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Self‐diffusion in silicon – Change of a paradigm
Author(s) -
Seeger Alfred
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201147002
Subject(s) - diffusion , silicon , semiconductor , lattice diffusion coefficient , materials science , chemical physics , lattice (music) , nanotechnology , engineering physics , statistical physics , condensed matter physics , chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , effective diffusion coefficient , optoelectronics , medicine , radiology , acoustics , magnetic resonance imaging
Diffusion processes play a key role in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. For a long time the underlying mechanisms were thought to be analogous to those in metals, based on vacancies as thc dominant lattice defects in thermal equilibrium. From the mid‐sixties onwards it became clear that this picture is invalid for Si, where strongly relaxed self‐interstitials are dominant and responsible for self‐ and Group‐III‐ diffusion. Inter alia , this change of a paradigm led to novel concepts and to the quantitative explanation of the diffusion of so‐called hybrids such as Au, Pt, and Zn in Si by the so‐called kick‐out mechanism.