Formation and evolution of F nanobubbles in amorphous and crystalline Si

Abstract

The formation and evolution of F-induced nanobubbles in Si was investigated. Si samples were preamorphized, implanted with F, and partially regrown by solid phase epitaxy (SPE). It is shown that nanobubbles are formed already in the amorphous side of partially regrown samples and are then incorporated in crystalline Si during SPE. The bubbles are interpreted as the result of the diffusion and coalescence of F atoms and dangling bonds already in the amorphous matrix. During high temperature annealing after SPE, F outdiffuses; correspondingly, the bubbles partially dissolve and transform from spherical- to cylinder-shaped bubbles. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics

Defect identification in semiconductors with positron annihilation: Experiment and theory

“…TEM has been used to follow the generation of larger F precipitates in solid-phase epitaxy of Si (Boninelli et al, 2006(Boninelli et al, , 2008, consistent with the predicted vacancy-fluorine complex dynamics. The boron-diffusionreducing properties of fluorine and the strong vacancyfluorine interactions extend from Si also to Si-Ge alloys (El Mubarek et al, 2005) and Ge (Jung et al, 2012).…”

Fluorine codoping in germanium to suppress donor diffusion and deactivation

“…A number of experimental [9][10][11] and theoretical [12][13][14][15][16][17] studies address the issue of doping Si with F. These provide evidence that F n V m clusters are stable in Si. In particular, simulation studies suggested that the most abundant F n V m clusters are those in which all the V dangling bonds are saturated by F. 16 Interestingly, recent experimental work 10 on F-implanted preamorphized Si determined that the predicted F n V m clusters do not exist in detectable concentrations.…”

Toward Defect Engineering Strategies to Optimize Energy and Electronic Materials

“…Density functional theory (DFT) and experimental studies consistently revealed that isovalent codoping and double donor doping in Ge do not effectively reduce the formation of dopant-vacancy clusters that can lead to deactivation [63,64]. The introduction of fluorine in Si and Ge is motivated as it is a dopant that can passivate the dangling bonds formed by the vacancies [65][66][67][68][69][70]. The key is the high electronegativity of F and via the saturation of the dangling bonds, and it essentially immobilizes the lattice vacancies.…”