Strong compensation of n-type Ge via formation of donor–vacancy complexes

Vacancies and interstitials in semiconductors play a fundamental role in both high-temperature diffusion and low-temperature radiation and implantation damage. In Ge, a serious contender material for high-speed electronics applications, vacancies have historically been believed to dominate most diffusion related phenomena such as self-diffusivity or impurity migration. This is to be contrasted with silicon, where self-interstitials also play decisive roles, despite the similarities in the chemical nature of both materials. We report on density functional calculations of the formation and properties of vacancy–donor complexes in germanium. We predict that most vacancy–donor aggregates are deep acceptors, and together with their high solubilities, we conclude that they strongly contribute for inhibiting donor activation levels in germanium.