Spin-dependent recombination at arsenic donors in ion-implanted silicon

Spin-dependent transport processes in thin near-surface doping regions created by low energy ion implantation of arsenic in silicon are detected by two methods, spin-dependent recombination using microwave photoconductivity and electrically detected magnetic resonance monitoring the direct current through the sample. The high sensitivity of these techniques allows the observation of the magnetic resonance, in particular, of As in weak magnetic fields and at low resonance frequencies (40-1200 MHz), where high-field-forbidden transitions between the magnetic sublevels can be observed due to the mixing of electron and nuclear spin states. Several implantation-induced defects are present in the samples studied and act as spin readout partner. We explicitly demonstrate this by electrically detected electron double resonance experiments and identify a pair recombination of close pairs formed by As donors and oxygen-vacancy centers in an excited triplet state (SL1) as the dominant spin-dependent process in As-implanted Czochralski-grown Si.