SURFACE RECOMBINATION VELOCITY-MEASUREMENTS AT THE SILICON-SILICON DIOXIDE INTERFACE BY MICROWAVE-DETECTED PHOTOCONDUCTANCE DECAY

This article presents measurements of the effective surface recombination velocity S(eff) at the Si-SiO2 interface of thermally oxidized p-type silicon wafers as a function of carrier injection level. The experiments cover a large range of injection levels and substrate resistivities, using the ''microwave-detected photoconductance decay'' method. A minimum in S(eff) has been observed experimentally. The experimental results for S(eff) are compared with calculations based on an extended Shockley-Read-Hall formalism which includes surface band bending effects due to oxide charges.