Stacking Fault Induced by Gold Diffusion in Silicon

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Abstract
Gold was diffused into several silicon single crystals at 1150°C and hexagonal stacking faults were induced in some crystals by the gold diffusion. The relationship of the stacking fault formation to the gold diffusion was investigated. The stacking faults were formed in a region greater than about 100 µm from the specimen surface and increased in the inner part to a constant value greater than 300 µm. The stacking fault size and number increased with the substitutional gold concentration but only their number decreased with the decrease of the gold concentration. The number of point defects contributing to the growth of stacking faults was nearly equal to that of substitutional gold atoms diffused into silicon, and the stacking fault contained one atomic layer of point defects. The reaction between the nucleus of stacking faults and the point defects was not uniformly distributed, but was instead localized.