Structural Study of Small Angle Grain Boundaries in Multicrystalline Si

Abstract

Small angle grain boundaries (SA-GBs) are known as the most electrically active defects in multicrystalline silicon. These SA-GBs are classified in “general” and “special” by the normal and strong electrical activity at 300K, respectively. In this study, the origins of these electrical activities of SA-GBs were elucidated by using electron beam induced current (EBIC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that both general and special SA-GBs were composed of edge-type and 60 deg / screw dislocations. The fraction of edge dislocation in special SA-GB was higher than that of general one, which suggests that strong electrical activity is mainly originated in edge dislocations.