Defect-Selective Etching of Icosahedral Boron Arsenide (B12As2) Crystals in Molten Potassium Hydroxide

ABSTRACTThe present work reports on the defect-selective etching (DSE) for estimating dislocation densities in icosahedral boron arsenide (B12As2) crystals using molten potassium hydroxide (KOH). DSE takes advantage of the greater reactivity of high-energy sites surrounding a dislocation, compared to the surrounding dislocation-free regions. The etch pits per area are indicative of the defect densities in the crystals, as confirmed by x-ray topography (XRT). Etch pit densities were determined for icosahedral boron arsenide crystals produced from a molten nickel flux as a function of etch time (1-5 minutes) and temperature (400-700°C). The etch pits were predominately triangle shaped, and ranged in size from 5-25μm. The average etch pit density of the triangle and oval etch-pits was on the order of 5x107cm-2 and 3x106cm-2 (respectively), for crystals that were etched for two minutes at 550°C.

Solution Growth and Characterization of Icosahedral Boron Arsenide (B12As2)

ABSTRACTThe crystallographic properties of bulk icosahedral boron arsenide (B12As2) crystals grown by precipitation from molten nickel solutions were characterized. Large crystals (5-8 mm) were produced by dissolving the boron in nickel at 1150°C for 48-72 hours, reacting with arsenic vapor, and slowly cooling to room temperature. The crystals varied in color from black and opaque to clear and transparent. Raman spectroscopy, x-ray topography (XRT), and defect selective etching revealed that the B12As2 single crystals were high quality with low dislocation densities. Furthermore, XRT results suggest that the major face of the plate-like crystals was (111) type, while (100), (010) and (001) type facets were also observed optically. The predominant defect in these crystals was edge character growth dislocations with a <001> Burgers vector, and <-110> line direction. In short, XRT characterization shows that solution growth is a viable method for producing good quality B12As2 crystals.