Electron levels and luminescence of dislocation networks formed by the hydrophilic bonding of silicon wafers

Local energy levels produced by dislocations at the interface between bonded n- and p-Si wafers are studied by deep level transient spectroscopy and by a new technique for the detection of impurity luminescence, induced by the occupation of electron states upon the application of electric pulses (the pulsed trap-refilling-enhanced luminescence technique). It is established that only the shallow levels of the dislocation network, with activation energies of about 0.1 eV, are responsible for the D1 dislocation-related luminescence band in both n- and p-type samples. The occupation of deep levels has no effect on the D1-band intensity. A model of coupled neutral trapping centers for charge carriers is proposed. In this model, the difference between the energy position of the D1 band (0.8 eV) and the corresponding interlevel energy spacing (0.97 eV) is attributed to the Coulomb interaction between charge carriers trapped at the levels.