Quantitative analysis of Sb donors in Si by photoluminescence due to bound exciton two-electron transition

Abstract

Bound exciton (BE) emission line from Sb donors in Si coincides spectrally with that from P donors, preventing their separation by conventional photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. In contrast, the energies of bound exciton two-electron (BE2e) transitions in which the final state is an excited impurity are strongly impurity dependent and allow clear discrimination. We demonstrate quantitative determination of Sb donors in Si using the intensity ratio of the BE2e transition to free exciton emission. Sb concentrations from 1 × 1012 to 5 × 1015 cm−3 are measured without interference from P donors, establishing BE2e PL as a practical method for Sb quantification.