Advanced Physical Research

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to examine zirconium-modified p-type and n-type single-crystalline silicon, with untreated p-type silicon as the documented reference. Zirconium deposition followed by high-temperature thermal treatment was associated with changes in surface morphology and elemental distribution. SEM revealed localized contrast features and heterogeneous surface regions in the treated p-type specimen. EDS detected approximately 1.26 wt.\% zirconium in p-type Sample 116 and 0.85 wt.\% in n-type Sample 120. The measured oxygen content was 2.51 wt.\% in untreated p-type Sample 118, compared with 0.63 wt.\% in Sample 116 and 0.32 wt.\% in Sample 120. Elemental maps showed broadly distributed silicon and spatially nonuniform zirconium signals in both treated specimens. These semi-quantitative values characterize the analyzed electron-beam interaction volumes rather than bulk compositions or depth profiles. Qualitative differences do not establish a general conductivity-type effect because independent replication and statistical uncertainty estimates are unavailable. The measurements also do not identify zirconium-containing phases, chemical bonding, diffusion coefficients, or atomic-scale transport mechanisms. Complementary depth-resolved, structural, and chemical-state-sensitive measurements are required to clarify these aspects.