Jy. Song et al., Migration of O vacancies in alpha-quartz: The effect of excitons and electron holes - art. no. 134102, PHYS REV B, 6413(13), 2001, pp. 4102
We have used density-functional theory and the nudged elastic-band method t
o calculate migration pathways and estimated the activation energy for the
diffusion of oxygen vacancies in a-quartz. While the energy barrier for the
diffusion of a neutral vacancy is very high, 4.1 eV, the binding of a trip
let-state exciton to the vacancy lowers the barrier to 1.7 eV and the attac
hment of a hole lowers the barrier to 1.9 eV, making the vacancy mobile at
commonly used annealing temperatures.