Contacted resistance measurements for the quantification of boron-hydrogen pairs in crystalline silicon

The methodology of directly contacted resistance measurements for the quantification of boron-hydrogen (BH) pairs in crystalline silicon (Si) is presented. Temperature is found to be the most critical error source. It is demonstrated that the methodology can be used to quantify changes in BH pair concentration down to the sub-permille level which corresponds to the low 1012 cm−3 range for 1 Ω·cm Si material commonly used for solar cells. It is furthermore demonstrated that BH dynamics can be observed not only in impurity-lean FZ-Si, but also in impurity- and defect-richer Cz-Si and mc-Si. As the used sample design enables both, lifetime and BH measurements, a correlation study of LeTID and BH dynamics was performed suggesting that BH pairs are probably not the LeTID-related defect species. However, the coincident onset of both dynamics may be interpreted as a common mode of action like the splitting of hydrogen dimers.