ELECTRON MICROSCOPY ANALYSIS OF SILICON ISLANDS AND LINE STRUCTURES FORMED ON SCREEN-PRINTED AL-DOPED P(+)-SURFACES

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Output type: Other

Author list: Bock R, Schmidt J, Brendel R, Schuhmann H, Seibt M

Publisher: IEEE

Publication year: 2008

Start page: 619

End page: 623

Number of pages: 5

ISBN: 978-1-4244-1640-0

ISSN: 0160-8371

Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)

Abstract

Islands and line networks of aluminum-doped p(+) regions formed in a conventional screen-printing process are investigated by a combination of different techniques. To characterize the microscopic nature of the islands (lateral dimensions 1-3 mu m) and line networks of self-assembled nanostructures (lateral dimension <= 50 nm) advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) are combined. Aluminum inclusions are detected 50 nm below the surface of the islands and crystallographic aluminum precipitates of < 7 nm in diameter are found within the bulk of the islands. In addition, aluminum inclusions (lateral dimension similar to 30 nm) are found within the bulk of the self-assembled line networks. Our findings provide clear experimental evidence that the concentration peak generally measured at the surface of screen-printed Al-p(+) regions is due to the microscopic structures formed on the silicon surface during the firing process.

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