IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-36090-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The kinetics of carbon pair formation in silicon prohibits reaching thermal equilibrium

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Deák

    (Wigner Research Centre for Physics)

  • Péter Udvarhelyi

    (Wigner Research Centre for Physics
    Budapest University of Technology and Economics)

  • Gergő Thiering

    (Wigner Research Centre for Physics)

  • Adam Gali

    (Wigner Research Centre for Physics
    Budapest University of Technology and Economics)

Abstract

Thermal equilibrium is reached when the system assumes its lowest energy. This can be hindered by kinetic reasons; however, it is a general assumption that the ground state can be eventually reached. Here, we show that this is not always necessarily the case. Carbon pairs in silicon have at least three different configurations, one of them (B-configuration) is the G photoluminescence centre. Experiments revealed a bistable nature with the A-configuration. Electronic structure calculations predicted that the C-configuration is the real ground state; however, no experimental evidence was found for its existence. Our calculations show that the formation of the A- and B-configurations is strongly favoured over the most stable C-configuration which cannot be realized in a detectable amount before the pair dissociates. Our results demonstrate that automatized search for complex defects consisting of only the thermodynamically most stable configurations may overlook key candidates for quantum technology applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Deák & Péter Udvarhelyi & Gergő Thiering & Adam Gali, 2023. "The kinetics of carbon pair formation in silicon prohibits reaching thermal equilibrium," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-6, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36090-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36090-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36090-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-36090-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elizabeth M. Y. Lee & Alvin Yu & Juan J. de Pablo & Giulia Galli, 2021. "Stability and molecular pathways to the formation of spin defects in silicon carbide," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. K. Jhuria & V. Ivanov & D. Polley & Y. Zhiyenbayev & W. Liu & A. Persaud & W. Redjem & W. Qarony & P. Parajuli & Q. Ji & A. J. Gonsalves & J. Bokor & L. Z. Tan & B. Kanté & T. Schenkel, 2024. "Programmable quantum emitter formation in silicon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cunzhi Zhang & Francois Gygi & Giulia Galli, 2023. "Engineering the formation of spin-defects from first principles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36090-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.