Abstract
AbstractThermal equilibrium is reached when the system assumes its lowest energy. This can be hindered by kinetic reasons; however, it is a general assumption that the ground state can be eventually reached. Here, we show that this is not always necessarily the case. Carbon pairs in silicon have at least three different configurations, one of them (B-configuration) is the G photoluminescence centre. Experiments revealed a bistable nature with the A-configuration. Electronic structure calculations predicted that the C-configuration is the real ground state; however, no experimental evidence was found for its existence. Our calculations show that the formation of the A- and B-configurations is strongly favoured over the most stable C-configuration which cannot be realized in a detectable amount before the pair dissociates. Our results demonstrate that automatized search for complex defects consisting of only the thermodynamically most stable configurations may overlook key candidates for quantum technology applications.
Funder
Nemzeti Kutatási és Technológiai Hivatal
Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Chemistry,Multidisciplinary
Cited by
2 articles.
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