Charge trapping in Si implanted SIMOX

The implantation and annealing processes of SIMOX fabrication may result in excess silicon atoms located in the buried oxide. These excess silicon atoms have been postulated by various researchers to be responsible for the formation of silicon clusters and associated defects in SIMOX. This work was performed to test this postulate. These defects result in a higher refractive index, an increase in the number of electron traps, and the production of traps with very large capture cross-sections. It is also known that excess silicon introduced by ion implantation creates electron traps in thermal oxides. This work supports the above postulate by implanting a large range of silicon concentrations into low defect multiple implant SIMOX and measuring the resulting electron traps by the avalanche injection technique.