The determination of grain boundary planes in multicrystalline material had been restricted only to transmission electron microscope investigations (Jang et al., 1992; Elgat et al., 1985) or to metallographic investigations of the grain boundary (Randle et al., 1993). The first method was expensive, and both were complex and time consuming in grain boundary preparation. This paper proposes the determination of grain boundary planes in semiconductor wafer by a combined application of electron back-scattering diffraction and infrared transmission microscopy. In particular, the new method was demonstrated with directional solidified multicrystalline silicon.

Novel Combination of Orientation Measurements and Transmission Microscopy for Experimental Determination of Grain Boundary Miller Indices in Silicon and Other Semiconductors. C.Funke, T.Behm, R.Helbig, E.Schmid, S.Würzner: Journal of Microscopy, 2012, 246[1], 70-6