Novel combinatory method for surface and crystallinity analysis of crystalline materials: Combinatory analysis method for crystalline materials surface.

This work is dedicated to developing a method of combined surface morphology- and crystallographic analysis for crystalline silicon. To demonstrate the applicability of the method, a series of chemical operations, such as polishing and texturing, were applied to multi-crystalline silicon samples. The samples were pre- and post-analysed with WLI and Laue techniques, and the experimental data allowed construction of maps for crystal orientation to etching rate dependency. The study illustrates the strengths of the combinatory technique as an alternative to existing techniques such as atom force microscopy (AFM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD).•Combination of LAUE tool and white light interferometry techniques.•Alternative time-effective method to EBSD.•Analysis of surface morphology and crystallographic properties for chemical processing.

Application of 7N In as secondary cathode for the direct current-glow discharge mass spectrometry analysis of solid, fused high-purity quartz.

Direct current glow discharge mass spectrometry with an indium-based secondary cathode technique is used to analyze solid, nonconducting, fused high-purity quartz regarding metallic impurities of relevance to the solar industry. Details of the analytical routines are presented. In this work, the secondary cathode design and glow discharge conditions are optimized beyond the commonly applied practices. In addition, relative sensitivity factors (RSFs) for these optimized conditions are established and compared to previously published results. The results indicate that the technique enables stable measurements with detection limits down to the part per billion (ppb) range.

Guidelines for establishing an etching procedure for dislocation density measurements on multicrystalline silicon samples.

With multicrystalline silicon becoming the main material used for photovoltaic applications and dislocations being one of the main material limitations to better solar cell efficiency, etch pit density measurements are gaining more importance. Traditionally, etch pit density measurements are based on selective etching of silicon samples. The majority of the etchants have been developed for monocrystalline samples with known orientation, while those developed for multicrystalline samples have been less investigated and might need some optimization. In this study, we use and compare the PVScan tool, which provides a quick way to assess dislocation density on selectively etched samples, and microscope image analysis. We show how the etching methods used for dislocation density measurements can affect the results, and we suggest how to optimize the Sopori etching procedure for multicrystalline silicon samples with high dislocation densities. We also show how the Sopori etchant can be used to substitute Secco while maintaining a high precision of dislocation density measurements, but without the toxic hexavalent chromium compounds.