Nitride bonded silicon nitride as a reusable crucible material for directional solidification of silicon

Nitride bonded silicon nitride (NBSN) has the potential of a reusable crucible material for directional solidification of silicon. This is demonstrated in this work by reusing a NBSN crucible six times for the directional solidification of undoped multicrystalline (mc) silicon ingots. The progress of the ingot contamination at subsequent use of the NBSN crucible was studied systematically. Minority carrier lifetime, electrical resistivity as well as impurity content were analyzed after each solidification run. The results were compared to those obtained from ingots which were crystallized by using identical directional solidification process parameters in standard fused silica crucibles with silicon nitride coating. The impurity content of the ingots can be clearly correlated to the impurity content of the NBSN crucible. The main impurity is the acceptor B. Its concentration in the ingots decreases from about 10¹⁷ atoms/cm³ to 10¹⁶ atoms/cm³ with continued reuse. The contamination mechanism is most likely due to outdiffusion from the crucible wall into the Si melt.     

Photoacoustic studies on optical and thermal properties of p‐type and n‐type nanostructured porous silicon for (100) and (111) orientations

Nanostructured p‐type and n‐type porous silicon samples were prepared for (100) and (111) orientations and a systematic study is carried out on the effects of orientations, dopant type (boron and phosphorous), current density (20 and 30mA/cm²) and etching time on the formation, optical and thermal properties by photoacoustic spectroscopy. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Growth of tetrakis thiourea potassium iodide as new second order optical material

A novel organometallic nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal, namely thiourea complex of tetrakis thiourea potassium iodide (TTPI), has been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique. The harvested crystal is large in size. To our knowledge there is no report is available for the bulk size single crystal of TTPI. This material has a positive temperature coefficient and has been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique. The grown crystal have been characterized by employing several techniques such as single crystal and powder X‐ray diffraction, FTIR, UV‐Vis‐NIR spectra, thermo gravimetric analyses respectively. Etching studies have also been carried out in order to know the surface defects on the as grown specimen of TTPI. The relative second harmonic generation efficiency have been tested by using Nd:YAG laser as source. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

多孔硅制备研究进展及其在锂离子电池方面的应用

多孔硅具有比表面积大、发光性能良好等特点,目前对于多孔硅的研究已经涉及到生物与化学传感器、药物递送、光催化、能源等领域。多孔硅中的孔隙可有效缓解硅在锂化时的体积膨胀,缩短锂离子从电解液向硅本体扩散的距离,促进高电流密度下的充放电过程。因此,多孔硅在储能领域得到了广泛研究与发展。但是一些挑战仍然存在,如制备成本、刻蚀机理、多孔结构的调控、多孔硅的电化学性能等还不能满足商业化应用的要求。本文对目前国内外多孔硅制备方法的研究进行了综述,并详细介绍了多孔硅在锂离子电池领域的应用。最后,对多孔硅材料在储能领域的发展进行了展望。     

Annealing in water vapor as a new method for improvement of silicon thin film properties

Electronic properties of poly-Si thin films fabricated by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) were improved by annealing in H₂O or D₂O vapors. Hall mobility was improved from 4.45 cm⁻²/V s to 25.1 cm⁻²/V s after 1 h D₂O vapor treatment at 300 °C, i.e., nearly the same value as after optimized plasma hydrogenation. Unlike the hydrogen plasma treatment, annealing did not introduce disorder into the material, judged by the width of Raman LO-TO band. Water vapor treatment is a novel approach to improvement of thin films properties, with potentially low cost suitable for mass production of solar cells, but its mechanism is not yet clear.     

Thermocapillary‐buoyancy flow of silicon melt in a shallow annular pool

In order to understand the nature of surface spoke patterns on silicon melt in industrial Czochralski furnaces, a series of unsteady three‐dimensional numerical simulations were conducted for thermocapillary‐buoyancy flow of silicon melt in annular pool (inner radius r_i = 15 mm, outer radius r_o = 50 mm, depth d = 3 mm). The pool is heated from the outer cylindrical wall and cooled at the inner wall. Bottom and top surfaces either are adiabatic or allow heat transfer in the vertical direction. Results show that a small temperature difference in the radial direction generates steady roll‐cell thermocapillary‐buoyancy flow. With large temperature difference, the simulation can predict three‐dimensional oscillatory flow, which is characterized by spoke patterns traveling in the azimuthal direction. The small vertical heat flux (3 W/cm²) does not have significant effects on the characteristics of this oscillatory flow. Details of the flow and temperature disturbances are discussed and the critical conditions for the onset of the oscillatory flow are determined. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Growth of cubic silicon carbide on oxide using polysilicon as a seed layer for micro-electro-mechanical machine applications

The growth of highly oriented 3C–SiC directly on an oxide release layer, composed of a 20-nm-thick poly-Si seed layer and a 550-nm-thick thermally deposited oxide on a (1 1 1)Si substrate, was investigated as an alternative to using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates for freestanding SiC films for MEMS applications. The resulting SiC film was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) with the X-ray rocking curve of the (1 1 1) diffraction peak displaying a FWHM of 0.115° (414″), which was better than that for 3C–SiC films grown directly on (1 1 1)Si during the same deposition process. However, the XRD peak amplitude for the 3C–SiC film on the poly-Si seed layer was much less than for the (1 1 1)Si control substrate, due to slight in-plane misorientations in the film. Surprisingly, the film was solely composed of (1 1 1) 3C–SiC grains and possessed no 3C–SiC grains oriented along the 3 1 1 and 1 1 0 directions which were the original directions of the poly-Si seed layer. With this new process, MEMS structures such as cantilevers and membranes can be easily released leaving behind high-quality 3C–SiC structures.     

Raman scattering in low wavenumber region as a new probe to structural properties of microcrystalline silicon

The structural properties of microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si) are studied by Raman scattering. It is found that the intensity of each Raman band closely correlates with the absorption coefficient in the interband region and that the Raman band at ca. 150 cm^?1 is a sensitive probe to randomness of Si-Si bonding structure in μc-Si.     

Effect of a static magnetic field on silicon transport in liquid phase diffusion growth of SiGe

Liquid phase diffusion experiments have been performed without and with the application of a 0.4 T static magnetic field using a three‐zone DC furnace system. SiGe crystals were grown from the germanium side for a period of 72 h. Experiments have led to the growth of single crystal sections varying from 0 to 10 mm thicknesses. Examination of the processed samples (single and polycrystalline sections) has shown that the effect of the applied static magnetic field is significant. It alters the temperature distribution in the system, reduces mass transport in the melt, and leads to a much lower growth rate. The initial curved growth interface was slightly flattened under the effect of magnetic field. There were no growth striations in the single crystal sections of the samples. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

三氯氢硅和氢气系统中多晶硅化学气相沉积的数值模拟

本文建立了三氯氢硅和氢气系统中混合气体动量、热量和质量同时传递,并且耦合气相反应、表面反应的多晶硅气相沉积模型,利用流体力学计算软件(Computational Fluid Mechanics, CFD)Fluent6.2数值分析了气体进口速率、反应压力、表面温度和气体组成对硅化学气相沉积特性的影响,数值结果表明计算结果与相关实验数据吻合较好.分析表明在一定的条件下,硅沉积速率随温度、压力的升高而增加,在氢气浓度较高的情况下,硅沉积速率随氢气浓度增加而线性地降低.     

Three‐dimensional flow in a thin annular layer of silicon melt with bidirectional temperature gradients

Bidirectional temperature gradients coexist virtually in surface tension driven flows. However, the simulations have been performed to the flow with only one temperature gradient. A series of 3 D numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the Marangoni‐thermocapillary flow of silicon melt in a thin annular layer with bidirectional temperature gradients. The temperature gradients are produced by the temperature difference ΔT between walls and the constant heat flux q on the bottom, respectively. When changing q, the melt presents different state evolutions at different ΔT. Furthermore, two critical q are found, one makes the minimum melt temperature higher than the crystallization temperature and the other makes the flow unsteady. Both of the critical heat fluxes decrease with increasing ΔT. q contributes more to the elevation of the melt temperature, while ΔT contributes more to the enhancement of the melt instability. In addition, the melt on the free surface flows mainly along the radial direction.     

Critical evaluation of a new method for quantitative determination of minerals in solid samples

The new method for the Chemical Quantitative Mineral Analysis (CQMA) is presented and critically evaluated. The percentages of minerals are calculated of the elemental bulk chemical analysis using identified minerals and their crystallochemical formulas. For this calculation an optimization procedure is used. CQMA enables also the feedback calculation of the bulk chemical analysis from CQMA calculated mineral contents. Subsequent comparison of the feedback calculated bulk chemical analysis and actual bulk chemical analysis of the same sample is used for critical evaluation of the input data. If necessary the input data are completed and/or reanalyzed and used for repeated calculation to achieve better match between the feedback calculated and actual chemical analyses, which consequently leads to more accurate mineral analysis. Moreover the feedback bulk chemical analysis can be also separately calculated from any mineral analyses determined e.g. by XRD, FTIR and/or optical method. Six German rock reference samples representing a very wide range of minerals and chemical composition of materials were selected and their mineral analyses carried out by CQMA and Rietveld X‐ray diffraction methods. The results were compared with reference mineral analyses and critically evaluated.     

Raman spectra and thermal analysis of a new lead–tellurium–germanate glass system

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Raman scattering studies of a new glass system, lead–tellurium–germanate glasses in the form of (90−x)GeO₂·xTeO₂·27PbO·10CaO with x=0, 10, 20, 30, and 40, are reported. The glass samples were fabricated using a conventional melt-quenching method. The Raman spectra and possible glass structures are discussed for different TeO₂ contents. The results indicate that increasing TeO₂ content up to 40 mol% in the glass system decreases the glass transition temperature and melting temperature, and suppresses the crystallization tendency in the fiber pulling temperature range. The lead–tellurium–germanate glass, GTPC, possesses a larger refractive index and a smaller maximum phonon energy than that of a lead–germanate glass, 63GeO₂·27PbO·10CaO, and shows a better thermal stability compared to a tellurite glass, 75TeO₂·20ZnO·5Na₂O (TZN). These improved properties could be beneficial for fabricating rare-earth doped fiber devices.     

Growth and characterization of a new nonlinear optical material: Potassium p-nitrophenolate dihydrate (NO2–C6H4–OK·2H2O) with new bonding properties

Single crystals of potassium p-nitrophenolate dihydrate (NPK·2H₂O) have been grown successfully using the isothermal solvent evaporation technique. It is a new semiorganic nonlinear optical crystal, possessing a d_eff of about 1.5 times that of lithium niobate and in which the K⁺ ions are bonded to the nitro group instead of bonding with the phenolic O⁻. Large single crystals of dimension upto 20×6×4 mm³ are harvested within a period of 60 days. The grown crystals are subjected to single crystal X-ray, FTIR and DRS-UV visible spectral, thermal and microhardness analyses. Single crystal X-ray analysis confirms the molecular formula and the structure of the crystal. FTIR spectral studies verify the functional groups present in the crystal. The DRS-UV visible spectrum proved the optical transparency of the crystal in the entire visible and near infrared region. Thermal studies reveal that the crystals are stable upto 180 °C. Microhardness measurements on the cleaved plane (1 1 0) explain the strength and slip direction in the crystal. The SHG efficiency of the crystal is examined by performing the Kurtz powder test using Nd:YAG laser.     

Low-temperature growth of epitaxial (1 0 0) silicon based on silane and disilane in a 300 mm UHV/CVD cold-wall reactor

Epitaxial (1 0 0) silicon layers were grown at temperatures ranging from 500 to 800 °C in a commercial cold-wall type UHV/CVD reactor at pressures less than 7×10⁻⁵ Torr. The substrates were 300 mm SIMOX SOI wafers and spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to assess growth rates and deposition uniformities. High-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to verify the atomic terrace configuration that resulted from epitaxial step-flow growth. Deposition from disilane exhibited a nearly perfect reaction limit for low temperatures and high precursor flow rates (partial pressures) with measured activation energies of ≈2.0 eV, while a linear dependence of growth rate on precursor gas flow was found for the massflow-controlled regime. A similar behavior was observed in the case of silane with substantially reduced deposition rates in the massflow-limited regime and nearly a factor of 2 reduced growth rates deep in the reaction limited regime. High growth rates of up to 50 μm/h and non-uniformities as low as 1σ=1.45% were obtained in the massflow-limited deposition regime. Silicon layers as thin as 0.6 nm (4.5 atomic layers ) were deposited continuously as determined using a unique wet chemical etching technique as well as cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). In contrast, epitaxial silicon deposited in RPCVD at 10 Torr using disilane within the same temperature range showed imperfect reaction limitation. While activation energies similar to that of UHV/CVD were found, no partial pressure limitation could be observed. Furthermore, layers deposited using disilane in RPCVD exhibited a large number of defects that appeared to form randomly during growth. We attribute this effect to gas phase reactions that create precursor fragments and radicals—an effect that is negligible in UHV/CVD.