Oxygen depth profiling by activation with the16O(3He,p,)18F reaction

A technique has been developed for oxygen depth profiling in a thickness range of 5 to about 100 mg cm⁻² by activation with the¹⁶O(³He, p)¹⁸F reaction. An apparatus was set up for the activation of oxygen with a uniform probability along the depth, and a method has been devised for step-wise etching of the activated sample. This technique has been applied to the study of oxygen behaviour in heat treatment of silicon under various conditions.     

Two-dimensional vibrational analysis of the Lippincott-Schröder potential for OHO,NHO and NHN hydrogen bonds and the deuterium isotope effect

Two-dimensional vibrational analyses [i.e. crude adiabatic approximation, SCF approximation and variational method (crude adiabatic basis function)] are performed on the hydrogen bond systems consisting of the Lippincott-Schröder potentials for the OHO, NHO and NHN bonds. The OHO and NHN systems are supposed to be linear and the bent structure is considered for the NHO system. The frequency shift for the hydrogen bond length variation and its deuterium substitution effects are in good agreement with experiment. The anomalies in the frequency ratio ν_OH/ν_OD at an O—O distance of 2.5 Å, and in the interminimum distance shift on deuteration at 2.5 Å are well explained as the difference of double minimum behavior between the vibrational states of proton and deuterium. It is also shown that the Lippincott-Schröder model for the OHO system supplies the general features for proton tunneling, proton delocalization beyond the barrier and other type processes in hydrogen bonds.     

A Bis(μ‐oxido)dinickel(III) Complex with a Triplet Ground State

A bis(μ‐oxido)dinickel(III) complex was synthesized and characterized by single crystal X‐ray diffraction, resonance Raman, and ESI‐mass measurements. Magnetic susceptibility measurements by SQUID and EPR spectroscopy reveal that the complex has a triplet ground state, which is unprecedented for high‐valent metal (M) complexes with [M₂(μ‐O)₂] diamond core. DFT studies indicate ferromagnetic coupling of the nickel(III) centers. The complex exhibits hydrogen abstraction reactivity and oxygenation reactivity toward external substrates.     

Single crystal growth of SiC and electronic devices

Single crystal growth of silicon carbide (Sic) and application to electronic devices are reviewed. In the crystal growth, bulk and homoepitaxial growth are picked up, and crystal quality and electrical properties are described. For electronic devices, various device processes are argued. Power devices based on Sic are stressed in this review.

Bulk single crystals of SiC can be grown by a sublimation method, and large-area 6H-SiC and 4H-SiC single crystals are obtained. The occurrence of SiC polytypes is affected by the growth condition, and can be controlled successfully by optimizing these conditions. 6H-SiC is grown on 6H-SiC (0001) Si-faces, and 4H-SiC on 6H-SiC (0001) C-faces. The crystallinity of bulk crystals is investigated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and X-ray analysis, and characterization is carried out in detail by optical and electrical measurement.

Successful homoepitaxial vapor phase growth of SiC can be realized using off-axis (0001) substrates prepared by a sublimation method called “step-controlled epitaxy”. Since the crystallinity of epilayers is improved during the step-controlled epitaxy, this growth technique is a key for getting high-quality crystal surfaces. Impurity doping is controlled during homoepitaxial growth by employing impurity gases, such as N₂, trimethylaluminum (TMA), and B₂H₆. A wide-range of carrier concentrations of 5 × 10¹³～3 × 10¹⁸ cm^?3 for n-type and 5 × 10¹⁶～3 × 10²⁰ cm^?3 for p-type are realized. The impurity-incorporation mechanism in the step-controlled epitaxy is discussed based on the C/Si ratio dependence of impurity doping.

Electrical properties of SiC grown by step-controlled epitaxy are determined precisely. A high electron mobility of 720 cm²/Vs is obtained in an undoped 4H-SiC epilayer with an electron concentration of 2.5 × 10^l6 cm^?3 at 300 K. This electron mobility is about two times higher than that of 6H-Sic (～380 cm²/Vs). High breakdown fields of 1～5 × 10⁶ V/cm are obtained for both 6H- and 4H-SiC, one order of magnitude higher than those for Si. A high saturation electron drift velocity of 1.6 × 10⁷ cm/s is obtained in 4H-Sic, which may make possible high performance of high-frequency 4H-SiC power devices. Impurity levels and deep levels are investigated by Hall effect, admittance spectroscopy, and DLTS measurement. Metal/4H-SiC Schottky barrier heights are characterized and a strong dependence on metal work function without strong “pinning” is elucidated.

Device processes are described for ion implantation. Interface properties of SiO₂/SiC are characterized in detail using metal-oxide-semicond.     

Vibrational properties of As2S3 glass

Vibrational densities of states and infrared and Raman spectra have been calculated for a structural model of As₂S₃ glass. The calculations are based on simple semi-empirical forms for interatomic potentials, electric dipole moment and Raman polarizability. The bands of the calculated spectra agree well with those of the observed infrared and Raman spectra of As₂S₃ glass in intensity and position, although a small concentration of the wrong SS bonds remains in the structural model and causes an additional peak in the higher frequency region. The calculated depolarization ratio of the Raman spectra is consistent with the observed one.     

Characterization of silicon layers epitaxially grown on metallurgical-grade polycrystalline substrates

The structural and electrical properties of silicon layers epitaxially grown on metallurgical-grade polycrystalline silicon substrates are examined to clarify the effect of grain boundaries, crystal defects and impurities in the substrates. Chemical etching of the epitaxial layer reveals that all the grain boundaries continue from the substrate into the epitaxial layer, whereas lines of high density etch pits do not always continue. The polycrystalline thin film solar cells are fabricated on the metallurgical-grade silicon substrates by successive deposition of p and n⁺ layers. These cells show short circuit current densities around 70% of that of the conventional single crystal cell. This reduction of the short circuit current is caused mainly by the short minority carrier diffusion length in the grains probably due to impurities involved in the epitaxial layers. The origins of such impurities are discussed by considering autodoping and solid-state diffusion from the substrate during growth of epitaxial layers.