The degeneracy factor of the gold acceptor level in silicon

摘要

Several attempts have been made to derive the degeneracy factors of gold in silicon in the past, some of the estimates being quite large. It is pointed out in this paper on quite general grounds that the acceptor degeneracy factor must be close to unity. Assuming that the gold is on a substitutional site and that there are no accidental degeneracies, it is shown that it lies in the range 2/3 to 4. Furthermore, though no conclusive evidence exists, it is shown that there is reason to believe that the gold behaves as a transition metal in which case the acceptor degeneracy factor is 4.