Activation volume for antimony diffusion in silicon and implications for strained films

The diffusivity of Sb in Si is retarded by pressure, characterized at 860 d egrees C by an activation volume of V*=+0.07 +/- 0.02 times the Si atomic v olume. V* is close to values inferred from atomistic calculations for a vac ancy mechanism. Our results for hydrostatic pressure are used to predict th e effect of biaxial strain on Sb diffusion. The prediction matches measured behavior for Sb diffusion in biaxially strained Si and Si-Ge films. This w ork lends additional support to the predominance of the vacancy mechanism f or Sb diffusion and demonstrates the first steps in the development of a ca pability for predicting the effect of nonhydrostatic stress on diffusion. ( C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)03233-7].