Effect of stress on the energy levels of the vacancy-oxygen-hydrogen complex in Si

The piezospectroscopic properties of the VOH defect in Si are found using stress Laplace deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and are compared with local density-functional calculations of (i) the acceptor level and its shift under stress, and (ii) the alignment of the neutral center under stress. The theory is able to account for two acceptor levels observed for <100>, <111>, and <110> stress even though additional splitting is expected for a defect with static C-1h symmetry. This is related to (i) a rapid reorientation of the H atom within the defect at temperatures at which the DLTS experiments are carried out, and (ii) the small effect of stress on two orientations of the defect under <110> stress. The theory is also able to give a quantitative account of the alignment of the center. The effect of stress on the reorientation barrier of the defect is also investigated. The reorientation barrier of the defect in its positive charge state is found theoretically to be very small, consistent with the lack of any splitting in the donor level under stress.