Sc. Mcguire et al., IMPURITY CHARACTERIZATION OF SI(1-X)GE(X) CIRCUIT STRUCTURES WITH THEUSE OF NEUTRON-ACTIVATION ANALYSIS, Nuclear science and engineering, 117(2), 1994, pp. 134-139
The recent use is reported of neutron activation analysis to determine
the elemental content of silicon-germanium layers that were epitaxial
ly grown on antimony-doped single crystal silicon substrates. The subs
trates formed part of gold-contact Schottky diode circuits. Gamma rays
from the activation products Ge-75 and Ge-77 were used, and the usefu
lness was demonstrated of the gallium K(alpha) X ray, emitted in the e
lectron capture decay of Ge-71, to identify and quantify the germanium
in our samples. Minor components of the silicon matrix and their bulk
atomic concentrations for specimens having masses of approximately 56
mg were germanium (4 ppm), gold (2 ppm), and antimony (32 ppm). Estim
ates for the germanium atom fraction x, in the layers, in the range of
6 to 8%, were obtained for the samples studied.