Nickel distribution and recombination activity in as-grown and annealed multicrystalline silicon

To study the impact of annealing on the nickel distribution and recombination activity at Sigma 3(n) coincident site lattice grain boundaries (CSL-GBs) in multicrystalline silicon, synchrotron-based X-ray analysis and the electron beam induced current method were performed before and after annealing. For low Sigma boundaries, the interfacial symmetry at GBs strongly affects the recombination activity and nickel segregation. High Sigma(>= 81) boundaries are always recombination-active even without nickel segregation. Therefore, nickel is not a dominant factor of recombination activity at GBs. The behaviors of GBs in relation to nickel segregation before and after annealing are found to be affected by other neighboring GBs, triple junctions, or intragrain strain defects. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics