Thermally stimulated current measurements applied to silver-doped silicon†

Abstract

The theory of thermally stimulated current in semiconductors is reviewed and experimental results for silicon are discussed. Slight variations in experimental conditions can result in vastly different thermally stimulated current curves. It is further demonstrated that experimental results accurate to 0.l°K are necessary to give useful results for energy level and capture cross section. By applying the technique to silver-doped silicon of known doping, it is possible to demonstrate reasonably good agreement between theory and experiment. However, it is concluded that, in general, for thermally stimulated current measurements extreme care is necessary if intorpretablo data are to be produced