Impact of defect density in Si bulk multicrystals on gettering effect of impurities

We investigated the impact of defect density in Si multicrystals on the efficiency of gettering of impurities. Samples with low defect density were prepared by controlling crystal growth and compared with those grown by a conventional cast method with high defect density. As a result, increment in minority carrier diffusion length after gettering can be enlarged by decreasing defect density. Therefore, control of microstructures in Si multicrystals by controlling crystal growth is concluded to be beneficial not only for improvement of macroscopic properties of as-grown samples but for realization of high-performance solar cells.