Formation of hydrogen impurity states in silicon and insulators at low implantation energies

TL;DR

This study investigates how low-energy hydrogen-like impurity states form in silicon and insulators, revealing that their formation depends on electron availability and implantation energy, which influences material electrical properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates the dependence of hydrogen impurity state formation on implantation energy and electron availability in various materials, highlighting the role of atomic hydrogen introduction methods.

Findings

Hydrogen-like muonium formation is suppressed at low implantation energies.

The formation depends on the number of electron-hole pairs generated.

Impurity states' influence on electrical properties varies with implantation conditions.

Abstract

The formation of hydrogen-like muonium (Mu) has been studied as a function of implantation energy in intrinsic Si, thin films of condensed van der Waals gases (N2, Ne, Ar, Xe), fused and crystalline quartz and sapphire. By varying the initial energy of positive muons (mu+) between 1 and 30 keV the number of electron-hole pairs generated in the ionization track of the mu+ can be tuned between a few and several thousand. The results show the strong suppression of the formation of those Mu states that depend on the availability of excess electrons. This indicates, that the role of H-impurity states in determining electric properties of semiconductors and insulators depends on the way how atomic H is introduced into the material.