The role of vacancies and self-interstitials in impurity diffusion in silicon

Research in the areas of self diffusion and dopant diffusion in Si has focused on identifying the specific mechanisms and point defects involved. Recent approaches include observing the effects of diffusion and doping on stacking fault growth or shrinkage, enhanced/retarded diffusion of one dopant in the presence of another, and computer modeling. Very few of these studies have yielding unambiguous interpretations as a result of the indirect nature of the investigations. However, it is now widely believed that both vacancies and silicon self-interstitials play a role in diffusion processes either directly or indirectly through bimolecular reactions with each other.

Duke Scholars

Author Richard B. Fair Electrical and Computer Engineering