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Effects of irradiation-induced defects in germanium

Dissertation (MSc (Physics))--University of Pretoria, 2023.

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Other Authors: Diale, Mmantsae
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Diale, Mmantsae
author_browse Diale, Mmantsae
author_facet Diale, Mmantsae
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc (Physics))--University of Pretoria, 2023.
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:03.959Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/94906 Effects of irradiation-induced defects in germanium Diale, Mmantsae U20791152@tuks.co.za Auret, F.D. (Francois Danie) Thaba, Cambel Rashia UCTD Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy Alpha Particles irradiation Defects Germanium Laplace Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-07 SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-09 Dissertation (MSc (Physics))--University of Pretoria, 2023. In this study, we investigated the electrical characteristics of defects in germanium produced by alpha particle radiation using conventional deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace deep-level transient spectroscopy (L-DLTS). Resistive deposition was used to fabricate palladium (Pd) and silver-gold (Ag/Au) Schottky contacts. I-V and C-V measurements were used to determine the suitability of the device by calculating the ideality factor (n) and carrier concentration (Nd). The Pd/n-Ge Schottky diodes were of high quality with ideality factor n = 1.159 before irradiation. After irradiation, ideality factor increased to n = 1.383, showing that exposing the device to irradiation, Schottky diodes of the device degraded. The carrier concentration of the devices from the C-V graphs, where the plot representing the samples before irradiation, was observed to be steeper compared to the plot before irradiation, indicating a decrease in free carrier density from 1.52×1016 cm-3 for an unirradiated sample to a 6.37×1015 cm-3 irradiated sample. A DLTS spectrum of the unirradiated germanium did not show any electrically active defects in detectable concentrations. After irradiation, DLTS spectrum illustrated the presence of several defects: E07+04, E10, E16+17, E23+25, and E37 (E+Eʹ). Peaks E and E’ were separated at 185 K by L-DLTS using manual regularization parameters, allowing the inversion routine to take into consideration the possibility of two or more closely spaced peaks. Conventional DLTS spectrum were also recorded for different pulse widths, and the peak height was reduced with a shorter pulse width, indicating that partial trap recharge was hardly observed for defects with pulse widths of 100 ns and 1 µs. The peak height started intensifying from 10 µs to 1 ms, which is a longer pulse width until it reaches saturation, meaning that all traps were now filled. The activation energies for all observed defects were calculated from the Arrhenius plot. Defects E25, E23, E10, E0.07, and E0.04 were observed after irradiation, but they were not all fully characterized. AuAg/Ge samples measurements illustrated the presence of 6 peaks after irradiation, which revealed an additional peak with an activation energy of 0.21 eV, defect E21 when compared to Pd/Ge samples. The electrical properties of E and E’ defects in germanium (Ge) introduced by alpha particle radiation were studied using high-resolution Laplace deep-level transient spectroscopy (L-DLTS). From the Arrhenius plot, it was observed that the E-centre consists of two components with similar DLTS signatures, but they have different properties, given that they have different activation energies of Et 0.375 eV and 0.370 eV. Electric field dependence of the E defect was measured at different temperatures to distinguish between Poole-Frenkel and phonon-assisted tunnelling, it was observed that the emission of carriers was described by phonon-assisted tunnelling for all measurements at different temperatures. The defect's depth profile measurements for the E-centre showed that as we probe deeper into the bulk of the semiconductor, the concentration of the E-centre defect decreases. The DLTS amplitude of the combined E and E' defects increased as the filling pulse width increased from a few microseconds to a millisecond. However, the DLTS amplitude of E was observed to be 4 times bigger than the DLTS amplitude of E' and both defects are structurally different Physics MSc (Physics) Restricted Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences 2024-02-23T09:38:48Z 2024-02-23T09:38:48Z 2024-04 2023 Dissertation * A2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94906 10.25403/UPresearchdata.25265956 en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy
Alpha Particles irradiation
Defects
Germanium
Laplace Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-07
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-09
Effects of irradiation-induced defects in germanium
title Effects of irradiation-induced defects in germanium
title_full Effects of irradiation-induced defects in germanium
title_fullStr Effects of irradiation-induced defects in germanium
title_full_unstemmed Effects of irradiation-induced defects in germanium
title_short Effects of irradiation-induced defects in germanium
title_sort effects of irradiation induced defects in germanium
topic UCTD
Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy
Alpha Particles irradiation
Defects
Germanium
Laplace Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-07
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-09
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94906