Charge carrier induced lattice strain and stress effects on As activation in Si

TL;DR

This study uses density functional theory to analyze how lattice strain and stress influence arsenic activation in silicon, revealing minimal impact of biaxial stress consistent with experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of stress effects on arsenic activation in silicon, separating electronic and ionic contributions.

Findings

Biaxial stress has minimal impact on arsenic activation.

Theoretical results align with experimental observations.

Electrons and ions contribute differently to lattice expansion.

Abstract

We studied lattice expansion coefficient due to As using density functional theory with particular attention to separating the impact of electrons and ions. Based on As deactivation mechanism under equilibrium conditions, the effect of stress on As activation is predicted. We find that biaxial stress results in minimal impact on As activation, which is consistent with experimental observations by Sugii et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 96, 261 (2004)] and Bennett et al.[J. Vac. Sci. Tech. B 26, 391 (2008)].