Iron impurities in multicrystalline silicon studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy

Combining Mössbauer absorber experiments on 57Fe-deposited multicrystalline Si with a newly developed “Mössbauer spectroscopic microscope”, all 57Fe impurities incorporated in the sample can be detected and analyzed in terms of interstitials, substitutionals, small clusters, precipitates, such as iron-silicide, and their distributions against grain boundaries and defect-rich zone. The charge states can be also investigated through the isomer shifts, so that the carrier trapping centres and their distributions would be identified.