Analysis of local electrical properties of grain boundaries in Si byelectron-beam-induced-current techniques

Abstract

We report on temperature-dependent investigations of grain boundaries (GB) inp-type multicrystalline Si by means of two different electron-beam-induced-current(EBIC) methods. The so-called GB-EBIC technique is used to estimate thebarrier height of the GB as a function of beam current and temperature. Thebarrier is found to decrease upon increase of injection level and decrease oftemperature. EBIC investigations in standard geometry were performed forcomparison. It is shown that the two EBIC techniques yield differentinformation about the GB. Possible reasons of this behaviour are discussed.