A first determination was made here of the potential barrier height for well-characterized grain boundaries in polycrystalline Si, using Kelvin probe force microscopy. The observed barrier height of the grain boundaries was found to vary in the range 10 to 100meV depending on the grain boundary character. The most important finding was that the potential barrier height was approximately twice as high at random boundaries as at low-energy coincidence boundaries.

Measurements of Potential Barrier Height of Grain Boundaries in Polycrystalline Silicon by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy. S.Tsurekawa, K.Kido, T.Watanabe: Philosophical Magazine Letters, 2005, 85[1], 41-9