Characteristics and Operation of Neutron Transmutation Doping in HANARO Reactor

The Neutron Transmutation Doping (NTD) of silicon is a method to produce a high quality n-type semiconductor. The NTD technology makes it possible to dope a silicon ingot with an extremely uniform dopant distribution. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been providing the NTD service for 5 and 6 inch silicon ingots from 2003 and 2005 respectively at using HANARO. Coping with recent market demands for a silicon semiconductor by NTD, an additional irradiation facility which has a potential for the 8 inch silicon ingots was developed and the test irradiation is under way from the end of 2008. It is expected that a full scale production of 8 inch NTD-Si will be started from early 2009 and then the total capacity will be increased to 50 tons per year. This paper describes the general characteristics and operation of the NTD facility in HANARO.