Novel combinatory method for surface and crystallinity analysis of crystalline materials: Combinatory analysis method...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Crystallography
• Surface Science

Background:

• Crystalline silicon is crucial for semiconductor devices.
• Characterizing silicon surface morphology and crystallography is essential for optimizing manufacturing processes.
• Existing techniques like AFM and EBSD have limitations in speed or scope.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and demonstrate a combined surface morphology and crystallographic analysis method for crystalline silicon.
• To establish a correlation between crystal orientation and etching rate during chemical processing.
• To present a more efficient alternative to current analytical techniques.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a combination of White Light Interferometry (WLI) for surface morphology and Laue X-ray diffraction for crystallographic analysis.
• Applied chemical treatments (polishing, texturing) to multi-crystalline silicon samples.
• Correlated pre- and post-analysis data to map orientation-etching rate dependencies.

Main Results:

• Successfully mapped the relationship between crystal orientation and etching rate on silicon surfaces.
• Demonstrated the efficacy of the combined WLI and Laue technique.
• Showcased the method's ability to analyze surface changes after chemical processing.

Conclusions:

• The combined WLI and Laue technique provides a powerful and time-effective approach for analyzing crystalline silicon.
• This method offers a valuable alternative to AFM and EBSD for understanding surface and crystallographic properties.
• The developed technique aids in optimizing chemical processes for silicon-based materials.