Electrically stimulated movement of edge dislocations in silicon in the temperature range 300–450 K

Abstract

The movement of edge dislocations and the related acoustic emission of Si (111) carrying a direct current of density 0.5−5×10⁵ A/m² in the [110] direction are studied in the temperature range T=300–450 K. It is shown that the basic mechanism of dislocation movement is the electric wind determining the magnitude of the effective charge (per atom of the dislocation line) Z _eff=0.06 (n-Si) and −0.01 (p-Si). Matching theory with experimental data has made it possible to determine the main contribution of edge dislocations to the acoustic-emission response of the silicon samples under investigation. The characteristic transition frequencies of dislocations in n-and p-Si from one metastable state into another are found to be f _max=0.1–0.5 Hz. The numerical values of the diffusion coefficient for atoms in the dislocation impurity atmosphere are estimated as 3.2×10⁻¹⁸ m²/s (n-Si) and 1.5×10⁻¹⁸ m²/s (p-Si).