Quantitative analysis of boron profiles in silicon using ion microprobe mass spectrometry

Single crystal silicon samples of various boron concentrations are studied using an ion microprobe. Argon and oxygen ion beams are used for the scanning and the determination of the boron profiles. Erosion rates are discussed.     

Investigation of silicon dioxide films by neutron activation analysis and autoradiography

Investigations of insulating silicon dioxide films formed on silicon epitaxial layers are reported. Activation analysis and surface autoradiography were used to determine the concentration distribution and precipitation of contaminants in the internal part of the films and on the surfaces. The aim of this work was to study the origin of the contaminants by sampling each technological product following thermal oxidation, doped oxide deposition, heating and metallizing. Under the given conditions the following detection limits of impurities could be obtained in silicon dioxide films: Na=80 ppb, Sb=100 ppb, Cu=20 ppb and Au=5 ppb.     

Determination of boron in titanium alloys by means of ion exchange

There is need for a rapid method for the determination of moderate amounts of boron in titanium alloys. In this paper a method is proposed which uses ion exchange. The method is applicable to titanium alloys containing 0.025 to 1 per cent. boron. One or two grams of the sample are dissolved in hydrochloric acid, and the titanium and boron are oxidized with nitric acid. The bulk of the titanium is removed by a cation exchanger. A calcium carbonate separation is made to remove the residual titanium and adjust the acidity. The boron is then titrated with sodium hydroxide, after the addition of mannitol. None of the elements found in commercial titanium alloys interferes with the method.     

Spectrophotometric determination of traces of boron in silicon by means of solvent extraction

A spectrophotometric method for the determination of boron in silicon based on the extraction of the methylene blue-fluoroborate complex has been improved. Some important points, such as the dissolution of silicon with hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide, the effect of various anions on the blank absorbance and the best working conditions for forming and extracting the complex, have been studied. The method is applied to the determination of boron in silicon containing at least 1 p.p.m. of boron, with a relative standard deviation of ±5%.     

Water gradient profiles at bean plant roots determined by neutron beam analysis

Summary We present profiles of the water gradient near the roots of bean plants measured by neutron beam analysis. Three kinds of bean plants were grown in cylindrical aluminum containers and were irradiated by thermal neutrons from a research reactor, JRR-3M, installed at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. After penetrating the sample, neutrons were converted to light by a fluorescent converter and the resulting photons were counted by a cooled CCD camera. Taking the projection images at different angles of the samples, CT images as well as simple projection images were constructed. It is seen here, for the first time, that water is significantly concentrated within the first 1 mm from the root surface in all three kinds of the plants. Soybean root grown under stress from added aluminum was studied by calculating root volumes and total root surface area from the spatial images. The suppression in root development as calculated from this nondestructive in-situ method correlates well with destructive techniques.     

Determination of boron in silicon by SIMS with the matrix ion species ratio method

Summary In quantitative SIMS, the oxygen content of the sample surface proves to be a very important analytical parameter. The matrix ion species ratio method (MISR) was used to investigate the influence of the presence of oxygen on the determination of boron in silicon. By analysing standard samples at conditions of different oxygen coverage, the relation between the sensitivity of boron and the oxygen content of the sample surface, as indexed by the SiO⁺/Si³⁺ matrix ion species ratio, was established. The influence of the primary ion current density on this relation was investigated. The MISR procedure proves to be a suitable method to perform quantitative determinations (relative error < 10%) in conditions of changing oxygen content on the sample surface.

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Bestimmung von Bor in Silicium durch SIMS mit der Matrix Ion Species Ratio Method

     

Evolution of ion induced point defects in silicon

Problems of the dose rate dependence of the defect production by ion beam irradiation are addressed. Damage accumulation effects are studied for sequential and overlapping cascades induced by 1 keV recoils in silicon crystals. The defect generation and evolution is simulated by a molecular dynamics method using the Stillinger–Weber three body potential. It is shown that the damage produced by temporally and spatially overlapping cascades at room temperature can be both smaller and larger than the total damage induced by the individual recoils each starting in perfect crystalline silicon. The different damage levels are related to the characteristics of the defect structure shortly before and after initiating the subsequent cascades.     

Accurate and efficient determination of boron content in volcanic rocks by neutron induced prompt gamma-ray analysis

An accurate and efficient analytical method using neutron-induced prompt γ-ray was developed for the determination of boron contents in volcanic rocks. We corrected the effect of sample geometry and flux fluctuation by using silicon as an internal standard. However, we found that the slopes of the calibration line vary among volcanic samples with different matrix. Because the increase of boron activity correlates positively with γ-ray count rate of hydrogen (water), we call this as the hydrogen effect. The hydrogen effect was confirmed by our experiment in which the boron activities showed systematic increase with the amount of added hydrogen (water). Most volcanic rocks, however, contain little water (<2 wt.%) to show this effect. We determined boron contents in various volcanic rocks in order to confirm the validity of the procedure that we established. The analyzed boron contents agreed well with the previous reported values. For efficient PGA of boron in volcanic rocks, we recommend JB-2 (GSJ standard rock) as a single geochemical standard, because of its high boron content (31.2 ppm).     

Determination of boron in glass by neutron transmission method

Neutron transmission method has been used for the determination of boron in borosilicate glasses. The method is sensitive and rapid to control the spatial homogeneities of glass-product in the melting furnace.Dedicated to Academician J. Csikai on his 60th birthday.This work was supported by the National Foundation for Research (Contact No. 259).     

Estimation of cyanide ion in metal salts and complexes by means of chloramine-T and dichloramine-T

A simple and accurate method for the estimation of cyanide in salts and complexes is based on oxidation with chloramine-T (in pH 4 buffer) or dichloramine-T (in presence of acetic anhydride). The oxidation involves a two-electron change. Halides interfere with the estimation of KCN, but the interference can be eliminated by precipitating and determining zinc cyanide. A method for estimating KCN and KCNS in mixtures is also described.     

Trace determination of boron,silicon and sulfur with oxygen-18 ion bombardment

In order to determine traces of boron, silicon and sulfur, B(¹⁸O, x)²⁷Mg, Si(¹⁸O, x)⁴³Sc and S(¹⁸O, x)⁴⁷V reactions have been investigated between 15 and 44MeV. At 34 MeV, only a few of the systematically identified nuclear interferences produce²⁷Mg and the detection limit is 30ng boron for a 10 minute irradiation with a 0.3μA·cm⁻² oxygen-18 beam. Silicon analysis has shown nuclear interferences from Al, P and K; interference-free detection limit is 80 ng silicon for an hour irradiation with a 0.4 μA·cm⁻² beam at 39 MeV. There is no nuclear interference for the sulfur determination and the detection limit is 5 ng sulfur for a 30 minutes irradiation with a 0.5 μA·cm⁻² beam at 39 MeV. Thus a selective and sensitive sulfur determination can be achieved.     

4He+ ion beam irradiation induced modification of poly(dimethylsiloxane). Characterization by infrared spectroscopy and ion beam analytical techniques

In this study we investigated the chemical and surface wettability changes of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) induced by a 2.0 MeV He(+) beam irradiation. The chemical changes created in PDMS were characterized by universal attenuated total reflectance infrared (UATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, while the changes of the wettability were determined by contact angle measurements. In a separate analysis, hydrogen depletion was also investigated with a 1.6 MeV He(+) beam by applying the elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry techniques simultaneously. The ERDA results showed that the hydrogen content of PDMS decreased irreversibly, which means that volatile products were formed under radiolysis, such as hydrogen or methane. The results were completed with UATR-FTIR measurements. We propose a complete reaction mechanism for the processes taking place in PDMS. These ion beam induced processes, such as chain scissions, cross-linking, and depletion of small molecular weight fragments, lead to the formation of a silica-like final product (SiO(x)). The significant chemical changes at the surface influence the wettability of PDMS, making it considerably more hydrophilic. The penetration depth of the 2.0 MeV He(+) ions is significantly higher compared to that of other surface modification techniques, which makes the modified layer thick and homogeneous; on the other hand, it is easily controllable by the energy of the incident ions.     

Heats of formation of beryllium, boron, aluminum, and silicon re-examined by means of W4 theory

Benchmark total atomization energies (TAE0 values) were obtained, by means of our recent W4 theory [Karton, A.; Rabinowitz, E.; Martin, J. M. L.; Ruscic, B. J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 125, 144108], for the molecules Be2, BeF2, BeCl2, BH, BF, BH3, BHF2, B2H6, BF3, AlF, AlF3, AlCl3, SiH4, Si2H6, and SiF4. We were then able to deduce "semi-experimental" heats of formation for the elements beryllium, boron, aluminum, and silicon by combining the calculated TAE0 values with experimental heats of formation obtained from reactions that do not involve the species Be(g), B(g), Al(g), and Si(g). The elemental heats of formation are fundamental thermochemical quantities that are required whenever a molecular heat of formation has to be derived from a calculated binding energy. Our recommended DeltaH degrees f,0 [A(g)] values are Be 76.4+/-0.6 kcal/mol, B 135.1+/-0.2 kcal/mol, Al 80.2+/-0.4 kcal/mol, and Si 107.2+/-0.2 kcal/mol. (The corresponding values at 298.15 K are 77.4, 136.3, 80.8, and 108.2 kcal/mol, respectively.) The Be value is identical to the CODATA recommendation (but with half of the uncertainty), while the B, Al, and Si values represent substantial revisions from established earlier reference data. The revised B and Si values are in agreement with earlier semi-ab initio derivations but carry much smaller uncertainties.     

Determination of silicon in metals by thermal neutron activation

A new method of silicon determination in molybdenum by the³⁰Si(n, γ)³¹Si was developed. All the problems occurring during this analysis: standardization, quantitative dissolution, silicon sorption on vessels, reproducibility of β-counting...were carefully studied and new answers were brought to them. The chemical speratation of silicon was performed with a column of anion exchange resin in HCl-HF-H₂O₂ solution and a column of alumina at pH 9. Accuracy and reproducibility were controlled on standard samples prepared by fusion of inactive molybdenum and radioactive silicon in a plasma furnace.     

Determination of silicon in iron by thermal neutron activation

A new chemical separation procedure for the determination of silicon in iron after neutron activation was developed. It uses two separation steps, one on a cation exchange resin in HCl−HF-acetone medium, and the other on alumina at pH 9. The detection limit for silicon was 0.02 μg. This analytical procedure was applied to the control of the zone-melting purification of iron.