Defect states of amorphous Si probed by the diffusion and solubility of Cu

The diffusivity and solubility of Cu impurities have been measured in different structural states of amorphous Si (a-Si) formed by MeV Si implantation. The 2.2-μm-thick a-Si layers were first annealed (structurally relaxed) at 500 °C and then implanted with 200 keV Cu ions, returning a 300-nm-thick surface layer to the as-implanted state. After diffusion at temperatures in the range 150–270 °C, we observe solute partitioning at a sharp phase boundary between the annealed and Cu-implanted layers, the partition coefficient being as large as 8.2±1.3. The diffusion coefficient in annealed a-Si is 2–5 times larger than in as-implanted a-Si, with activation energies of 1.39±0.15 and 1.25±0.04 eV, respectively. The data show quite strikingly the role which defects can play in the a-Si structure.