The retention of krypton in polycrystalline silicon during high-temperature annealing

A Mössbauer study of Kr incorporations in sputtered a-Si films

“…For compact Kr clusters, a 'bulk' fraction of 30-40% suggests a cluster size of 1.5-2 nm if we assume that all Kr atoms in the outer layer contribute in the same way to the interface component, and all 'inner' Kr atoms contribute to the single line. This size is about a factor of two larger than the upper limit (1 nm) found from the HREM experiments [2]. This discrepancy indicates that the model used to fit the data is too simple.…”

“…It is therefore of interest to study the incorporation process and the sites of noble-gas atoms in amorphous and crystalline Si. Recently Greuter et al [1,2] reported on a detailed study of 0.5-6 at.% Kr in a-Si films grown by plasma sputter deposition, using high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM), x-ray microanalysis, Rutherford backscattering (RBS), positron beam analysis, Raman spectroscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy and bending measurements. There is a clear indication that ion-assisted growth leads to a strong reduction of open volume and that krypton resides in small agglomerates.…”