Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
We suggest that thermal donor formation in silicon involves fast-diffusing, gas-like molecular oxygen in dynamical equilibrium with atomic oxygen in interstitial position. We will discuss still remaining difficulties in understanding thermal donor formation in the light of recent experimental observations by Stavola, Patel, Kimerling and Treeland, indicating that the diffusivity of interstitial oxygen apparently depends on the thermal history of the silicon sample.