Determination of the nonequilibrium concentration of vacancies in silicon crystals by measuring the concentration of nickel atoms at lattice sites

摘要

A method is proposed for determining the nonequilibrium concentration of vacancies and vacancy complexes in silicon crystals by measuring the concentration of electrically active nickel atoms at the sites of the silicon lattice, [Ni_S], after the diffusion of nickel at temperatures from 550 to 650°C. It is shown experimentally that, after the diffusion of nickel from the surface into silicon samples with different initial nonequilibrium concentrations of vacancy complexes, [V]_(init), formed during crystal growth, the concentration [Ni_S] in the bulk of a sample to a good degree of accuracy corresponds to the vacancy concentration [V]_(init) determined by a standard method based on the analysis of the concentration profiles of [Au_S] after the diffusion of gold from the surface. This method for determining the concentration of vacancies is much simpler than the standard method and allows one to use lower temperatures and a lower thermal budget.