Neutron irradiation effects on standard and oxygenated silicon diodes

Silicon diodes processed on standard and oxygenated silicon substrates by two different manufacturers have been irradiated by neutrons in a nuclear reactor and by the 9Be(d,n)10B nuclear reaction. The leakage current density (JD) increase is linear with the neutron fluence. JD and its annealing curve at 80°C do not present any sizeable dependence on substrate oxygenation and/or manufacturing process. On the contrary, standard devices from one manufacturer present the lowest acceptor introduction rate (β) for the effective substrate doping concentration (Neff), showing that the β dependence on the particular process can be important, overtaking the small substrate oxygenation effect. Finally, the average saturation value of the Neff reverse annealing is slightly lower for the oxygenated samples, pointing out a positive effect of the substrate oxygenation even for devices irradiated by neutrons.