Electron-bombardment induced annealing stages in n-type germanium I

Germanium single crystals containing P, As and Sb respectively were irradiated with electrons having the energy of 1.5 MeV at 77 K. Isothermal annealing of radiation induced resistivity was studied at a number of temperatures in detail. Two normal annealing stages were observed. The earlier stage labeled as stage I appeared to have an impurity independent activation energy of 0.75 eV, while the later stage (stage II) showed an impurity dependence. Stage I might possibly arise from intrinsic defects like divacancy. Annihilation of impurity associated defects is considered to be the most likely source of the stage II defects. An additional reverse annealing stage was observed only in the case of arsenic doped crystals.