Microstructure of flow pattern defects in boron-doped Czochralski-grown silicon

The morphology and microstructure of flow pattern defects （FPDs） in lightly boron-doped Czochralski-grown silicon （Cz-Si） crystals were investigated using optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The experimental results showed that the morphology of FPDs was parabola-like with several steps. Single-type and dual-type voids were found on the tip of FPDs and two heaves exist on the left and right sides of the void. All the results have proved that FPDs were void-type defects. These results are very useful to investigate FPDs in Cz-Si wafers further and explain the annihilation of FPDs during high-temperature annealing.

Characteristics of Disorder and Defect in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Nitride Thin Films Containing Silicon Nanograins

The hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride （SiNx） thin films embedded with nano-structural silicon were prepared and the micro- structures at the interface of silicon nano-grains/SiNx were identified by the optical absorption and Raman scattering measurements. Characterized by the exponential tail of optical absorption and the band-width of the Raman scattering TO mode, the disorder in the interface region increases with the gas flow ratio increasing. Besides, as reflected by the sub-gap absorption coefficients, the density of interface defect states decreases, which can be attributed to the structural mismatch in the interface region and also the changes of hydrogen content in the deposited films. Additional annealing treatment results in a significant increase of defects and degree of disorder, for which the hydrogen out-diffusion in the annealing process would be responsible.

Local Tuning of the Surface Potential in Silicon Carriers by Ion Beam Induced Intrinsic Defects

The immobilization of biomaterials on a carrier is the first step for many different applications in life science and medicine. The usage of surface-near electrostatic forces is one possible approach to guide the charged biomaterials to a specific location on the carrier. In this study, we investigate the effect of intrinsic defects on the surface potential of silicon carriers in the dark and under illumination by means of Kelvin probe force microscopy. The intrinsic defects were introduced into the carrier by local, stripe-patterned ion implantation of silicon ions with a fluence of 3 × 1013 Si ions/cm2 and 3 × 1015 Si ions/cm2 into a p-type silicon wafer with a dopant concentration of 9 × 1015 B/cm3. The patterned implantation allows a direct comparison between the surface potential of the silicon host against the surface potential of implanted stripes. The depth of the implanted silicon ions in the target and the concentration of displaced silicon atoms was simulated using the Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) software. The low fluence implantation shows a negligible effect on the measured Kelvin bias in the dark, whereas the large fluence implantation leads to an increased Kelvin bias, i.e. to a smaller surface work function according to the contact potential difference model. Illumination causes a reduced surface band bending and surface potential in the non-implanted regions. The change of the Kelvin bias in the implanted regions under illumination provides insight into the mobility and lifetime of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. Finally, the effect of annealing on the intrinsic defect density is discussed and compared with atomic force microscopy measurements on the 2nd harmonic. In addition, by using the Baumgart, Helm, Schmidt interpretation of the measured Kelvin bias, the dopant concentration after implantation is estimated.

Surface defects incorporated diamond machining of silicon

This paper reports the performance enhancement benefits in diamond turning of the silicon wafer by incorporation of the surface defect machining(SDM)method.The hybrid micromachining methods usually require additional hardware to leverage the added advantage of hybrid technologies such as laser heating,cryogenic cooling,electric pulse or ultrasonic elliptical vibration.The SDM method tested in this paper does not require any such additional baggage and is easy to implement in a sequential micro-machining mode.This paper made use of Raman spectroscopy data,average surface roughness data and imaging data of the cutting chips of silicon for drawing a comparison between conventional single-point diamond turning(SPDT)and SDM while incorporating surface defects in the(i)circumferential and(ii)radial directions.Complementary 3D finite element analysis(FEA)was performed to analyse the cutting forces and the evolution of residual stress on the machined wafer.It was found that the surface defects generated in the circumferential direction with an interspacing of 1 mm revealed the lowest average surface roughness(Ra)of 3.2 nm as opposed to 8 nm Ra obtained through conventional SPDT using the same cutting parameters.The observation of the Raman spectroscopy performed on the cutting chips showed remnants of phase transformation during the micromachining process in all cases.FEA was used to extract quantifiable information about the residual stress as well as the sub-surface integrity and it was discovered that the grooves made in the circumferential direction gave the best machining performance.The information being reported here is expected to provide an avalanche of opportunities in the SPDT area for low-cost machining solution for a range of other nominal hard,brittle materials such as SiC,ZnSe and GaAs as well as hard steels.

Irradiation Defects in Silicon Crystal

The application of irradiation in silicon crystal is introduced.The defects caused by irradiation are reviewed and some major ways of studying defects in irradiated silicon are summarized.Furthermore the problems in the investigation of irradiated silicon are discussed as well as its properties.

Determination of Ring-OSF Position in Czochralski Silicon Single Crystals by Numerical Analysis of Distribution of Grown-in Defects

A numerical analysis technique that incorporates Voronkov's model were examined and used to estimate the distribution of defects during crystal growth. By comparisons of the distribution of the density of LSTD and the position of R-OSF in non-nitrogen-doped (non-N-doped) and nitrogen-doped (N-doped) silicon crystals, it is found that the results of the numerical analyses agree with practically evaluated data. The observations suggest that the R-OSF nucleus is a VO2 complex that is formed by bonds between oxygen atoms and residual vacancies consumed during the formation of void defects. This suggests that Voronkov's model can be used to accurately predict the generation and growth of defects in silicon crystals. This numerical analysis technique was also found to be an effective method of estimating the distribution of defects in silicon crystals during crystal growth.

Electronic structure and defect states of transition films from amorphous to microcrystalline silicon studied by surface photovoltage spectroscopy

In this paper, surface photovoltage spectroscopy （SPS） is used to determine the electronic structure of the hydrogenated transition Si films. All samples are prepared by using helicon wave plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition technique, the films exhibit a transition from the amorphous phase to the microcrystalline phase with increasing temperature. The film deposited at lower substrate temperature has the amorphous-like electronic structure with two types of dominant defect states corresponding to the occupied Si dangling bond states （D^0/D^-） and the empty Si dangling states （D＋）. At higher substrate temperature, the crystallinity of the deposited films increases, while their band gap energy decreases. Meanwhile, two types of additional defect states is incorporate into the films as compared with the amorphous counterpart, which is attributed to the interface defect states between the microcrystalline Si grains and the amorphous matrix. The relative SPS intensity of these two kinds of defect states in samples deposited above 300℃ increases first and decreases afterwards, which may be interpreted as a result of the competition between hydrogen release and crystalline grain size increment with increasing substrate temperature.

Identification of Grown-In Defects in CZ Silicon after Cu Decoration

Bulk Czochralski silicon crystals were decorated with Cu and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The vacancy-type core, oxidation-induced stacking faults (OISF) ring, nearly defect-free ring, and self-interstitial-type rich outer ring were delineated in the Si crystal wafer. At the surface of the Si crystal, vertical-horizontal line (V-H line) defects and windmill defects (W-defects) were formed instead of OISF. The families of growth planes and directions were expressed as {011} and for the V-H line and {010} and for W-defects, respectively. In addition to V-H line defects and W-defects, pits or voids and Si oxide with dissolved Cu were found in the Si crystal wafer.

Clusters of Radiation Defects in Silicon Crystals

While considerable progress has been achieved in radiation influence on the solid states, the quantitative assessment of defect production is very scarce. In this paper radiation defects studies in silicon crystals are briefly reviewed and comprehensively analyzed depending on irradiation energy and dose, paying special attention to electron irradiation in wide energy spectrum when crystal lattice disordered regions (clusters) occur. Electron irradiation, which is a simple way to introduce intrinsic defects, was used as one of the most powerful techniques to study point and cluster defects which affect properties of semiconductors depending on irradiation energy. Fundamental aspects of radiation induced defects are discussed and it is shown that they bring information on the threshold energy for atomic displacement, on the recombination of vacancy—interstitial pair and mainly, on radiation defects cluster formation which essentially influences on the irradiating material properties. The determination of the irradiation critical dose and energy for the formation of homogeneous disordered regions (clusters) are detailed.

Microstructure of flow pattern defects in boron-doped Czochralski-grown silicon

The morphology and microstructure of flow pattern defects (FPDs) in lightly boron-doped Czochralski-grown silicon (Cz-Si) crystals were investigated using optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The experimental results showed that the morphology of FPDs was parabola-like with several steps. Single-type and dual-type voids were found on the tip of FPDs and two heaves exist on the left and right sides of the void. All the results have proved that FPDs were void-type defects. These results are very useful to investigate FPDs in Cz-Si wafers further and explain the annihilation of FPDs during high-temperature annealing.

Textured Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells Achieving Over 30% Efficiency Promoted by 4-Fluorobenzylamine Hydroiodide

Monolithic textured perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells(TSCs)are expected to achieve maximum light capture at the lowest cost,potentially exhibiting the best power conversion efficiency.However,it is challenging to fabricate high-quality perovskite films and preferred crystal orientation on commercially textured silicon substrates with micrometersize pyramids.Here,we introduced a bulky organic molecule(4-fluorobenzylamine hydroiodide(F-PMAI))as a perovskite additive.It is found that F-PMAI can retard the crystallization process of perovskite film through hydrogen bond interaction between F^(−)and FA^(+)and reduce(111)facet surface energy due to enhanced adsorption energy of F-PMAI on the(111)facet.Besides,the bulky molecular is extruded to the bottom and top of perovskite film after crystal growth,which can passivate interface defects through strong interaction between F-PMA+and undercoordinated Pb^(2+)/I^(−).As a result,the additive facilitates the formation of large perovskite grains and(111)preferred orientation with a reduced trap-state density,thereby promoting charge carrier transportation,and enhancing device performance and stability.The perovskite/silicon TSCs achieved a champion efficiency of 30.05%based on a silicon thin film tunneling junction.In addition,the devices exhibit excellent longterm thermal and light stability without encapsulation.This work provides an effective strategy for achieving efficient and stable TSCs.

High-pressure and high-temperature sintering of pure cubic silicon carbide:A study on stress-strain and densification

Silicon carbide(SiC)is a high-performance structural ceramic material with excellent comprehensive properties,and is unmatched by metals and other structural materials.In this paper,raw SiC powder with an average grain size of 5μm was sintered by an isothermal-compression process at 5.0 GPa and 1500?C;the maximum hardness of the sintered samples was31.3 GPa.Subsequently,scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the microscopic morphology of the recovered SiC samples treated in a temperature and extended pressure range of 0-1500?C and 0-16.0 GPa,respectively.Defects and plastic deformation in the SiC grains were further analyzed by transmission electron microscopy.Further,high-pressure in situ synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction was used to study the intergranular stress distribution and yield strength under non-hydrostatic compression.This study provides a new viewpoint for the sintering of pure phase micron-sized SiC particles.

The Splittings of p_± States in Infrared Spectra of Thermal Donors in Silicon

p -type CZ silicon crystals annealed at 450℃ have been investigated by low temperature infrared spectroscopy with high resolusion. It has been shown that the 2p± and 3p± bands of neutral thermal donors TD~° are all split into two bands, which have not been reported before. In addition, the concentrations ofindi- vidual TD_i and total TD have been derived from the heights of 2po bands, and the boron concentrations de- rived from that of 320 cm^(-1) band. The room temperature resistivities of samples have been evaluated and the comparison with practically measured resistivities have been made.

Confocal photoluminescence characterization of silicon-vacancy color centers in 4H-SiC fabricated by a femtosecond laser

Silicon-vacancy(VSi)centers in silicon carbide(SiC)are expected to serve as solid qubits,which can be used in quantum computing and sensing.As a new controllable color center fabrication method,femtosecond(fs)laserwriting has been gradually applied in the preparation of VSi in SiC.In this study,4H-SiCwas directlywritten by an fs laser and characterized at 293 K by atomic force microscopy,confocal photoluminescence(PL),and Raman spectroscopy.PL signals of VSi were found and analyzed using 785 nm laser excitation by means of depth profiling and two-dimensional mapping.The influence of machining parameters on the VSi formation was analyzed,and the three-dimensional distribution of VSi defects in the fs laser writing of 4H-SiC was established.

An Improved Angle Polishing Method for Measuring Subsurface Damage in Silicon Wafers

We present an improved angle polishing method in which the end of the cover slice near the glue layer is beveled into a thin,defect-free wedge,the straight edge of which is used as the datum for measuring the depth of subsurface damage. The bevel angle can be calculated from the interference fringes formed in the wedge. The minimum depth of the subsurface damage that can be measured by this method is a few hundred nanometers. Our results show that the method is straightforward, accurate, and convenient.

Improvement in IBC-silicon solar cell performance by insertion of highly doped crystalline layer at heterojunction interfaces

By inserting a thin highly doped crystalline silicon layer between the base region and amorphous silicon layer in an interdigitated back-contact （IBC） silicon solar cell, a new passivation layer is investigated. The passivation layer performance is characterized by numerical simulations. Moreover, the dependence of the output parameters of the solar cell on the additional layer parameters （doping concentration and thickness） is studied. By optimizing the additional passivation layer in terms of doping concentration and thickness, the power conversion efficiency could be improved by a factor of 2.5%, open circuit voltage is increased by 30 mV and the fill factor of the solar cell by 7.4%. The performance enhancement is achieved due to the decrease of recombination rate, a decrease in solar cell resistivity and improvement of field effect passivation at heterojunction interface. The above-mentioned results are compared with reported results of the same conventional interdigitated back-contact silicon solar cell structure. Furthermore, the effect of a-Si：H/c-Si interface defect density on IBC silicon solar cell parameters with a new passivation layer is studied. The additional passivation layer also reduces the sensitivity of output parameter of solar cell to interface defect density.

Raman analysis of defects in n-type 4H-SiC

This paper employs micro-Raman technique for detailed analysis of the defects （both inside and outside） in bulk 4H-SiC. The main peaks of the first-order Raman spectrum obtained in the centre of defect agree well with those of perfect bulk 4H-SiC, which indicate that there is no parasitic polytype in the round pit and the hexagonal defect. Four electronic Raman scattering peaks from nitrogen defect levels are observed in the round pit （395 cm^-1, 526 cm^-1, 572cm^-1, and 635cm^-1）, but cannot be found in the spectra of hexagonal defect. The theoretical analysis of the longitudinal optical plasmon-phonon coupled mode line shape indicates the nonuniformity of nitrogen distribution between the hexagonal defect and the outer area in 4H-SiC. The second-order Raman features of the defects in bulk 4H-SiC are well-defined using the selection rules for second-order scattering in wurtzite structure and compared with that in the free defect zone.

Semi-quantitative study on the Staebler-Wronski effect of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films prepared with HW-ECR-CVD system

The method of numerical simulation is used to fit the relationship between the photoconductivity in films and the illumination time. The generation and process rule of kinds of different charged defect states during illumination are revealed. It is found surprisingly that the initial photoconductivity determines directly the total account of photoconductivity degradation of sample.

Surface defects in 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layers

Although a high-quality homoepitaxial layer of 4H‑silicon carbide(4H-SiC)can be obtained on a 4°off-axis substrate using chemical vapor deposition,the reduction of defects is still a focus of research.In this study,several kinds of surface defects in the 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layer are systemically investigated,including triangles,carrots,surface pits,basal plane dislocations,and step bunching.Themorphologies and structures of surface defects are further discussed via optical microscopy and potassium hydroxide-based defect selective etching analysis.Through research and analysis,we found that the origin of surface defects in the 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layer can be attributed to two aspects:the propagation of substrate defects,such as scratches,dislocation,and inclusion,and improper process parameters during epitaxial growth,such as in-situ etch,C/Si ratio,and growth temperature.It is believed that the surface defects in the 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layer can be significantly decreased by precisely controlling the chemistry on the deposition surface during the growth process.

Effects of vacancy structural defects on the thermal conductivity of silicon thin films

Vacancy structural defect effects on the lattice thermal conductivity of silicon thin films have been investigated with non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. The lattice thermal conductivities decrease with increasing vacancy concentration at all temperatures from 300 to 700 K. Vacancy defects decrease the sample thermal conductivity, and the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity becomes less significant as the temperature increases. The molecular dynamics result is in good agreement with the theoretical analysis values obtained based on the Boltzmann equation. In addition, theoretical analysis indicates that the reduction in the lattice thermal conductivity with vacancy defects can be explained by the enhanced point-defect scattering due to lattice strain.