It was noted that self-diffusion in crystalline Si was controlled by a network of elementary steps whose activation energies were important to know in a variety of applications in micro-electronic fabrication. The present work used maximum a posteriori estimation to improve existing values for these activation energies; based upon self-diffusion data collected at different values of the loss rates for interstitial atoms to the surface. Parameter sensitivity analysis showed that, for high surface loss fluxes, the energy for exchange between an interstitial and the lattice played the leading role in determining the shape of diffusion profiles. At low surface loss fluxes, the dissociation energy of large-atom clusters played a more important role. Subsequent maximum a posteriori analysis provideds significantly improved values for these parameters.

Maximum a posteriori Estimation of Activation Energies that Control Silicon Self-Diffusion. C.T.M.Kwok, K.Dev, E.G.Seebauer, R.D.Braatz: Automatica, 2008, 44[9], 2241-7