It was noted that edge-defined film-fed growth was an economical method of producing multicrystalline Si ribbon for solar cells. Such Si was heavily doped with C. After electron irradiation, the dominant defect found in this material was the G-center, which was associated with the CsCi defect. The techniques of scanning cathodoluminescence and electron back-scattered diffraction pattern analysis were used here to correlate the luminescence from the G-center with the grain boundary structure in electron-irradiated edge-defined film-fed grown Si. A localized enhancement of G-center luminescence was found near twin boundaries at above 20K, whereas no such enhancement was found near low-angle grain boundaries at up to 80K or at twin boundaries below 20K. This behavior may be caused by thermal ionization of excitons from traps at the twin boundaries, and their subsequent capture at G-centers.

Electronic and Structural Properties of Grain Boundaries in Electron-Irradiated Edge-Defined Film-Fed Growth Silicon. K.D.Vernon-Parry, G.Davies, S.Galloway: Semiconductor Science and Technology, 2005, 20[2], 171-4