Dislocation Removement from Silicon

The proposed project addresses the development of improved materials properties of Silicon for production of solar cells. The proposal aims at investigating the effect of dislocation density (in-cluding grain size) on the light conversion efficiency of mu lticrystalline and monocrystalline solar cells (Sopori claims that dislocatin clusters can reduce the cell efficiency by 3 - 4% absolute), and hence show the effect of parameters such as cooling rate during crystallization on grain structure and grain qu ality on the final product. This topic is relevant to the INDNOR programme, in particu-lar to the priority area of clean energy. The outcome of the proposed work is strengthened by the participation of partners from India and Norway. Sintef (Norway) will do casting experiments to produce multicrystalline ingots with different dislocation density, and in addition perform sawing of the ingots (ensuring traceability of the position in the ingot in relation to the solar cell properties). The as cast material will be characterized by the Anna University in Chennai (India) in addition to Sintef. The wafers coming from these activities will be processed into cells by Moser Baer Photo-voltaic Limited (India), who has a production for solar cells.