Dynamical recovery and self-diffusion in InP

Abstract

Single crystals of InP with ⟨123⟩ orientation have been deformed at constant strain rates at temperatures between 540 and 780°C. The resulting stress–strain curves are rather similar to those obtained for other semiconductors such as Ge, Si and InSb, and two stages of dynamical recovery can be clearly identified. From the strain-rate and temperature dependences of the stress τ_iii at the beginning of the first recovery stage, an activation energy of 2.3 eV is deduced. This may be regarded as a lower bound for the activation energy of self-diffusion of the slowest-moving species; for the pre-exponential factor D₀ of the diffusion coefficient a value between 10⁻³ and 10⁻² cm² s⁻¹ is estimated.