How does dislocation affect recombination characteristics of solar cells?

Dislocation is a common extended defect in crystalline silicon solar cells, which affects the recombination characteristics of solar cells by forming deep-level defect states in the silicon bandgap, thereby reducing the lifetime of minority carrier.

How to reduce defects in directionally solidified crystalline Sili-con?

Therefore, how to reduce the defects in directionally solidified crystalline sili-con is very meaningful. The mainstream method is to produce cast monocrystal-line silicon (CMC-Si) with < 100 > -oriented seeds. In the early CMC-Si, there were high density dislocation defects at the junction between seeds.

What are secondary defects in crystal growth & cooling process?

In the course of crystal growth and cooling processes, various secondary defects are created in the form of swirl,19−24) nuclei and/or oxygen precipitates38−43) and crystal originated particles(COP)(see section 1.6 below).44) These microdefects have critically affected crucial failure to electrical performance of miniaturized Si devices.

Can atomic force microscopy detect crystalline silicon?

Also, as early as 1999, Golan et al. have used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to detect information associated with the structure and deformation of silicon, including defects and dislocations, destroying the periodic structure of crystalline silicon.

How do dislocations affect the performance of Si solar cells?

The classification, density, distribution of dislocations, and their interactions with other defects in Si can affect the lifetime of minority carriers and thereby reduce the performance of Si solar cells. In order to achieve higher cell efficiency, crystals with less or even no dislocation should be obtained.

What are boron-oxygen defects?

It is commonly addressed as boron-oxygen defects and has been found to affect silicon devices, whose performance depends on minority charge carrier diffusion lengths-such as solar cells.