Can studies of the II-VIs profit from the use of synchrotron radiation and the DOE financial support thereof?

Advances in experimental techniques are the life blood of technology and science. Some of these are occurring via development of new techniques using synchrotron radiation (SR). Of particular interest are techniques developed in support of the long range plan of the Si integrated circuit (IC) industry (the “roadmap”) to strongly reduce the feature size in IC well into the next century. Two newly developed and/or improved SR techniques are examined. First is the investigation of the electrical deactivation mechanism in Si with very large (e.g., 2×10 20 /cm 3 ) As doping. Here newly developed standing wave spectroscopy techniques are used. Second, the use of total reflection x-ray fluorescence to detect metallic atoms on Si production wafers. The general advantages of SR are also outlined.