Effects of high temperature annealing on the dislocation density and electrical properties of upgraded metallurgical grade multicrystalline silicon

High temperature annealing was performed on upgraded metallurgical grade multicrystalline silicon (UMG multi-Si) wafers with a purity of 99.999%. The samples were mechanically polished and chemically etched, and then the microstructures were observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The minority carrier lifetime and resistivity of the samples were measured using microwave photoconductance decay and four-point probe techniques, respectively. The results show that the electrical properties of the samples decrease rather than increase as the annealing temperature increases, while the number of dislocations in bulk Si reduced or even disappeared after annealing for 6 hours at 1100–1400°C. It is considered that the structural microdefects induced by the high concentration of metal impurities (including interstitial or substitutional impurities and nanoscale precipitates) determine the minority carrier recombination activity and thus the electrical properties of UMG multi-Si wafers rather than dislocations in bulk Si.