The Observation of Lomer-Cottrell Dislocations in Boron-diffused (111) Silicon by Berg-Barrett Skew Reflections†

Skew reflections wore employed to obtain a series of Berg—Barrett x-ray diffraction micrographs of shallow boron-diffused layers in (111) silicon. Diffusion-induced dislocations with 〈110〉 singular lines were observed, and their Burgers vectors, distribution and relative density were determined. The dislocations are Lomer-Cottrell locks. Their distribution indicates that the two-step deposition-and-drive diffusion process, of the type commonly used in integrated-circuit fabrication, produces a solute profile which deviates considerably from the assumed Gaussian form. It is demonstrated that the images recorded on the x-ray micrographs represent well-defined dislocation aggregates rather than individual dislocations.