ATOMIC DIFFUSION IN SILICON: WHAT THEORY HATH WROUGHT.

Abstract

The author assesses the impact of recent theoretical developments on the many puzzles and controversies that have been debated in the last fifteen years regarding the mechanisms of atomic diffusion in silicon. It was found that the new theoretical results provide natural resolutions of many of the controversies. There exists, however, a plethora of experimental papers whose conclusions appear to be in conflict with each other and/or the new theoretical results. It is hoped that theory can now replace speculative assumptions as a guide for a comprehensive and systematic interpretation of all the available data.