Physico-chemical properties of zinc and cadmium in gallium arsenide

Abstract

The diffusion process of zinc and cadmium in gallium arsenide from gaseous phase has been investigated as the function of temperature and the arsenic vapor pressure by the radioactivation analysis. The diffusion profile of zinc could not be described by a complementary error function and the diffusion coefficient of zinc was concentration-dependent. Over the range of zinc concentrations, the diffusion coefficient of zinc was found to decrease as the arsenic vapor pressure increases. The diffusion profile of cadmium followed a complementary error function and the diffusion coefficient was found to increase as the amounts of the added arsenic increase. These results may be explained by assuming that zinc diffuses due to an arsenic divacancy and that cadmium diffuses through the gallium sublattice.