The technological age has in large part been driven by the applications of semiconductors, and most notably by silicon. Our lives have been thoroughly changed by devices using the broad range of semiconductor technology developed over the past forty years. Much of the technological development has its foundation in research carried out on the different semiconductors whose properties can be exploited to make transistors, lasers, and many other devices. While the technological focus has largely been on silicon, many other semiconductor systems have applications in industry and offer formidable academic challenges. Diffusion studies belong to the most basic studies in semiconductors, important from both an application as well as research standpoint. Diffusion processes govern the junctions formed for device applications. As the device dimensions are decreased and the dopant concentrations increased, keeping pace with Moore's Law, a deeper understanding of diffusion is necessary to establish and maintain the sharp dopant profiles engineered for optimal device performance. From an academic viewpoint, diffusion in semiconductors allows for the study of point defects. Very few techniques exist which allow for the extraction of as much information of their properties. This study focuses on diffusion in the semiconductor gallium antimonide (GaSb). As will become clear, this compound semiconductor proves to be a powerful one for investigating both self- and foreign atom diffusion. While the results have direct applications for work on GaSb devices, the results should also be taken in the broader context of III-V semiconductors. Results here can be compared and contrasted to results in systems such as GaAs and even GaN, indicating trends within this common group of semiconductors. The results also have direct importance for ternary and quaternary semiconductor systems used in devices such as high speed InP/GaAsSb/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBT) [Dvorak, (2001)]. Many of the findings which will be reported here were previously published in three journal articles. Hartmut Bracht was the lead author on two articles on self-diffusion studies in GaSb [Bracht, (2001), (2000)], while this report's author was the lead author on Zn diffusion results [Nicols, (2001)]. Much of the information contained herein can be found in those articles, but a more detailed treatment is presented here.
