Mechanism of the configurational change of metastable defects in silicon.

From a detailed study of two different deffects in silicon, excitonic Auger capture is shown to be an important mechanism of the configurational change of metastable defects. A free exciton interacts with the defect and recombines, transferring its energy to an electron, which will be emitted high up into the conduction band. This hot Auger electron will quickly reach the bottom of the conduction band. The liberated energy may excite the deffect above the barrier between the two configurations