Understanding ultrahigh doping: the case of boron in silicon

Energetics and carrier transport in doped Si/SiO2 quantum dots

In the present theoretical work we have considered impurities, either boron or phosphorous, located at different substitutional sites in silicon quantum dots (Si-QDs) with diameters around 1.5 nm, embedded in a SiO2 matrix. Formation energy calculations reveal that the most energetically-favored doping sites are inside the QD and at the Si/SiO2 interface for P and B impurities, respectively. Furthermore, electron and hole transport calculations show in all the cases a strong reduction of the minimum voltage threshold, and a corresponding increase of the total current in the low-voltage regime. At higher voltages, our findings indicate a significant increase of transport only for P-doped Si-QDs, while the electrical response of B-doped ones does not stray from the undoped case. These findings are of support for the employment of doped Si-QDs in a wide range of applications, such as Si-based photonics or photovoltaic solar cells.

Increasing the equilibrium solubility of dopants in semiconductor multilayers and alloys

We have theoretically studied the possibility to control the equilibrium solubility of dopants in semiconductor alloys, by strategic tuning of the alloy concentration. From the modeled cases of C(0) in Si(x)Ge(1-x), Zn(-) and Cd(-) in Ga(x)In(1-x)P it is seen that under certain conditions the dopant solubility can be orders of magnitude higher in an alloy or multilayer than in either of the elements of the alloy. This is found to be due to the solubility's strong dependence on the lattice constant for size mismatched dopants. The equilibrium doping concentration in alloys or multilayers could therefore be increased significantly. More specifically, Zn- in a Ga(x)In(1-x)P multilayer is found to have a maximum solubility for x = 0.9, which is 5 orders of magnitude larger than that of pure InP.

Atomistic mechanism of boron diffusion in silicon

B diffuses in crystalline Si by reacting with a Si self-interstitial (I) with a frequency g and so forming a fast migrating BI complex that can migrate for an average length lambda. We experimentally demonstrate that both g and lambda strongly depend on the free hole concentration p. At low p, g has a constant trend and lambda increases with p, while at high p, g has a superlinear trend and lambda decreases with p. This demonstrates that BI forms in the two regimes by interaction with neutral and double positive I, respectively, and its charge state has to change by interaction with free holes before diffusing.