The As antisite defect in GaAs has received a lot of attention in the last two years as a likely candidate for the EL2 center. Large lattice relaxations and the existence of a metastable state due to strong electron-lattice coupling were invoked to explain the quite peculiar behavior of EL2. The self-consistent, parameter-free calculations of the lattice relaxations around the As antisite defect in GaAs for all charge states indicate that this center is a rather well behaved point defect with tiny breathing relaxations associated to it (<1\% of the perfect crystal bond length). From this finding the authors suggest that the isolated As antisite defect cannot be itself be identified with the EL2 center in GaAs. Charge-conserving, Jahn-Teller unstable intracenter transitions as well as alternative models are discussed.
 

Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors Editor(s): Chadi, J.D.; Harrison, W.A. New York, NY, USA: Springer-Verlag, 1985. p.755-60 of xxxvi+1580 pp. 22 refs. Conference: San Francisco, CA, USA, 6-10 Aug 1984 Sponsor(s): IUPAP; Int. Center Theor. Phys.; AIP; APS; American Vacuum Soc.; et al ISBN: 0-387-96108-9.