Acceleration of diffusional jumps of interstitial Fe with increasing Ge concentration in Si1-xGex alloys observed by Mössbauer spectroscopy

Radioactive Mn isotopes have been implanted into Si Ge crystals (x <= 0.1) at elevated temperatures for Mössbauer studies of the diffusion of interstitial Fe daughter atoms. The atomic jump frequency is found to increase upon Ge alloying. This is attributed to a lowering of the activation energy, i.e. the saddle point energy at hexagonal interstitial sites with Ge neighbour atoms. © Springer 2005.