Effect of long-term storage on the electronic structure of semiconducting silicon wafers implanted by rhenium ions

• Published in: Journal of materials science Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 2103 - 2112
• Main Authors: Zatsepin, D. A., Boukhvalov, D. W., Zatsepin, A. F., Mikhaylov, A. N., Gerasimenko, N. N., Zaporozhan, O. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acidification; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical Routes to Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Doping; Electronic structure; Electrons; Energy value; Fractures; Free energy; Heat of formation; Ion implantation; Low concentrations; Materials Science; Oxidation; Polymer Sciences; Rhenium; Silicon; Silicon wafers; Solid Mechanics; Valence band
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-020-05319-6

Rhenium-doped silicon samples had been synthesized by means of re-pulsed ion implantation (fluences 2.5 × 10 17  cm −2 , 1 × 10 17  cm −2 and 5 × 10 16  cm −2 ) and then stored under natural air-media conditions 5 years. The electronic structure of these samples was studied using combined XPS-and-DFT method. It was confidently established and demonstrated by means of XPS electronic structure mapping (core levels, valence band) that weak acidification occurs. The influence of air media leads to O…Si–O…[Re 0 ] and …Re–Si–O… bonding appearance in the structure of 5-year aged samples rather than to normal rhenium oxidation. No any traces of Re x O y sub-oxide fractures were neither found experimentally nor predicted theoretically. DFT-derived acidification scenario points out energetically preferable Re atoms pairing when low concentrations ion-doping regime is applied and metallic Re clusterization in the high concentrations ion-doping regime. Experimentally established essential transformation of initial vicinity states in the top of valence bands by means of Re 5 d doping is in a good agreement with DFT calculations of electronic structure and formation energy values of acidification process.