Silicon Bicrystal: Growth and Characterization

Abstract

Utilization of polycrystalline silicon for solar cell applications poses the problem of the effects of grain boundaries on the electronic properties of this type of material: preferential impurity diffusion at the boundary, electrical properties of the boundary in relation to the existence of dangling bonds and impurities. Silicon bicrystals, where the interface between two adjacent grains can be well defined, have been grown to study the properties of the grain boundaries. Such specimens have been realized by the Czochralsky growth technique with p-type silicon (boron, 20 s cm).