The self-interstitial defect is commonly regarded as important in regulating diffusion
in silicon. A review of the literature reveals that the scientific bases for invoking the
self-interstitial defect are weak, while an alternate defect, the vacancy cluster, has been
largely ignored. One argument which has been used to establish dominance of the self-interstitial
defect over vacancies is based upon attempts to model gold diffusion.
Possible behavior of vacancies are considered, and the past analysis is found to be
inconclusive. Another argument which has been presented as evidence for presence of
silicon self-interstitials is based on observations of type "A" swirl defects. These defects
are amenable to interpretation in terms of solidification theory, without need to invoke
the interstitial point defect. Two experiments were designed to demonstrate influence
of heat treatments upon gold diffusion in electronic grade silicon crystal when the heat
treatment was performed prior to gold deposition. Results are interpreted in terms of
Ostwald ripening of vacancy clusters retained in the crystal from high temperature
processing. / Graduation date: 1996
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/34645 |
| Date | 25 July 1995 |
| Creators | Monson, Tyrus K. |
| Contributors | Van Vechten, James A. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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