No Arabic abstract
We reveal the microscopic self-diffusion process of compact tri-interstitials in silicon using a combination of molecular dynamics and nudged elastic band methods. We find that the compact tri-interstitial moves by a collective displacement, involving both translation and rotation, of five atoms in a screw-like motion along $[111]$ directions. The elucidation of this pathway demonstrates the utility of combining tight-binding molecular dynamics with textit{ab initio} density functional calculations to probe diffusion mechanisms. Using density functional theory to obtain diffusion barriers and the prefactor, we calculate a diffusion constant of $ 4 cdot 10^{-5} exp (- 0.49 {rm eV} / k_{B} T) {rm cm^2/s} $. Because of the low diffusion barrier, $I_{3}^{b}$ diffusion may be an important process under conditions such as ion implantation that creates excess interstitials, hence favoring formation of interstitial clusters.
We propose a di-interstitial model for the P6 center commonly observed in ion implanted silicon. The di-interstitial structure and transition paths between different defect orientations can explain the thermally activated transition of the P6 center from low-temperature C1h to room-temperature D2d symmetry. The activation energy for the defect reorientation determined by ab initio calculations is 0.5 eV in agreement with the experiment. Our di-interstitial model establishes a link between point defects and extended defects, di-interstitials providing the nuclei for the growth.
Sub-picosecond x-ray diffraction was used to measure (100)-oriented silicon under laser-driven shock compression, providing an unambiguous atomistic picture of silicon phase transitions. We determine the orientation relationship between the Si-V and Si-I phases, and connect it with the specific deformation mechanism. We provide the first direct evidence of the inelastic deformation of Si under laser-driven shock compression, i.e., the shear stress is relieved by the phase transition without the occurrence of defect-mediated plasticity. We also demonstrate metastability of the high-pressure Si-II phase down to ambient pressure, which could lead to the synthesis of novel functional materials.
We report a first principles systematic study of atomic, electronic, and magnetic properties of hydrogen saturated silicon nanowires (H-SiNW) which are doped by transition metal (TM) atoms placed at various interstitial sites. Our results obtained within the conventional GGA+U approach have been confirmed using an hybrid functional. In order to reveal the surface effects we examined three different possible facets of H-SiNW along [001] direction with a diameter of ~2nm. The energetics of doping and resulting electronic and magnetic properties are examined for all alternative configurations. We found that except Ti, the resulting systems have magnetic ground state with a varying magnetic moment. While H-SiNWs are initially non-magnetic semiconductor, they generally become ferromagnetic metal upon TM doping. Even they posses half-metallic behavior for specific cases. Our results suggest that H-SiNWs can be functionalized by TM impurities which would lead to new electronic and spintronic devices at nanoscale.
The magnetic and transport properties of (GaMn)As are known to be influenced by postgrowth annealing, and it is generally accepted that these modifications are due to outdiffusion of Mn interstitials. We show that the annealing-induced modifications are strongly accelerated if the treatment is carried out under As capping. This means that the modification rate is not limited by the diffusion process, but rather by the surface trapping of the diffusing species.
Self-diffusion and impurity diffusion both play crucial roles in the fabrication of semiconductor nanostructures with high surface-to-volume ratios. However, experimental studies of bulk-surface reactions of point defects in semiconductors are strongly hampered by extremely low concentrations and difficulties in the visualization of single point defects in the crystal lattice. Herein we report the first real-time experimental observation of the self-interstitial reactions on a large atomically smooth silicon surface. We show that non-equilibrium self-interstitials generated in silicon bulk during gold diffusion in the temperature range 860-1000^oC are annihilated at the (111) surface, producing the net mass flux of silicon from the bulk to the surface. The kinetics of the two-dimensional islands formed by self-interstitials are dominated by the reactions at the atomic step edges. The activation energy for the interaction of self-interstitials with the surface and energy barrier for gold penetration into the silicon bulk through the surface are estimated. These results demonstrating that surface morphology can be profoundly affected by surface-bulk reactions should have important implications for the development of nanoscale fabrication techniques.