A new mechanism for the diffusion of substitutional atoms in semiconductors was presented. It did not involve vacancies or interstitials. The activation barrier for self-diffusion in Si via this mechanism was calculated to be 4.3eV. This compared well with the measured activation barrier. The new mechanism was able to account for several ambiguous experimental observations of diffusion in semiconductors. It was suggested that this mechanism contributed significantly to diffusion in semiconductors.

K.Pandey: Materials Science Forum, 1986, 10-12, 121-6