A study of the ground state of acceptors in silicon from thermal transport experiments

Abstract

Thermal conductivity measurements of silicon crystals doped with Bor In have shown the presence of several phonon scattering processes. The resonant effect observed below 1 K is ascribed to the existence of a distribution of splittings N(δ) of the Γ8 ground state of the acceptor, which could be related to the presence of oxygen and carbon impurities. In two cases, the maximum of N(δ) occurs for δ max near 6 GHz, in agreement with previous ultrasonic studies.