DYNAMICAL RECOVERY, DISLOCATION MOBILITY, AND DIFFUSION IN UNDOPED SEMICONDUCTORS

Two characteristic stages of the stress-strain curve of undoped elemen tal and compound semiconductors are correlated: the lower Yield point and the first stage of dynamical recovery (stage III). While the forme r is assumed to be governed by the stress and temperature dependence o f the dislocation mobility, the latter has been shown to be dominated by diffusion-controlled climb. Both mechanisms are thermally activated with a well-defined activation energy. The correlation manifests itse lf in the fact that the ratio of these activation energies is practica lly the same for all semiconductors investigated so far. This, eventua lly, indicates that a diffusional step is probably involved in the ele mentary process underlying the dislocation motion.