Phosphorusboronsilicon

Phosphorusboronsilicon is a term used to describe silicon-based materials in which phosphorus and boron dopants are incorporated, either simultaneously or in combination with silicon-rich phases. It is not a single well-defined chemical compound, but rather a family of systems in which P and B dopants are used to tailor electronic properties of silicon or silicon-containing matrices.

In practice, phosphorus and boron are introduced into silicon by doping during crystal growth, doping processes, or by post-growth implantation. The resulting material may be a substitutionally doped silicon lattice with both donor and acceptor dopants, or a multi-component silicon alloy containing P- and B-rich regions. The precise stoichiometry is variable and depends on the intended properties.

Common fabrication routes include chemical vapor deposition and molecular beam epitaxy for high-purity films, and ion implantation followed by rapid thermal annealing to activate dopants and heal damage. Co-doping strategies aim to control compensation, diffusion, and defect formation.

Electrical behavior is governed by the balance of shallow donors (phosphorus) and acceptors (boron). Co-doping can lead to carrier compensation, reduced net free carriers, or formation of dopant complexes such as B-P pairs, affecting mobility and recombination. Optical and thermal properties may also be affected by defect states introduced during processing.

The concept is explored in research on advanced semiconductors, electronics with tunable conductivity, and sensor materials. There is no universally adopted material specification for phosphorusboronsilicon, and most publications treat it as a dopant scheme within silicon rather than as an isolated compound.