Thermal activation of valley-orbit states of neutral magnesium in silicon

Abstract

Interstitial magnesium acts as a moderately deep double donor in silicon, and is relatively easily introduced by diffusion. Unlike the case of the chalcogen double donors, the binding energies of the even-parity valley-orbit excited states 1sT$_2$ and 1sE have remained elusive. Here we report on temperature dependence absorption measurements focusing on the neutral charge species. Our results demonstrate thermal activation from the ground state 1sA to the valley-orbit states, as observed by transitions from the thermally populated levels to the odd-parity states 2p$_0$ and 2p$_{\pm}$