Dynamics of iron-acceptor-pair formation in co-doped silicon

Abstract

The pairing dynamics of interstitial iron and dopants in silicon co-doped with phosphorous and several acceptor types are presented. The classical picture of iron-acceptor pairing dynamics is expanded to include the thermalization of iron between different dopants. The thermalization is quantitatively described using Boltzmann statistics and different iron-acceptor binding energies. The proper understanding of the pairing dynamics of iron in co-doped silicon will provide additional information on the electronic properties of iron-acceptor pairs and may become an analytical method to quantify and differentiate acceptors in co-doped silicon.