Studies of interface phenomena at silicon grain boundaries

This paper presents the results of an experimental and theoretical investigation of carrier transport and interface state kinetics at grain boundaries in silicon. The grain-boundary interface has been modelled numerically using finite-element methods, and measurements of transient capacitance together with current-voltage characteristics have been recorded over a temperature range from 100K to 300K. Among our findings is that thermionic-field emission from grain-boundary interface states, which has been ignored in earlier treatments, can play a dominant role in transport phenomena forNV \geq 10^{16}cm^-3V at T = 300K, orNV \geq 10^{15}cm-^-3V at 130K, where N is the bulk silicon doping concentration, and V is the voltage applied across the grain boundary.