Ab initio calculations to model anomalous fluorine behavior

Implanted fluorine is observed to behave unusually in silicon, manifesting apparent uphill diffusion and reducing diffusion and enhancing activation of boron. In order to investigate fluorine behavior, we calculate the energy of fluorine defect structures in the framework of density functional theory. In addition to identifying the ground-state configuration and diffusion migration barrier of a single fluorine atom in silicon, a set of energetically favorable fluorine defect structures were found (F(n)V(m)). The decoration of vacancies and dangling silicon bonds by fluorine suggests that fluorine accumulates in vacancy-rich regions, which explains the fluorine redistribution behavior reported experimentally.