Observation and electronic characterization of two E' center charge traps in conventionally processed thermal SiO₂ on Si

We demonstrate that at least two varieties of E' defect precursors exist in a wide variety of conventionally processed thermal SiO₂ thin films. We provisionally label the defects EP and E^'_γp. We find that EP defect capture cross sections exceed the corresponding E ^'_γp values by an order of magnitude, that EP centers are distributed far more broadly throughout the oxides than are the E ^'_γp defects, and that the EP resonance, unlike the E^'_γp resonance is not stable at room temperature.