title: Isotope dependence of the lifetime of the vibration of oxygen in silicon.
abstract: By simply changing the isotopes of the Si atoms that neighbor an oxygen Oi atom in crystalline silicon, the measured decay rate tau of the asymmetric-stretch vibration (nu3=1136 cm-1) of oxygen (Oi) in silicon changes by a factor of approximately 2.5. These data establish that nu3 decays by creating one nu1 symmetric-stretch, local-vibrational mode of the Si-Oi-Si structure. If the residual energy (nu3-nu1) is less than the maximum frequency num of the host lattice, as for 28Si-16O-28Si in natural silicon, then it is emitted as one lattice mode, and tau depends on the density of one-phonon states at nu3-nu1. If (nu3-nu1)>num, as for 16O in single-isotope 30Si silicon, two lattice modes are created in addition to nu1, increasing tau. Prediction of tau for a particular defect clearly requires a detailed knowledge of that defect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kohli
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: N Q
authors.initials: NQ
authors.lastname: Vinh
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Estreicher
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gregorkiewicz
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Izeddin
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Itoh