SELF-DIFFUSION IN INDIUM-ANTIMONIDE

In the present paper indium and antimony self-diffusion was studied in the temperature range 400-500-degrees-C in single crystals of indium antimonide. The crystals were grown by the Bridgman technique. The radioactive tracer diffusion method was employed using In-114m and Sb-125 isotopes. Anodic oxidation technique was developed and used for serial sectioning. The penetration profiles were fitted to the error function solution of diffusion equations. For indium self-diffusion, the activation energy and pre-exponential factor were found to be 1.45 eV and 6.0 x 10(-7) CM2/S, respectively, while for antimony diffusion the activation energy was obtained as 1.91 eV with a pre-exponential factor of 5.35 x 10(-4) cm2/s. The results were compared with the earlier experimental studies and theoretical calculations. The migration enthalpies of indium and antimony atoms are estimated to be 0.66 and 0.70 eV, respectively. The corresponding formation enthalpies are 0.79 eV for In vacancy and 1.21 eV for Sb vacancy formation.