Automated defect, inclusion and morphological analysis of Solarex polycrystalline silicon

Author

Brenneman, R. ; Ramsey, D. ; Angell, D.

Author_Institution

Solarex Corp., Frederick, MD, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

21-25 May 1990

Firstpage

726

Abstract

Studies in the past have characterized in detail the microstructure of polycrystalline silicon. It has been difficult to acquire a sufficient quantity of information to determine ingot solidification characteristics. For this purpose, a map of grain size and defect and inclusion densities on a complete wafer is required. Producing these maps consumes a large amount of time and effort. To expedite the process, a PC-based image analysis system to acquire and analyze structural information for an entire 11.4 cm×11.4 cm wafer has been constructed. The system indicates grain area and boundary length, defect (etch pit) densities for features 1 μ or larger over an area of 0.01 cm², and inclusion densities for features 1 μ and larger over an area of 0.64 cm²

Keywords

computerised picture processing; crystal defects; crystal microstructure; elemental semiconductors; grain boundaries; grain size; microcomputer applications; physics computing; silicon; solidification; 11.4 cm; Si; Solarex; boundary length; defect; etch pit; grain area; grain size; image analysis system; inclusion densities; ingot solidification characteristics; microstructure; morphological analysis; polycrystalline; semiconductor; Density measurement; Etching; Grain size; Hardware; Image analysis; Image processing; Silicon; Size measurement; Thermal stresses; Velocity measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1990., Conference Record of the Twenty First IEEE

Conference_Location

Kissimmee, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1990.111716

Filename

111716