Electrically Detected Double Electron-Electron Resonance: Exchange Interaction of 31P Donors and Pb0 Defects at the Si/SiO2 Interface

TL;DR

This study uses EDDEER to analyze the exchange interaction between 31P donors and Pb0 defects at the Si/SiO2 interface, revealing a broad distribution of coupling strengths and corresponding distances.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of exchange coupling distribution between 31P donors and Pb0 defects at the Si/SiO2 interface using EDDEER.

Findings

Exchange coupling strengths range from 25 kHz to 3 MHz.

Coupling distances between 14 nm and 20 nm.

Broad distribution of exchange interactions observed.

Abstract

We study the coupling of Pb0 dangling bond defects at the Si/SiO2 interface and 31P donors in an epitaxial layer directly underneath using electrically detected double electron-electron resonance (EDDEER). An exponential decay of the EDDEER signal is observed, which is attributed to a broad distribution of exchange coupling strengths J/2pi from 25 kHz to 3 MHz. Comparison of the experimental data with a numerical simulation of the exchange coupling shows that this range of coupling strengths corresponds to 31P-Pb0 distances ranging from 14 nm to 20 nm.