Electrical activity of grain boundaries in silicon bicrystals and its modification by hydrogen plasma treatment

Electrical activity of grain boundaries (GBs) and its transformation under the influence of low-energy hydrogen plasma treatment in p-type silicon bicrystalline samples cut from EFG silicon polycrystals were investigated. Comprehensive studies have enabled one to investigate the electrical activity of GBs relative to the minority (MIC) and majority (MAC) carriers and to demonstrate the possibility of controlling this activity by different processing methods. These studies allowed for establishing the correlation between the type, structure and individual electrical activity of GBs and also thermal pre-history of samples. Among the tested modes, hydrogenation was found to be the most radical method of electrical activity modification for all types of GBs. In the process, results on hydrogenation of GBs in EFG silicon crystals depend essentially on three factors: type of GBs, state of ribbons (as-grown or annealed) and concurrence of grain boundary dangling bonds and boron passivation effects.