In this paper we highlight the existence of tensile stress in heavily arsenic-doped epitaxial silicon ͑Si:As͒ prepared by low pressure chemical vapor deposition. Despite the large size of As atoms compared to Si ones, we demonstrate with x-ray diffraction and convergent electron beam diffraction that the heavily doped epitaxial layers show a tetragonal lattice with a reduced out of plane parameter. Using positron annihilation spectroscopy, we highlight the formation of arsenic-vacancies defects during the growth. We show that the tensile strain is related to this type of defects involving inactive As atoms and not to the As active concentration.

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In this paper, positron annihilation spectroscopy in Doppler broadening mode is used to show that inactive As and P atoms causing tensile strain in heavily doped Si epilayers are linked to vacancy‐type defects. In the case of As doping, a clear increase in the average number of impurity atoms per monovacancy is observed as As concentration is increased. The effect of high temperature spike annealing on heavily As doped Si epilayers is also investigated and the vacancy‐impurity complexes are shown to be very stable in most samples. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)