Electrophysical properties of mesoporous silicon passivated by iron

The current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics of structures based on mesoporous silicon, obtained by electroless etching with passivation by iron, (SiMP:Fe) are investigated. It is shown that the conductivity and barriers in Al–SiMP:Fe–$p$-Si–Al heterostructures ambiguously depend on the Fe concentration. Passivation by iron changes not only the conductivity of the SiMP:Fe layer but also the character of carrier transport at low frequencies. At an iron concentration of $\sim$ 1 at% tunneling transport through barriers becomes dominant in comparison with jumps over dangling bonds. Passivation of the SiMP layer by iron stabilizes the SiMP electrical properties (which is confirmed by the values of the trap concentrations estimated from the current-voltage characteristic) of structures subjected to long-term storage. This is likely to be related to the interaction between iron ions and the silicon surface with the formation of oxides.