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Investigation of Electrical Activity of Dislocation and Grain Boundary in Polycrystalline Float Zone Silicon

Conference ·
OSTI ID:15004261
In this paper, the charge carrier recombination behavior of grain boundaries(GBs) and intra-grain dislocations in high purity polycrystalline float-zone(FZ) silicon were studied by electron beam induced current (EBIC), laser microwave photoconductance decay (PCD) and preferential etching/Normaski optical microscopy. It was found that the lifetime on a single wafer increased from~10?s to 100?s as the average grain size varied from 100?m to several millimeters, while both dislocations near the surface and grain boundaries produce a strong EBIC contrast at room temperature. Since the near surface dislocation EBIC contrast disappears with increasing space charge probe depth, i.e., diode bias, the electrical activity is not likely to be intrinsic to the grown crystal, but due to contamination introduced during chem-mechanical polishing. However, the 'clean' grain boundaries continue to act as strong recombination centers.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO.
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-99GO10337;
OSTI ID:
15004261
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-520-33577
Conference Information:
Presented at the National Center for Photovoltaics and Solar Program Review Meeting, 24-26 March 2003, Denver, Colorado
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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