Recent experimental and theoretical investigations have confirmed that a reduction in thermal conductivity of silicon is achieved by isotopic silicon superlattices. In the present study, non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are performed to identify the isotope doping and isotope layer ordering with minimum thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the impact of isotopic intermixing at the superlattice interfaces on phonon transport is investigated. Our results reveal that the coherence of phonons in isotopic Si superlattices is prevented if interfacial mixing of isotopes is considered.

Gallium (Ga) implantation induced self-atom mixing in crystalline and amorphous germanium (Ge) is investigated utilizing isotopically controlled Ge multilayer structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The distribution of the Ga ions and the ion-beam induced depth-dependent mixing of the isotope structure was determined by means of secondary ion mass spectrometry. Whereas the distribution of Ga in the crystalline and amorphous Ge is very similar and accurately reproduced by computer simulations based on binary collision approximation (BCA), the ion-beam induced self-atom mixing is found to depend strongly on the state of the Ge structure. The experiments reveal stronger self-atom mixing in crystalline than in amorphous Ge. Atomistic simulations based on BCA reproduce the experimental results only when unphysically low Ge displacement energies are assumed. Analysis of the self-atom mixing induced by silicon implantation confirms the low displacement energy deduced within the BCA approach. This demonstrates that thermal spike mixing contributes significantly to the overall mixing of the Ge isotope structures. The disparity observed in the ion-beam mixing efficiency of crystalline and amorphous Ge indicates different dominant mixing mechanisms. We propose that self-atom mixing in crystalline Ge is mainly controlled by radiation enhanced diffusion during the early stage of mixing before the crystalline structure turns amorphous, whereas in an already amorphous state self-atom mixing is mediated by cooperative diffusion events.

The atomic mixing of matrix atoms during solid-phase epitaxy (SPE) is studied by means of isotopically enriched germanium (Ge) multilayer structures that were amorphized by Ge ion implantation up to a depth of 1.5 µm. Recrystallization of the amorphous structure is performed at temperatures between 350 • C and 450 • C. Secondary-ion-mass-spectrometry (SIMS) is used to determine the concentration-depth profiles of the Ge isotope before and after SPE. An upper limit of 0.5 nm is deduced for the displacement length of the Ge matrix atoms by the SPE process. This small displacement length is consistent with theoretical models and atomistic simulations of SPE indicating that the SPE mechanism consists of bond-switching with nearest-neighbours across the amorphous-crystalline (a/c) interface.

Experiments on self-diffusion in amorphous silicon (Si) were performed at temperatures between 460 to 600° C. The amorphous structure was prepared by Si ion implantation of single crystalline Si isotope multilayers epitaxially grown on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. The Si isotope profiles before and after annealing were determined by means of secondary ion mass spectrometry. Isothermal diffusion experiments reveal that structural relaxation does not cause any significant intermixing of the isotope interfaces whereas self-diffusion is significant before the structure recrystallizes. The temperature dependence of self-diffusion is described by an Arrhenius law with an activation enthalpy Q=(2.70±0.11)  eV and preexponential factor D_{0}=(5.5_{-3.7}^{+11.1})×10^{-2}  cm^{2} s^{-1}. Remarkably, Q equals the activation enthalpy of hydrogen diffusion in amorphous Si, the migration of bond defects determining boron diffusion, and the activation enthalpy of solid phase epitaxial recrystallization reported in the literature. This close agreement provides strong evidence that self-diffusion is mediated by local bond rearrangements rather than by the migration of extended defects as suggested by Strauß et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 025901 (2016)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.116.025901).

No abstract