Determination of carrier recombination velocity at inclined grain boundaries in multicrystalline silicon through photoluminescence imaging and carrier simulation

We present a quantification method of carrier recombination velocity of a general grain boundary (GB) by combining steady state photoluminescence (PL) imaging and carrier simulation under uniform illumination. To improve the accuracy and versatility, inclination angles of GBs, which can be obtained from front and rear optical images, were included in the carrier simulation model. As a consequence, simulated PL profiles successfully reproduced the tendency of experiments to exhibit shift of the minimal position from the GB on the front surface to the direction of inclination. Furthermore, by fitting simulated PL profiles with experiments, the carrier recombination velocity was evaluated for various GBs based on the improved model to consider the inclination angle.