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Investigating impurities and surface properties in germanium co-doped multi-crystalline silicon: a combined computational and experimental investigation

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Abstract

Directional solidification (DS) method was employed in the production of multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) ingot. Extensive research has been conducted to assess the impact of introducing germanium as a co-dopant into the mc-Si ingot. Incorporating germanium into the material was found to enhance both wafer strength and minority carrier lifetime while reducing light-induced degradation (LID) and dislocation density within the ingot. Upon subjecting the prepared samples to chemical etching, distinctive pits resembling worm-like structures were observed, as obtained in the scanning electron microscope image. Further analysis was focused on assessing oxygen and carbon concentrations in the top, middle, and bottom wafers of both central and peripheral bricks. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) revealed a notably high germanium concentration in the middle wafer. These experimental findings underscore the favourable properties of germanium-co-doped silicon, particularly its reduced impurity content, which is poised to enhance the efficiency of solar cells. Moreover, a high-resolution optical microscope was employed to visualize and code-map all grain boundaries and twin boundaries present within the samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, SSN Research Centre, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai, 603 110, India

    T. Keerthivasan, M. Srinivasan, R. Madhesh, C. Balaji & P. Ramasamy

  2. Department of Physics, Sri Shanmuga College of Engineering and Technology, Salem, 637 304, India

    G. Anbu

  3. Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8603, Japan

    Takuto Kojima

  4. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8603, Japan

    Noritaka Usami

  5. CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi, 110012, India

    N. Vijayan

  6. Department of Physics, DSEHC, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600 036, India

    Jatindra Kumar Rath

  7. Mantle Petrology Laboratory, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005, India

    Minu Singh & Chalapathi Rao

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Contributions

TK: software, conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing. GA: software, conceptualization, validation, investigation. MS: software, validation, investigation. TK: formal analysis, data curation, software. JKR: formal analysis, data curation. NU: supervision, project administration. NV: resources, formal analysis. RM: software, conceptualization, validation. CB: formal analysis, data curation. MS: formal analysis, data curation. CR: formal analysis, data curation. PR: supervision, project administration.

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Correspondence to M. Srinivasan.

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Keerthivasan, T., Anbu, G., Srinivasan, M. et al. Investigating impurities and surface properties in germanium co-doped multi-crystalline silicon: a combined computational and experimental investigation. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 49 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11750-7

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