Even-parity excited states of the acceptor boron in silicon revisited

While the odd-parity electronic excited states of the prototypical acceptor boron in silicon have received detailed experimental and theoretical study, the properties of the even-parity excited states are less well known. Indeed, a recent study has strongly questioned the existing assignment of the first even-parity excited state above the (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) ground state, and further questioned whether the assigned state is even in the silicon band gap. Here we report the results of electronic Raman scattering spectroscopy, acceptor bound exciton two-hole spectroscopy, and thermally induced infrared absorption spectroscopy, all of which support the original assignment of the lowest-lying even-parity excited state of boron in silicon to the (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) state associated with the split-off valence band