A radioreagent method for determination of traces of phosphorus in high-purity silicon

The present study explores the feasibility of the determination of phosphorus at the extreme trace levels in high-purity silicon by radioreagent method. After silicon dissolution with hydrofluoric and nitric acids and matrix volatilization, 12-molybdophosphoric acid (12-MPA) is formed by the addition of the radioreagent,⁹⁹MoO₄^2–, in nitric acid medium and then extracted into isobutyl acetate. By plotting the phosphorus content against the radioactivity of⁹⁹Mo in the organic phase, a linear relationship persisting down to 5 ng is obtained. Special effort has been made to the elimination of the unreacted⁹⁹MoO₄^2– reagent and the optimal control of phosphorus blank introduced through the multistage analytical procedure in order to ensure reliable determination of phosphorus at the ppb level.