Accelerator mass spectrometry solutions to semiconductor problems

A 2.5 MV Tandetron based accelerator mass spectrometry system has been used to measure several impurities (B, Cr, P, Ge, As, Sb and Au) in Si, GaAs and/or HgCdTe semiconductor samples. Modifications of the Cs ion source and sample holder have been made to reduce the introduction of impurities into the system, and this has allowed detection limits of 0.1 parts per billion atomic to be reached in some cases. Depth profiles of simple semiconductor structures have also been performed. A comparison of this method to more conventional analytical techniques such as SIMS is discussed. (orig.)