The defects which were generated during irradiation with energetic (10eV) photons were found to trap electrons at a level which was 3.1eV below the oxide conduction band. The electron spin resonance data, and the behavior after H passivation, indicated that the optically active state could be attributed to a H-complexed O vacancy. The observed injection of electrons to these traps, from Si, suggested that the revealed defects were the possible origin of a degradation-induced electrical conduction in thin SiO2 layers.

V.V.Afanasev, A.Stesmans: Applied Physics Letters, 1997, 71[26], 3844-6