Mechanisms for Interstitial-Mediated Transient Enhanced Diffusion of N-type Dopants

Abstract

AbstractAs silicon transistor dimensions scale down, transient enhanced diffusion of n-type dopants has become a major barrier toward achieving required junction depths for transistors. In this paper, we use density functional calculations to identify a pathway by which silicon interstitials can mediate As and P diffusion. We show that As-silicon interstitial and P-silicon interstitial pairs in the neutral and negative charge states diffuse via a mechanism in which the dopant is bond-centered at energy minima and threefold coordinated at the high energy saddle point during dopant migration. For both As-silicon interstitial and P-silicon interstitial pairs, we conclude that the neutral pairs will dominate under intrinsic conditions while the neutral and negatively charged pairs will both contribute under heavily doped extrinsic conditions.