Control of defect concentrations within a semiconductor through adsorption.
The technologically useful properties of a crystalline solid depend upon the concentration of defects it contains. Here we show that defect concentrations as deep as 0.5 microm within a semiconductor can be profoundly influenced by gas adsorption. Self-diffusion rates within silicon show that nitrogen atoms adsorbed at less than 1% of a monolayer lead to defect concentrations that vary controllably over several orders of magnitude. The results show that previous measurements of diffusion and defect thermodynamics in semiconductors may have suffered from neglect of adsorption effects.
Seebauer
Edmund G
EG
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. eseebaue@uiuc.edu
Dev
Kapil
K
Jung
Michael Y L
MY
Vaidyanathan
Ramakrishnan
R
Kwok
Charlotte T M
CT
Ager
Joel W
JW
Haller
Eugene E
EE
Braatz
Richard D
RD