Energy resolved measurements of the phonon ionization of D and A+ centers in silicon with superconducting Al tunnel junctions

Abstract

By means of phonon spectroscopy with superconducting-Al tunnel junctions as tunable phonon generators we show that the threshold energy of the phonon-induced conductivity for Si: B+ and Si: P- agrees well with far-infrared data, proving that the ionization is mainly a one-phonon process. This ionization mechanism allows a sensitive detection of very-high-frequency phonons.