Positron trapping in semiconductors

Tuned AFM-FM coupling by the formation of vacancy complex in Gd0.6Ca0.4MnO3thin film lattice

The effect ofin situoxygen and vacuum annealings on the low bandwidth manganite Gd_1-xCa_xMnO₃(GCMO) thin film withx= 0.4 was investigated. Based on the magnetic measurements, the AFM-FM coupling is suppressed by the vacuum annealing treatment via destroying the double exchange interaction and increasing the unit cell volume by converting the Mn⁴⁺to the Mn³⁺. Consequently, resistance increases significantly compared to pristine film. The results are explained by a model obtained from the positron annihilation studies, where the vacuum annealing increased the annihilation lifetime in A and B sites due to the formation of vacancy complexesV_A,B-V_O, which was not the case in the pristine sample. The positron annihilation analysis indicated that most of the open volume defects have been detected in the interface region rather than on the subsurface layer and this result is confirmed by detailed x-ray reflection analysis. On the other hand, the effect of oxygen annealing on the unit cell volume and magnetization was insignificant. This is in agreement with positron annihilation results which demonstrated that the introduction of oxygen does not change the number of cation vacancies significantly. This work demonstrates that the modification of oxygen vacancies and vacancy complexes can tune magnetic and electronic structure of the epitaxial thin films to provide new functionalities in future applications.

Identification of vacancy defect complexes in transparent semiconducting oxides ZnO, In2O3 and SnO2

Positron annihilation spectroscopy, when combined with supporting high-quality modeling of positron states and annihilation in matter, is a powerful tool for detailed defect identification of vacancy-type defects in semiconductors and oxides. Here we demonstrate that the Doppler broadening of the positron annihilation radiation is a very sensitive means for observing the oxygen environment around cation vacancies, the main open-volume defects trapping positrons in measurements made for transparent semiconducting oxides. Changes in the positron annihilation signal due to external manipulation such as irradiation and annealing can be correlated with the associated changes in the sizes of the detected vacancy clusters. Our examples for ZnO, In2O3 and SnO2 demonstrate that oxygen vacancies in oxides can be detected directly using positron annihilation spectroscopy when they are complexed with cation vacancies.

Positron annihilation spectroscopy of vacancy-related defects in CdTe:Cl and CdZnTe:Ge at different stoichiometry deviations

Positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) was used to examine the effect of defined Cd-rich and Te-rich annealing on point defects in Cl-doped CdTe and Ge-doped CdZnTe semi-insulating single crystals. The as-grown crystals contain open-volume defects connected with Cd vacancies . It was found that the Cd vacancies agglomerate into clusters coupled with Cl in CdTe:Cl, and in CdZnTe:Ge they are coupled with Ge donors. While annealing in Cd pressure reduces of the density, subsequent annealing in Te pressure restores . The CdTe:Cl contains negatively-charged shallow traps interpreted as Rydberg states of A-centres and representing the major positron trapping sites at low temperature. Positrons confined in the shallow traps exhibit lifetime, which is shorter than the CdTe bulk lifetime. Interpretation of the PAS data was successfully combined with electrical resistivity, Hall effect measurements and chemical analysis, and allowed us to determine the principal point defect densities.

Direct observation of electron capture and reemission by the divacancy via charge transient positron spectroscopy

Electron capture during forward bias and reemission at zero bias by divacancies in the depletion region of a silicon diode structure at room temperature have been studied for the first time using monoenergetic positrons. The positron response increases essentially linearly with electron current, as a result of increased positron trapping by negatively charged divacancies. The measurements indicate that ≤1% of the divacancies become negatively charged in the steady state at a forward bias of 1 V. Changes in the mean positron response when applying a square wave bias to the sample (1 V forward bias and 0 V, duty cycle 1:4, times at 0 V in the range 0.1-100  μs), were consistent with a rapid conversion of doubly to singly charged divacancies (in ∼10(1)  ns), followed by slower defilling of the singly charged divacancies with a time constant of ∼10(1)  μs. These ac measurements allow determination of the relative populations of singly and doubly charged divacancies. The results provide confirmation of consistency between the positron's response to the silicon divacancy and previously extracted capture and emission kinetics determined through charge transient measurements and assigned to the same defect. The possibility of combining these two, orthogonal techniques suggest a promising new and powerful approach to defect spectroscopy in which the structure and electrical properties of a defect may be determined in a single measurement.

Positron annihilation on defects in silicon irradiated with 15 MeV protons

Microstructure and thermal stability of the radiation defects in n-FZ-Si ([P] ≈ 7 × 10(15) cm(-3)) single crystals have been investigated. The radiation defects have been induced by irradiation with 15 MeV protons and studied by means of both the positron lifetime spectroscopy and low-temperature measurements of the Hall effect. At each step of the isochronal annealing over the temperature range ∼60-700 °C the positron lifetime has been measured for the temperature interval ∼30-300 K, and for samples-satellites the temperature dependences of the charge carriers and mobility have been determined over the range ∼4.2-300 K. It is argued that as-grown impurity centers influence the average positron lifetime by forming shallow (E(b) ≈ 0.013 eV) positron states. The radiation-induced defects were also found to trap positrons into weakly bound (E(b) ≤ 0.01 eV) states. These positron states are observed at cryogenic temperatures during the isochronal annealing up to T(anneal.) = 340 °C. The stages of annealing in the temperature intervals ∼60-180 °C and ∼180-260 °C reflect the disappearance of E-centers and divacancies, respectively. Besides these defects the positrons were found to be localized at deep donor centers hidden in the process of annealing up to the temperature T(anneal.) ≈ 300 °C. The annealing of the deep donors occurs over the temperature range ∼300-650 °C. At these centers positrons are estimated to be bound with energies E(b) ≈ 0.096 and 0.021 eV within the temperature intervals ∼200-270 K and ∼166-66 K, respectively. The positron trapping coefficient from these defects increases from ∼1.1 × 10(16) to ∼6.5 × 10(17) s(-1) over the temperature range ∼266-66 K, thus substantiating a cascade phonon-assisted positron trapping mechanism whose efficiency is described by ≈T(-3) law. It is argued that the value of activation energy of the isochronal annealing E(a) ≈ 0.74-0.59 eV is due to dissociation of the positron traps, which is accompanied by restoration of the electrical activity of the phosphorus atoms. The data suggest that the deep donors involve a phosphorus atom and at least two vacancies. Their energy levels are at least at E > E(c) - 0.24 eV in the investigated material.

Decoupling free-carriers contributions from oxygen-vacancy and cation-substitution in extrinsic conducting oxides

The intrinsic oxygen-vacancies and the extrinsic dopants are two major fundamental free-carrier sources for the extrinsic conducting oxides, such as Sn-doped In(2)O(3). Yet, the individual contributions of the above two free-carrier sources to the total carrier concentrations have never been unraveled. A carrier-concentration separation model is derived in this work, which can define the individual contributions to the total carrier concentration from the intrinsic oxygen-vacancies and the extrinsic dopants, separately. The individual contributions obtained from the present carrier-concentration separation model are verified by the two-state trapping model, photoluminescence, and positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) spectroscopy. In addition, the oxygen-vacancy formation energy of the Sn:In(2)O(3) thin film is determined to be 0.25 eV by PAL spectroscopy.

Microstructural Evolution of Radiation Induced Defects In ZnO During Isochronal Annealing

In this study we discuss the microstructural changes after electron and proton irradiation and the thermal evolution of the radiation induced defects during isochronal annealing. The nominally undoped samples were irradiated either with 3 MeV protons to a fluence of 1.2× 1018 p/cm2 or with 1 MeV electrons to a fluence of 1×1018 e/cm2. The investigation was performed with positron lifetime and Doppler-broadening measurements. The measurements were done at room temperature and in some cases down to 10 K to investigate the thermal dependence of the trapping characteristics of the positrons.

Identification of A- and B-site cation vacancy defects in perovskite oxide thin films

Cation vacancies on both sublattices (V(Ti), V(Sr)) have been identified in homoepitaxial pulsed laser deposited SrTiO3 films using high intensity variable energy positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) measurements. Film nonstoichiometry was varied by varying laser fluence. PALS showed that on increasing the fluence above the Ti/Sr∼1 value, the concentration ratio [V(Sr)]/[V(Ti)] systematically increased. Reducing the fluence into the Ti-poor region below resulted in additional vacancy cluster defect formation. Vacancy concentrations greater than ∼50  ppm were observed in all films.

Properties of optically active vacancy clusters in type IIa diamond

In this paper we report on the positron lifetime results obtained for brown and colourless natural diamond. Optical effects of the observed vacancy defects in brown, high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) treated colourless and naturally colourless type IIa diamond samples were studied by combining the positron measurement with monochromatic illumination. Brown diamond was found to contain optically active vacancy clusters (40-60 missing atoms) strongly correlated with the optical absorption spectra. The optical activity of these vacancy clusters is manifested by a photo-excitation induced change of charge from neutral to negative. The clusters gradually disappear during the HPHT treatments, and the samples treated at 2500 °C resemble colourless samples optically and show similar positron lifetimes. The results show that the brown colour originates from the vacancy clusters and that their removal by the HPHT treatment causes the loss of coloration.

Hopping transport of positrons in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Positron beam timing spectroscopy has been used to investigate positron diffusion in hydrogenated amorphous silicon between 85 and 350 K. The diffusivity is determined from both the contribution of the surface, where the positrons have a different characteristic annihilation rate, and its effect on the shape of the bulk annihilation rate distribution. We observe a single positron state with a temperature independent lifetime of 322 ps. From the temperature dependence of the positron diffusion we show that this is a localized state and present the first ever direct observation of hopping diffusion of positrons in solids. The migration enthalpy for positrons in this state is found to be 17.7(3) meV.