Transient enhanced diffusion of B mediated by self-interstitials in preamorphized Ge

The dissolution of interstitial-type end-of-range (EOR) damage in preamorphized Ge is shown to induce a transient enhanced diffusion of an epitaxially grown boron delta at temperatures above 350 °C that saturates above 420 °C. The B diffusion events are quantitatively correlated with the measured positive strain associated with the EOR damage as a function of the annealing temperature with an energy barrier for the EOR damage dissolution of 2.1±0.3 eV. These results unambiguously demonstrate that B diffuses in Ge through a mechanism assisted by self-interstitials, and impose considering the interstitial implantation damage for the modeling of impurity diffusion in Ge.