Formation of Thermal Vacancies in Highly As and P Doped Si

Using positron annihilation measurements we observed the formation of thermal vacancies in highly As and P doped Si. The vacancies start to form at temperatures as low as 650 K and are mainly undecorated at high temperatures. Upon cooling the vacancies form stable vacancy-impurity complexes such as V-As₃. We determine the vacancy formation energy of Ef=1.1(2) eV and the migration energy of Eₘ=1.2(1) eV in highly doped Si. By associating these values with the vacancy-impurity pair, we get an estimate of 2.8(3) eV for the formation energy of an isolated neutral monovacancy in intrinsic Si.