English

Extended point defects in crystalline materials: Ge and Si

Materials Science 2015-06-11 v3 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Abstract

B diffusion measurements are used to probe the basic nature of self-interstitial 'point' defects in Ge. We find two distinct self-interstitial forms - a simple one with low entropy and a complex one with entropy ~30 k at the migration saddle point. The latter dominates diffusion at high temperature. We propose that its structure is similar to that of an amorphous pocket - we name it a 'morph'. Computational modelling suggests that morphs exist in both self-interstitial and vacancy-like forms, and are crucial for diffusion and defect dynamics in Ge, Si and probably many other crystalline solids.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1210.2902,
  title  = {Extended point defects in crystalline materials: Ge and Si},
  author = {Nick E. B. Cowern and Sergei Simdyankin and Chihak Ahn and Nick S. Bennett and Jonathan P. Goss and Jean-Michel Hartmann and Ardechir Pakfar and Silke Hamm and Jérôme Valentin and Enrico Napolitani and Davide De Salvador and Elena Bruno and Salvatore Mirabella},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1210.2902},
  year   = {2015}
}
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