantum wire... (Read more)

Optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) experiments on magnesium-doped GaN produced by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy show a group of strong signals with large linewidths (in excess of 0.15 Tesla) obtained when monitoring photoluminescence in the region between 5000 Å and 6200 ... (Read more)

The resistivity change due to electron spin resonance (ESR) absorption is investigated in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system formed in a Si/SiGe heterostructure. Results for a specific Landau level configuration demonstrate that the primary cause of the ESR signal is a reduction of the... (Read more)

We report on the use of the LaAlO₃ (LAO) high-k dielectric as a tunnel barrier in magnetic tunnel junctions. From tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) measurements on epitaxial La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃/LAO/La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃ junctions,... (Read more)

We utilize a very sensitive electron paramagnetic resonance technique called spin-dependent recombination to observe and identify defect centers generated by modest negative bias and moderately elevated temperatures in fully processed p-channel metal-oxide-silicon field-effect transistors.... (Read more)

We utilize spin-dependent recombination (SDR) to observe deep level trap defects at or very near the interface of 6H silicon carbide and the SiO₂ gate dielectric in SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors. The SDR response is strongly correlated to SiC/SiO₂... (Read more)

Process-induced defects are a serious issue for modern sub-micron Si LSIs. To characterize such defects, two different techniques are useful: electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) and transmission electron microscope (TEM), which can detect small (point) and extended defects, respectively. We applied EDMR and TEM to the issue of defect-induced leakage currents in dynamic-random-access memory (DRAM) cells. For our DRAM samples (a 0.25- μm-rule series), although TEM showed no extended defects, EDMR successfully detected two types of point defects: V₂+O x (Si divacancy-oxygen complexes) and larger Si vacancies (at least larger than V₆). We confirmed that these defects are the source of DRAM leakage currents. The observed defects were formed by ion implantation processes, but were more thermally stable than those in bulk Si crystals. The origins of this enhanced stability are attributed to the presence of oxygen atoms and a strong mechanical strain in LSIs. To clarify the origin of the complicated strain in LSI structures, we can directly measure the local-strain distribution in DRAM samples by means of convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) using TEM, which provides us with a valuable hint for understanding the formation mechanism of process-induced defects. (Read more)

We used electrically detected magnetic resonance to study the microscopic structure of ion-implantation-induced point defects that remained in large-scale Si integrated circuits (Si LSIs). Two types of defects were detected in the source/drain (n⁺-type) region of... (Read more)

The theoretical foundations of the time domain measurement of spin-dependent charge carrier recombination by means of pulsed electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) are outlined. Pulsed EDMR is based on the transient measurement of electrical currents in semiconductors after a coherent... (Read more)

Experimental evidence is presented showing that photocurrents in silicon can be used as highly sensitive readout probes for coherent spin states of localized electrons, the prime candidates for quantum bits in various semiconductor based quantum computer concepts. Conduction electrons are subjected... (Read more)

On–off switching behaviors or two-level random telegraph signals (RTS) are measured in the low voltage (–1.40 V<V_G<–0.88 V) edge direct tunneling currents in ultrathin gate stack (10 Å oxide + 10 Å nitride) n-channel... (Read more)

Using electrical detection of electron paramagnetic resonance (EDEPR), two defect centers located at the Si (100)/SiO₂ interface and in regions several µm below the silicon surface have been observed at a low temperature. Improvements in the EDEPR measurement technique enabled the... (Read more)

We recently published a letter in which we utilized spin-dependent recombination (SDR) measurements to demonstrate that P_b1 centers, silicon dangling-bond defects at the (001) Si/SiO₂ interface, have electronic levels in the silicon band gap.¹ In their comment on our... (Read more)

We have characterized the leakage current paths of ultra-thin gate dielectrics using spin-dependent tunneling (SDT) spectroscopy. A spin-dependent current was detected in metal-oxide-semiconductor diodes with chemical-vapor-deposition SiN gate films with thickness less than 3 nm. We examined the nature of the trap sites in terms of g-value, bias-dependent signal intensity, and magnetic-field orientation dependence. The main feature of the observed spectrum is attributed to a paramagnetic Si site in the SiN films. By using a quantitative model of electron spin-polarization, we were able to estimate the ratio of trap-assisted current to the total leakage current. (Read more)

The resistance R of the 2DEG on the vicinal Si surface shows unusual behavior which is very different from that in Si (100) MOSFET's studied earlier. The low-temperature crossover from dR/dT<0 (?insulator?) to dR/dT>0 (?metal?) occurs at a low resistance of... (Read more)

Phosphorus doped n-type epitaxial diamond films have been studied by electron spin resonance (ESR) and electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR). At low electric field, the dominant defects influencing the electronic transport are carbon dangling bonds, while at higher fields the anisotropic... (Read more)

A complex magnetic resonance study (EPR, electrically detected EPR, ENDOR) of hydrogen-related radiation-induced shallow donors in silicon has been performed. Three species of this donor family (D1–D3) were observed earlier by means of infrared absorption measurements in hydrogenated... (Read more)

The electronic properties of the (001) Si/SiO₂ P_b1 defect are the subject of considerable controversy. We present spin-dependent recombination results which indicate most strongly that the P_b1 centers have levels in the Si band gap. Our... (Read more)

We report electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) measurements on planar Si pn junctions which were isolated via local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS). The investigations of the as-fabricated diodes show the presence of various defects. We observe P_b centers at... (Read more)

Under electron spin resonance conditions, changes of the capacitance of vertical field-effect transistors are observed, due to spin-dependent trapping of charge carriers by defects at the interface between the substrate and the channel region. The spectra obtained by capacitively detected magnetic... (Read more)

An optimized design for an electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) spectrometer is described. The bias and detection circuits were fabricated according to this design. The noise generated in the instrument was calculated from theory and by performing experiment. It was shown that the... (Read more)

Spin-dependent transport processes in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells at high frequencies are studied with capacitively-detected magnetic resonance (CDMR). A resonant increase of the capacitance at room temperature is found with a g-factor of 2.0055, characteristic for the spin-dependent trapping of electrons at neutral dangling bonds. It is shown that with the help of spin-dependent capacitance measurements quantitative information on the defect density in the device can be obtained, a particular advantage over conventional electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) where resonant changes of the dc conductivity are measured. (Read more)

Strained Si/Si_0.75Ge_0.25 heterostructures, grown by solid source e-beam evaporation molecular-beam epitaxy on Si(100) substrates, have been studied by electrically detected magnetic resonance. Samples with a low-temperature mobility of about 10⁵ cm²/V s... (Read more)

In p-channel enhancement MOSFETs, a spin-dependent change of the drain-gate capacitance is observed at bias voltages near accumulation. Two resonances, with g=1.9979 and g||=2.008 as well as g≈4.9 are attributed to defects induced by processing as well as to transition metal impurities. The... (Read more)

We have found two electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) signals at room temperature in forward-biased platinum (Pt)-doped (111) silicon p–n junction diodes with a linearly graded junction. The g values of the two EDMR signals are 1.991 (signal 1) and 1.978 (signal... (Read more)

The electrical detection of magnetic resonance (EDMR) measurement, a detection method for the spin-dependent recombination, was applied to characterize iron contaminated silicon samples grown by the Czochralski method. The observed signal was different than previously reported electron paramagnetic... (Read more)

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements of Si/SiO₂ systems began over 30 years ago. Most EPR studies of Si/SiO₂ systems have dealt with two families of defects: P_b centers and E centers. Several variants from each group have... (Read more)

Electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) measurements at 34 GHz were performed to obtain more information about the rate limiting transport processes in blue and green InGaN single quantum well light emitting diodes. With respect to g-factor and linewidth, two centers in both diodes... (Read more)

We report electrically-detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) and electroluminescence-detected magnetic resonance (ELDMR) results on InGaN/AlGaN single-quantum-well light emitting diodes. The dominant feature detected by either technique is a broad resonance (B13 mT) at g2.01 due to a deep... (Read more)

Compared to standard Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), EDMR has proven to be a more sensitive method in detecting paramagnetic states in semiconductors. Its application to electronic devices is particularly interesting because performance limitations in electrical transport can be correlated with... (Read more)

A spin-dependent trap-assisted tunneling current has been detected in a thin (44.5 Å) SiO₂ film. An electron paramagnetic resonance signal, obtained from the tunnel current, provides the first microscopic information regarding the identity of defects responsible for stress-induced... (Read more)

Electrical detection of electron nuclear double resonance (EDENDOR) is demonstrated using shallow P donors in silicon. The EDENDOR spectra are compared with conventional ENDOR spectra. With EDENDOR, both the ³¹P hyperfine as well as ²⁹Si superhyperfine interactions could be... (Read more)

A simple model for spin-dependent photoconductivity is presented based on rate equations for the density of spin pairs in singlet and triplet configuration. The pairs are formed by electrons localized in the conduction band tail and neutral dangling bonds (e—D°). We take into... (Read more)

We report on electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) studies in silicon pn diodes in the temperature range from 30 to 300 K. In the range from 150 to 300 K the resonance effect is, as usually observed, much larger than expected by spin polarization. From 150 K down to 30 K the spin... (Read more)

An investigation of the possibilities to measure electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) with electrical detection (EDEPR) by measuring the microwave or radio frequency-induced change of the photoconductivity of various bulk Si samples containing shallow and deep level defects is presented. It was... (Read more)

Upon illumination some structural defects in irradiated silicon can be excited into the metastable triplet S=1 states. These triplet states can be involved in the excess-carriers recombination process. This paper provides a theoretical treatment of spin-dependent recombination (SDR) via an excited... (Read more)

Electrical detection of magnetic resonance is used in a large temperature range (150–350 K) to analyze the spin-dependent recombination properties of silicon dangling bonds at the Si-SiO₂ interface (created by high-field electron injections) and of silicon dangling bond clusters in... (Read more)

A general expression is obtained for the electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) signal from semiconductors based on the electron-hole pair model. The expression is applicable for all values of the trapping, dissociation, and recombination rates of the levels involved. Measurements of the... (Read more)

We propose an improved theory of the spin dependent recombination at defects in p-n junctions. This theory accounts for the experimental observations on the Pb center at the Si-SiO2 interface. (Read more)

Hot electrons in the gate dielectric (SiO₂) of field effect transistors create defects at the Si/SiO₂ interface. Using electrically detected magnetic resonance, we have identified a major component of these interface defects as the well-known P_b0 center. We... (Read more)

Luminescent anodically etched porous silicon is studied with electron spin resonance, optically detected magnetic resonance, and spin-dependent photoconductivity. The P_b center, the silicon dangling bond at the crystalline Si/SiO₂ interface, is found to be the... (Read more)

A hyperfine structure has been observed by electrically detected magnetic resonance from a Si p–n diode. From the hyperfine splitting, and the natural abundance of the interacting I=1/2 nuclear species, the recombination center is found to be consistent with a platinum... (Read more)

Excitonic states involved in electronic transport of undoped amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) are observed using spin-dependent photoconductivity (SDPC). Upon light soaking the excitonic signal decreases with regard to the SDPC signal due to recombination via dangling bonds. It has... (Read more)

This paper presents a new model for spin-dependent recombination and generation processes based on the electrical detection of magnetic resonance in semiconductor p-n junction diodes. Based on a modified Shockley-Read recombination statistics, this model differs from those models previously proposed... (Read more)

Electrically-detected magnetic resonance from spin-dependent recombination or generation has been observed in various Si p-n junction diodes. The g-values varied widely among similar diodes of different manufacture; most differed from Si damage at g ≈ 2.0055 reported by other researchers. The... (Read more)

We report studies of spin-dependent recombination at the Si/SiO₂ interface in electron irradiated (100) and (111) p-channel metal-oxide-silicon field-effect transistors and metal-oxide-silicon wafers. Electron spin resonance transitions on the P_b center... (Read more)

By studying the random telegraph signals in the drain current of small area metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors as a function of temperature, we show that carrier capture into individual interface states takes place via a multiphonon process. We demonstrate that the interface trap... (Read more)

In state-of-the-art Si/SiO₂ wafers the concentration of paramagnetic interface states (10¹⁰ cm^–2) is almost too low to be detected by electron spin resonance (ESR). This letter describes experiments which show that the ESR signal of singly occupied dangling bond... (Read more)

The first observation of spin-dependent thermal emission from a deep gap state in a semiconductor is reported. As a result the silicon dangling-bond defects at the Si/SiO₂ interface can be directly correlated with a 0.36-eV-deep hole trap. (Read more)

The different components of thermal generation in a gate controlled diode are studied theoretically and experimentally. Expressions for the generation current in the space charge layer, the diffusion current from the quasi-neutral bulk and the surface generation current are derived for a... (Read more)

We present the results of an investigation of spin dependent recombination in (100) oriented, gate controlled Si diodes irradiated by 30 keV electrons. After irradiation, recombination at the Si---SiO2 interface is increased, and saturation of the spin resonance increases the diode forward current... (Read more)

The ESR-induced changes in the dc resistance, /||_ESR, of P-ion-implanted silicon have been observed for the first time. The transfer of absorbed Zeeman energy at liquid-He temperature has been investigated. The /||_ESR signals observed were a narrow line with a g value of... (Read more)

It is shown that, in pure silicon, the recombination time of photocreated excess carriers depends on the relative spin orientation of the carriers and of the recombination centers. This is evidenced by the observed decrease of the photoconductivity when the magnetization of the recombination centers... (Read more)

We have observed the magnetic resonance of conduction electrons in n-type indium antimonide, by the "heating" of the electron kinetic-energy temperature via the electron spins. This is the first direct evidence suggesting a contribution of spin-orbit coupling to relaxation in this system. In... (Read more)