Abstract:
The energy spectrum of localized hole states in amorphous silicon nitride (Si$_3$N$_4$) was determined using the method of thermally stimulated depolarization. The energy of the hole trap is 1.15 eV. The width of the spectrum of hole localized states does not exceed 10 meV, which is less than $kT$ = 26 meV at room temperature. This result indicates that the broadening of the level of localized states, due to the absence of long-range order in amorphous Si$_3$N$_4$, i.e. due to fluctuations of the Si–N interatomic distance, N–Si–N tetrahedral angle and Si–N–Si dihedral angle, is small.
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