Voyles P M, Chadi D J, Citrin P H, Muller D A, Grazul J L, Northrup P A, Gossmann H-J L
Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2003 Sep 19;91(12):125505. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.125505.
Electron channeling experiments performed on individually scanned, single columns of atoms show that in highly n-type Si grown at low temperatures the primary electrically deactivating defect cannot belong to either the widely accepted class of donor-vacancy clusters or a recently proposed class of donor pairs. First-principles calculations suggest a new class of defects consisting of two dopant donor atoms near a displaced Si atom, which forms a vacancy-interstitial pair. These complexes are consistent with the present experimental results, the measured open volume of the defects, the observed electrical activity as a function of dopant concentration, and the enhanced diffusion of impurities in the presence of deactivated dopants.
