Evidence for the Segregation of Impurities to Grain Boundaries in Multigrained Silicon Using AES and SIMS

Technical Report · Mon Jul 30 04:00:00 EDT 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1832199· OSTI ID:1832199

Kazmerski, L. L. ^[1]; Ireland, P. J. ^[1]; Ciszek, T. F. ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

The first direct physical evidence is presented for the segregation of impurities to grain boundary regions in cast and directionally solidified multigrained silicon. Complementary scanning Auger microprobe (SAM) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) techniques are used in conjunction with in-situ ultrahigh vacuum fracturing of the multigrained silicon to identify impurities and their localization at the grain boundaries. Both grain and grain boundary regions are exposed for comparative examination under identical experimental conditions. Auger mapping methods are used to show impurity distributions (including Ni, Al, C and 0) at grain boundaries. SIMS provides information on trace impurities that are below the detectability limits of Auger electron spectra; copy (AES). The impurities, which include C, Cr, Fe, Co, Zn, Cu, Al, Ni, Sb, Ti and Mg, depend upon the growth technique and containing crucible as well as the silicon source material.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1832199
• Report Number(s): SERI/TP-32-252; MainId:66643; UUID:2768aac3-bbd1-e411-b769-d89d67132a6d; MainAdminID:48714
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY