Damage‐Free Polishing of Polycrystalline Silicon

The Nalcoag polishing technique for polycrystalline Si resulted in a grain-to-grain surface height variation of delta # < 0.05 mu m. The slope of the surface profile at grain boundaries is very gentle and no @grooving@ at grain boundaries has been observed. These properties are very important for probing grain boundaries, electrically and/or optically, along the sample surface, SPV monitoring showed the extent of surface damage to be min. This polishing/monitor technique has also facilitated other evaluation methods such as measurement of absorption coefficient for wavelengths near the bandedge, spectroscopic measurements of impurities like oxygen, and defect delineation by chemical etching.--AA