Experimental Evidence of the Oxygen Dimer in Silicon

Abstract

Optical characterization of the oxygen dimer in silicon has been performed for the first time. The vibrational IR absorption bands at 1012, 1060, and $1105{\mathrm{cm}}^{-1\mathrm{}}$ are shown to arise from this complex. Using heat-treatment studies, the dimer binding energy is determined to be about 0.3 eV. Indications of the high migration ability of the dimer predicted earlier are found as well.