Electronic energy level of off-center substitutional nitrogen in silicon

A deep level of a paramagnetic off-center substitutional N can be determined by ESR measurements of the linewidth over a wide temperature region from 150 to 550 K, when the N center is a main defect in Si. The temperature dependence of the linewidth observed above 330 K is interpreted in terms of a kind of motional broadening. According to this model, we obtain the energy level 0.33 ± 0.02 eV below the conduction band and the electron capture cross section σt of 1.0x10-15 cm2 which are in agreement with one of levels obtained by DLTS. (author) 8 refs., 5 figs