Photoluminescence studies were made of SF6/O2 plasma-induced defect formation in n-type material. Ion bombardment of the surface during SF6 reactive-ion etching was shown to introduce defects that gave rise to a broad photoluminescence band in the 0.70 to 1.00eV spectral range, and to C-related C and G lines. The role which was played by O during SF6/O2 reactive-ion etching, with regard to the observed photoluminescence, was analyzed. It was suggested that contamination with O enhanced the formation of photoluminescence centers via the creation of extended defects such as O precipitates. A lattice contraction near to these extended defects was suggested to be responsible for an observed splitting of the C and G lines, as well as for a shift in the P bound exciton line after SF6/O2 reactive-ion etching.

I.A.Buyanova, A.Henry, B.Monemar, J.L.Lindström, G.S.Oehrlein: Journal of Applied Physics, 1995, 78[5], 3348-52