Simulation of self-interstitials and vacancies in silicon

What is it about?

What happens if you have one or several silicon atoms extra or missing in a piece of crystalline silicon? We used a special simulation technique to find out how these point defects stick together and move around (you cannot really see that in an experiment, and it's too complicated to study with standard simulations). We see that there are many more complex motions happening than what you would naïvely guess.

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Why is it important?

Even in a relatively simple system like crystalline silicon, there's much going on if you just throw in a few extra atoms (or take out a couple). These complicated processes need to be taken into account, if you're studying the evolution of a silicon crystal that contains these defects (e.g. after radiation damage).

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