Supersaturating silicon with transition metals by ion implantation and pulsed laser melting

Journal Article · Sat Sep 28 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4821240· OSTI ID:22217986

Recht, Daniel; Aziz, Michael J. ^[1]; Smith, Matthew J.; Gradečak, Silvija ^[2]; Charnvanichborikarn, Supakit; Williams, James S. ^[3]; Sullivan, Joseph T.; Winkler, Mark T.; Buonassisi, Tonio ^[4]; Mathews, Jay; Warrender, Jeffrey M. ^[5]

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1. Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)
2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
3. Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT (Australia)
4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
5. Benet Laboratories, U.S. Army ARDEC, Watervliet, New York 12189 (United States)

We investigate the possibility of creating an intermediate band semiconductor by supersaturating Si with a range of transition metals (Au, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pd, Pt, W, and Zn) using ion implantation followed by pulsed laser melting (PLM). Structural characterization shows evidence of either surface segregation or cellular breakdown in all transition metals investigated, preventing the formation of high supersaturations. However, concentration-depth profiling reveals that regions of Si supersaturated with Au and Zn are formed below the regions of cellular breakdown. Fits to the concentration-depth profile are used to estimate the diffusive speeds, v{sub D,} of Au and Zn, and put lower bounds on v{sub D} of the other metals ranging from 10{sup 2} to 10{sup 4} m/s. Knowledge of v{sub D} is used to tailor the irradiation conditions and synthesize single-crystal Si supersaturated with 10{sup 19} Au/cm{sup 3} without cellular breakdown. Values of v{sub D} are compared to those for other elements in Si. Two independent thermophysical properties, the solute diffusivity at the melting temperature, D{sub s}(T{sub m}), and the equilibrium partition coefficient, k{sub e}, are shown to simultaneously affect v{sub D}. We demonstrate a correlation between v{sub D} and the ratio D{sub s}(T{sub m})/k{sub e}{sup 0.67}, which is exhibited for Group III, IV, and V solutes but not for the transition metals investigated. Nevertheless, comparison with experimental results suggests that D{sub s}(T{sub m})/k{sub e}{sup 0.67} might serve as a metric for evaluating the potential to supersaturate Si with transition metals by PLM.

• OSTI ID: 22217986
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 114, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CHROMIUM
COBALT
COPPER
DEPTH
ENERGY BEAM DEPOSITION
GOLD
ION IMPLANTATION
IRON
LASER RADIATION
MELTING
MELTING POINTS
MONOCRYSTALS
PALLADIUM
PLATINUM
PULSED IRRADIATION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SILICON
SUPERSATURATION
TUNGSTEN
ZINC