Comparative Analysis of Process of Diffusion of Interstitial Oxygen Atoms and Interstitial Hydrogen Molecules in Silicon and Germanium Crystals: Quantumchemical Simulation

Abstract

AbstractA theoretical modeling and comparative analysis of the process of diffusion of the interstitial oxygen atoms and interstitial hydrogen molecules (H2) in silicon and germanium crystals at normal and hydrostatic pressure (HP) have been performed. The process of diffusion of particle with a strong interaction with a crystal lattice (interstitial oxygen atom) is a cooperative process. Three nearest Si (Ge) atoms of crystal lattice are involved in an elementary oxygen jump from a bond-center site to another bond-center site along a path in the (110) plane. It is precisely their optimum position (corresponding to a local minimum of the crystal total energy) determines the value of the diffusion parameters of an interstitial oxygen atom in silicon and germanium crystals. In a sense, the diffusion process may be considered as a diffusion process of qwasiparticle – (Oi+3Si). In the case of a particle weakly interacting with a crystal lattice (interstitial hydrogen molecules) we come up against the opposite case – the diffusion of H2 is not a cooperative process. The calculated values of the activation energy and pre-exponential factor for an interstitial oxygen atom δE(Si) = 2.59 eV, δE(Ge) = 2.05 eV, D0 (Si)= 0.28 cm2 s−1, D0 (Ge)= 0.39 cm2 s−1 and interstitial hydrogen molecule δE(Si) = 0.79 – 0.83 eV, δE(Ge) = 0.58 – 0.62 eV D0 (Si)= 7.4 10−4 cm2 s−1, D0 (Ge)= 6.510−4 cm2 s−1 are in an excellent agreement with experimental ones and for the first time describe perfectly an experimental temperature dependence of an interstitial oxygen atom and hydrogen molecules diffusion constant in Si crystals.