Defect reactions in gallium antimonide studied by zinc and self-diffusion

Extrinsic diffusion of zinc (Zn) in gallium antimonide (GaSb) under Ga-rich conditions was analyzed on the basis of the kick-out and the dissociative diffusion mechanism. It is concluded that the changeover of interstitial Zn to substitutional gallium (Ga) sites is mainly mediated by Ga interstitials (IGaIGa). Fitting of the Zn profiles provides the relative contributions of IGaIGa to Ga diffusion. This contribution is lower than the directly measured Ga diffusion coefficient indicating that Ga diffusion in GaSb is rather mediated by Ga vacancies than by Ga interstitials even under Ga-rich conditions. This finding supports transformation reactions between native point defects that are confirmed by first-principles total-energy calculations. In addition Ga and Sb diffusion experiments under H22 atmosphere were performed to reconcile the controversial data on self-diffusion in GaSb published by Weiler et al. and Bracht et al.