Vacancy Formation Energy of Silicon Determined by a New Quenching Method

By applying a new quenching method, we determined the formation energy of vacancies in high-purity silicon. Specimens were heated in H2 gas at high temperatures for 1 h followed by quenching in water. By this method, vacancies are quenched in the form of complexes with hydrogen and the vacancy formation energy can be determined from the quenching temperature dependence of the intensity of the optical absorption peak due to the complexes. The vacancy formation energy of silicon was determined to be about 4.0 eV. This value is in good agreement with results of recent theoretical calculation.