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NBSIR 79-1748

Detection of Phosphorus in

Epitaxial Silicon by EPR

Te-Tse Chang

Electron Devices Division

Center for Electronics and Electrical

Engineering

National Bureau of Standards

Washington, DC 20234

May 1979

Too

. 1)56

79-1748

Prepared for U.S. Army ERADCOM

Night Vision and Electro-optics Laboratory

Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060
1'j
National Bureau of Stands JUN 2 1 J97g

NBSIR 79 1748

DETECTION OF PHOSPHORUS IN

EPITAXIAL SILICON BY EPR

Te-Tse Chang

Electron Devices Division

Center for Electronics and Electrical

Engineering

National Bureau of Standards

Washington, DC 20234

May 1979

Prepared for U.S. Army ERADCOM

Night Vision and Electro-optics Laboratory

Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Juanita M. Kreps, Secretary

Jordan J. Baruch, Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS. Ernest Ambler. Director

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Abstract 1

I . I ntroduction 1

I I . Background 2

a. Unpaired Electrons in Magnetic Field 2

b. Localized Conduction Electrons in n- type Si 3

ill. Experimental Results 5

IV. Conclusion 8

V. Acknowledgement 8

V I . References 9

Di stri bution 10

iii
LIST OF FIGURES

Page

1. The Zeeman energy level diagram of an unpaired electron. The

horizontal axis is the magnetic field, the vertical axis is

the energy, both in arbitrary units 3

2. The Zeeman energy level diagram of an electron associated

with a nucleus of spin 1/2. Ms is the magnetic quantum

number of the electronic spin, M| is the magnetic quantum

number of the nuclear spin 4

3. The EPR spectrum from phosphorus doped silicon. The temperature is 4.2 K 6

4. The EPR spectrum from the epitaxial layer of indium doped

silicon. The arrows point to the peaks identified as the

contribution from phosphorus ions 7

iv
Detection of Phosphorus in Epitaxial Silicon by EPR

Te-Tse Chang

Electron Devices Division

National Bureau of Standards

Washington, DC 2023^

ABSTRACT

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy

has been used to identify phosphorus in an epitaxial

layer of silicon. The concentration of phosphorus

atoms was estimated using a ruby standard sample

(NBS SRM 2601) to establish a calibration for the

spectrometer. The concentration obtained with EPR

is in satisfactory agreement with the concentration

obtained from Hall-effect data on the same specimen.

Key Words: Electron paramagnetic resonance; epitaxial silicon; Hall-effect measurements; phosphorus

in s i 1 i con

.

I. INTRODUCTION

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has been demonstrated

to be a useful tool for identifying impurities in semiconductors and for

estimating their approximate concentration [1]. This report describes

an application of EPR to the identification of an unintentional impurity in an epitaxial layer of silicon. A 1-mil (0.025~mm) thick epitaxial layer grown by liquid phase epitaxy on a 14-mil (0.36-mm) thick

substrate of high resistivity p- type silicon was examined. The layer was grown from indium solution, but otherwise not intentionally doped.

The conductivity of this epitaxial layer was determined to be n-type.

Since the growth conditions would be expected to yield an epitaxial

layer saturated with indium and thus have p- type conductivity, an analysis of the material was required to determine the source of the observed

n- type conductivity. The two-layer Hall technique developed by Larrabee

and Thurber [2] applied to this material strongly suggested that phosphorus was responsible for the n-type conductivity. Data presented in

this report represent a search for the EPR signature of phosphorus

from this epitaxial layer. The spectroscopic EPR results confirm' that

1
the impurity giving rise to the rc-type conductivity is indeed phosphorus

as inferred from the Hall data.

II. BACKGROUND

A few aspects of EPR spectroscopy that are essential for the identification of phosphorus ions in silicon will be described briefly in

"liberal terms". For a rigorous and complete treatment of the subject,

there are excellent treatises available [ 3 ]

•

a. Unpaired Electrons in Magnetic Field.

When an unpaired electron is placed in a magnetic field, the magnetic

dipole moment of the electron will align itself either parallel or antiparallel to the magnetic field. Hence, there are two energy states

(see figure 1). The spacing between the two states is given by

hv = g3H (1

)

where h is Planck's constant, v is the transition frequency, g is the

Lande spectroscopic splitting factor, 3 is the Bohr magneton, and H is

the external magnetic field. In a transition between the two states

electromagnetic energy of frequency v will be absorbed or emitted.

Since the frequency and the external magnetic field can be measured, and

since h and 3 are universal constants, the value of g can be determined

experimentally. For free electrons, g = 2.0023, which corresponds to a

•“V transition of v = 9-5 GHz at a magnetic field of about 3420 gauss.

Conduction electrons in silicon are subject to the crystalline field

and therefore behave according to the band structure of the crystal

.

They are not free, and the g- factor is different from that of the free

electrons. The best measured value [4] is

g cE = K "875 1 0 - 00010 - (2)

This difference in g-value will shift the resonance magnetic field

about 8 gauss at a resonance frequency of 9-5 GHz.

"Gauss" is a customary unit to measure magnetic field in EPR spectroscopy. "Gauss" has the same magnitude as "Oersted" in vacuum, which is

equivalent to 10

-4 Tesla.

2
Figure 1. The Zeeman energy level diagram of an unpaired electron. The

horizontal axis is the magnetic field, the vertical axis is the energy,

both in arbitrary units.

b. Localized Conduction Electrons in n-type Si.

At low temperatures (A. 2 K or below), the conduction electrons in

silicon are bound in large orbits around the positive charged donor

ions, in a fashion analogous to hydrogen atoms. The g-factor is not

the same as that of the non- 1 oca 1 i zed conduction electrons, and there

is also a slight difference among the cases when the donors are phosphorus, arsenic, or antimony. However, these differences are small and

the shift in magnetic field is only a fraction of a gauss.

Through the Fermi contact potential [ 5 ], the localized conduction electrons will interact with the donor nuclei. The electronic energy levels

will be further split. in the case of phosphorus, because the nuclear

spin is 1/2, each energy level will be split into two as shown in

3
figure 2. During an electronic transition, the nuclear states usually

do not change. Thus two transitions are possible as indicated in

figure 2, and the selection rules AM^ = ± 1, and AM^. = 0 are obeyed.

The EPR spectrum should appear as two absorption lines.

In the case of arsenic, since the nuclear spin is 3/2, each of the

electronic levels will be split into four (21 + 1 = 4). The spectrum

should appear as four lines of equal separation and equal intensity.

For antimony, the isotropic distribution is 57.25% spin 5/2, and 42.75%

spin 7/2 [6]. The spectrum should appear as six lines and eight

Ms

+J4

Figure 2. The Zeeman energy level diagram of an electron associated

with a nucleus of spin 1/2. Ms is the magnetic quantum number of

the electronic spin, Mj is the magnetic quantum number of the nuclear

spin.

4
lines superimposed. The members of the six line group should be about

twice as intense as the members of the eight lines.

III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The EPR spectrometer is of conventional homodyne design, operated at

9-5 GHz. All the experiments were performed at a temperature of -k 2 K.

The spectrometer is able to detect the EPR absorption from a sample of

10** active spins provided the corresponding E

P R absorption line is one

gauss wide. From Hall measurements, the concentration of phosphorus

ions in the epitaxial layer was estimated to be about 10 17 cm 3

. The

specimen available for EPR experiments was about 0.25 cm 2 in area, and

the epitaxial layer was about 2.5 x 1 0

3 cm thick. The total number of

spins available tc be detected in the specimen was thus estimated to be

about 6 x 10 13

. However, since there are two phosphorus lines, and

each is about three to four gauss wide, it was necessary to operate the

spectrometer near the limit of its sensitivity and some experimental

precautions were required.

First, the spectrometer was operated using a specimen of phosphorusdoped silicon in which the total number of phosphorus ions was known to

be about 10 lp . The characteristic spectrum of electrons bound to phosphorus ions was observed as shown in figure 3. The two hyperfine lines

as discussed above are resolved; the spacing about ^0 gauss. The

weak absorptions between the two lines are due to the clustering of

phosphorus ions, that enables the orbit of the electron to enclose two or more phosphorus ions. From these observations, the range of the

resonance magnetic field and the expected pattern of the absorption

1 i nes was known

.

The specimen of the silicon epitaxial layer was then placed in the

sample cavity of the spectrometer along with a ruby standard sample [7].

The ruby SRM has a total of 1 x 10 16 Cr

3+ ions with spin 3/2. A weak

transition of Cr 3 +

(the active specie of the ruby SRM) was selected,

the intensity of which is about 0.003 of the major (1/2, - 1/2)

transition. This spectral line of the SRM is equivalent in strength

to 3 x 10 13 spins. The spectrometer could register this transition as

5
Figure 3. The EPR spectrum from phosphorus doped silicon. The

temperature is k.2 K.

6
Figure 4. The EPR spectrum from the epitaxial layer of indium doped

silicon. The arrows point to the peaks identified as the contribution

from phosphorus ions.

7
a full scale signal. Then the desired range of the magnetic field for

the phosphorus resonance was searched with a slow sweeping rate

('v 1 G/min), and a long lock-in amplifier integration time (10 s)

.

The signal from the epitaxial layer was observed under the above

conditions. The results of the two best sweeps are shown in figure 4.

The arrows point to the phosphorus signal, the intensity of which is

about one tenth of that of the selected transition of the ruby SRM.

The backgrounds are not random. They may be the contribution from

clustered phosphorus ions, non-local i zed conduction electrons, or other

donors in the layer.

IV. CONCLUSION

The presence of phosphorus ions in the epitaxial layer was confirmed

from the result of this experiment. The concentration of phosphorus

ions was estimated to be about IQ 16 cm" 3 from the intensity of the EPR

line. Since the signal was weak and the background intense, an accurate

measurement of the concentration was not possible. The lines were about

ten gauss wide, which is broader than that from the reference sample.

This may be due to the fact that the spins are residing in a thin layer, or some unknown mechanism may broaden the EPR absorption lines. It may

be possible that the contributions from some of the spins are too broad

to be observable. Because of these considerations, it is conceivable

that the estimate of the concentration could be off by an order of

magnitude, and hence the 10 16 cm

-3 value should be considered as a lower bound, in satisfactory agreement with 10 17 cm" 3 from the Hall

measurements [2].

V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Dr. Barbara E. Sumner of the Night Vision and Electro-optics Laboratory,

Ft. Belvoir, V A provided the specimen studied in this report and useful

technical discussions. Technical discussions with R. D. Larrabee and

W. R. Thurber are also gratefully acknowledged.
VI. REFERENCES

1. See for example: Alger, R. S., Electron Paramagnetic Resonance:

Techniques and Applications (Interscience, New York, NY, 1 968 )

.

2. Larrabee, R. D. and Thurber, W. R., Theory and Application of a Two-Layer Hall Technique, NBSIR 78-1553, October 1978.

3. See for example: Poole, Jr., C. P., Electron Spin Resonance,

(Interscience, New York, NY, 1967); Poole, Jr., C. P. and Farach,

H. A., The Theory of Magnetic Resonance, (Wi ley- Interscience, New

York, NY, 1972).

4. Feher, G. , Electron Spin Resonance Experiments on Donors in Silicon

I. Electronic Structure of Donors by the Electron Nuclear Double

Resonance Technique, Phys. Rev. 114 ,

1 2 1

9

- 1 244 ( 1 959)

5. Fermi, E., Uber die magnetischen Momente der Atomkerne, Z. Phys.

60, 320-333 (1930).

6. Weast, R. C., Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, pp. B- 333, B-334

(The Chemical Rubber Company, 1 890 1 Cranwood Parkway, Cleveland, OH

44128).

7- Chang, T. and Kahn, A. H. , Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Intensity

Standards: SRM 2601; Description and Use, NBS Special Publication

260-59 (U. S. Department of Commerce/National Bureau of Standards,

Washington, DC 20234, August 1978).

9
NBS-1I4A (REV. B-76)

U.S. DEPT. OF COMM. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET

1. PUBLICATION OR REPORT NO. NBSIR 79-1748

i. pleat * Accession No.

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Detection of Phosphorus in Epitaxial Silicon by EPR

5. Publication Date May 1979

7. AUTHOR(S) 8. Performing Organ. Report No. Te-Tse Chang

9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, DC 20234

11. Contract/Grant No. MERADCOM 28052

12. SPONSORING ORGANIZATION NAME AND COMPLETE ADDRESS fSfreaf, city, state, ZIP) U.S. Army ERADCOM

Night Vision and Electro-optics Laboratory

Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060

13. Type of Report & Period Covered

15. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

Conducted as part of the NBS Semiconductor Technology Program.

| | Document describes a computer program; SF-185, FIPS Software Summary, is attached.

16. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual aummary of moat significant information. If document includes a significant bibliography or

literature survey, mention it here.)

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has been used to identify

phosphorus in an epitaxial layer of silicon. The concentration of phosphorus

atoms was estimated using a ruby standard sample (NBS SRM 2601) to establish a calibration for the spectrometer. The concentration obtained with EPR is in

satisfactory agreement with the concentration obtained from Hall'-effect data on the same specimen.

17. KEY WORDS (six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only the first tetter of the first key word unless a proper name;

separated by semicolons)

Electron paramagnetic resonance; epitaxial silicon; Hall-effect measurements;

phosphorus in silicon.

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