Relationship between grain boundary structures in Si multicrystals and generation of dislocations during crystal growth

We attempted to clarify relationship between grain boundary structures in Si multicrystals and generation of dislocations during crystal growth. Systematic variation of grain boundary structures was realized by employing dendritic nucleation at the initial stage of crystal growth. Etch-pit observation revealed that the contact angle of adjacent dendrite crystals to form a grain boundary affects generation of dislocations. Experimentally observed dislocation density was found to be well correlated with shear stress around the grain boundary calculated by finite element analysis.