Skip to main content

Defects in Semiconductors

  • Chapter

As with all other classes of materials, one of the primary keys (if not THE key) to engineering a semiconductor is control of defects in its structure. Defects can be divided into classes according to their dimensionality. Thus, zero (point), one (line), two (plane) and three (volume) dimensional defects occur in semiconductors and each is significant is considered in turn, although two and three-dimensional defects will be lumped together as they behave similarly. Furthermore, the behaviors of two and three-dimensional defects can be considered to be extensions of zero and one-dimensional behaviors. Therefore, we will spend more time on the latter two. In this chapter we will consider only defects in crystalline materials. Amorphous semiconductors, the ultimate in defective materials, are considered in the following chapter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References:

  1. Rockett A., Johnson D.D., Khare S.V., Tuttle B.R., “Prediction of dopant ionization energies in silicon: the importance of strain.” Phys. Rev. B, 2003; 68: 233-208-1-4.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Fair, Richard B, “Concentration profiles of diffused dopants in Silicon,” In Wang, F.F.Y., ed., Impurity Doping Processes in Silicon (North Holland, Amsterdam, 1981), chapter 7.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Van Vechten, J.A., “A simple man’s view of the thermochemistry of semiconductors” In Handbook on Semiconductors, ed. by T.S. Moss, v. 3, Materials, Properties, and Preparation ed. by S.P. Keller, North Holland, Amsterdam, 1980 (Chapter 1).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Baraff, G.A. and Schluter M., “Electronic structure, total energies, and abundances of the elementary point defects in GaAs.” Phys. Rev. Lett., 1985; 55: 1327-30.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. For one of the earliest observations, see, for example, Schockley W., and Moll J.L., Phys. Rev., 1960; 119: 1480.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Zhang, S.B.; Wei, Su-Huai; and Zunger, A.; “A phenomenological model for systematization and prediction of doping limits in II-VI and I-III-VI2 compounds.” J. Appl. Phys., 1998; 83: 3192-6.

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Rockett A., Kiely C.J., “Energetics of misfit- and threading-dislocation arrays in heteroepitaxial films.” Phys. Rev. B, 1991; 44: 1154-62.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kiely C.J., Rockett, A, Hsieh K.C., York P.K., Kalem S., Coleman J.J. and Morkoc H. “TEM Studies of InAs/GaAs heterostructures grown by MOCVD and MBE techniques.” Unpublished.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Peach M., Koehler J.S., “The forces exerted on dislocations and the stress fields produced by them.” Phys. Rev. 1950; 80: 436-9.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Johnson H.T. and Freund L.B., “Mechanics of coherent and dislocated island morphologies in strained epitaxial material systems.” J. Appl. Phys. 1997; 81: 6081-90.

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. R. Hull, private communication. The reader is referred to the many excellent works by Hull and collaborators that describe the results of these observations. As an example of such work, see Hull R., and Bean J.C., “New insights into the microscopic motion of dislocations in covalently bonded semiconductors by in-situ transmission electron microscope observations of misfit dislocations in strained epitaxial layers.” Phys. Statu. Solidi A, 1993; 138: 533-46.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Beanland, R.; Kiely, C.J.; and Pond, R.C.; “Dislocations in heteroepitaxial films”, in Handbook on Semiconductors, ed. T.S. Moss, Vol. 3A, Materials, Properties, and Preparation, ed. S. Mahajan, North Holland, Amsterdam, 1994, Chapter 15.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Himpsel F.J., “Electronic structure of semiconductor surfaces and interfaces.” Surface Science, 1994; 299/300: 525-540, and references therein.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Harris, Gary L., Properties of Silicon Carbide, London: INSPEC, Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Feng, Zhe Chuan and Zhao, Jian H., Silicon Carbide: Materials, Processing and Devices, v. 20 in the series Optoelectronic Properties of Semiconductors and Superlattice, ed. by Manasreh, M.O., New York: Taylor and Francis, 2004, various sections.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Casady, J.B.; Agarwal, A.K.; Seshadri, S.; Siergiej, R.R.; Rowland, L.B.; Macmillan, M.F.; Sheridan, D.C.; Sanger, P.A.; and Brandt, C.D.; “4H-SiC power devices for use in power electronic motor control”, Solid-state Electronics, 1998; 42: 2165-76.

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Cree materials catalog, retrieved from www.cree.com, February 2007.

  18. See, for example, Persson, P.O.A.; Skorupa, W.; Panknin, D.; Kuznetsov, A.; Hallen, A.; Hultman, L., “Structural defects in ion implanted 4H-SiC epilayers”, Materials Research Society Symposium - Proceedings: 2001; 640: H6.2.1-H6.2.5.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

(2008). Defects in Semiconductors. In: The Materials Science of Semiconductors. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-68650-9_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics