Identification of the dominant nitrogen defect in silicon

The structure of the dominant N pair defect in Si is determined from channeling, infrared local vibrational mode spectroscopy, and ab initio local density functional theory. Channeling experiments show that the N atoms are displaced by 1.1±0.1 Å from lattice sites along 〈100〉. Annealing experiments reveal that this N site is associated with two N-related local vibrational modes originating from the N pair. The ab initio calculations demonstrate that the pair consists of two neighboring 〈100〉 oriented N-Si split interstitials, arranged in an antiparallel configuration, and with four N-Si bonds forming a square lying on {011}.