Rapid dislocation‐density mapping of as‐cut crystalline silicon wafers

Rapid quantification of structural defects, especially dislocations, is desired for characterization of semiconductor materials. Herein, we outline and validate a low‐cost approach for dislocation‐density quantification in silicon, involving a high‐resolution commercial dark‐field imaging device, a flatbed scanner. This method requires minimal surface preparation and can be performed on as‐cut 15.6 × 15.6 cm2wafers in less than 5 minutes. The method has been tested at a spatial resolution down to 250 µm. At 1 mm resolution, the average root mean square of the normalized error was 0.39. magnified image Flatbed scanner image of a defect‐etched 15.6 × 15.6 cm2silicon wafer (left) and the corresponding dislocation‐density map obtained using our technique (right). (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)