The correlation between spatial alignment of dislocations, grain orientation, and grain boundaries in multicrystalline silicon

Abstract

AbstractAn experimental study of the correlation between dislocations, grain orientation, and grain boundaries in multicrystalline silicon (mc‐Si) bulk crystals is presented. Selected mc‐Si samples revealing typical structural patterns like clustering or line‐up of dislocations in the vicinity of grain boundaries are measured by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The orientation of dislocation slip planes and twin boundary planes as well as the relationship between the misorientation of neighbouring grains and the spatial alignment of dislocations are analyzed on the basis of the relevant pole figures calculated from EBSD scans. The effect of grain boundaries on the behaviour of dislocations seems to be related to the presence or absence of a common slip system on both sides of the boundary and hence, to the type of lattice misorientation between involved grains. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)