Boron diffusion across silicon–silicon germanium boundaries

Abstract

Most boron diffusion studies in Si–Ge have been made in regions of uniform germanium content. In this paper diffusion is observed from a boron-doped epitaxial silicon layer across surrounding Si–Ge layers. Pileup of boron in the Si–Ge layers shows that the activity coefficient for boron in Si–Ge is lower than that for pure silicon. A simple pairing model for Si–B interaction fitted the pileup quite well, with the same equilibrium constant applying to both Si0.9Ge0.1 and Si0.97Ge0.03 layers. The effect of this was simply to immobilize a significant fraction of the boron while retaining its acceptor qualities, the ratio of immobile boron to normal substitutional boron being proportional to the germanium content. Quasielectric field effects at the Si–SiGe interface have a strong effect on the results obtained.