Electrical and structural studies of copper and nickel precipitates in a Sigma = 25 silicon bicrystal

Deep-level transient spectroscopic analysis of silicon bicrystal reveals continuous energy level distributions between minus 0.20 and minus 0.38 eV. The bicrystals contaminated with Cu or Ni reveal interface trap characteristics of quenched Cu precipitates at minus 0.54 eV. Introduction of Ni in 'copper-free' bicrystals causes a discrete energy level at minus 0.50 eV.