Redistribution of Recombination Active Defects and Trapping Effects in Multicrystalline Silicon After Wet Thermal Oxidation
In this work we characterised recombination active defects in standard multicrystalline silicon block material by investigating the effect of a wet thermal oxidation step at 800 degC with fast temperature ramps on the effective lifetimes measured by the CDI and QSSPC methods. The average lifetime was significantly decreased by the oxidation step. An increase in the concentration of interstitial iron as well as an increase in the concentration of trapping centres after the oxidation step was observed. A detailed investigation revealed an increase in the recombination activity of grain boundaries. Modeling of measured carrier density profiles indicates that iron dissolves from precipitates in grain boundaries and diffuses into the grains during the process. It was found that iron represents a major part of the active defect concentration in the investigated multicrystalline material after the applied oxidation process
Imaging method for laterally resolved measurement of minority carrier densities and lifetimes: Measurement principle and first applications
Carrier density imaging, a further development of the infrared lifetime mapping technique [Bail et al., Proceedings 28th IEEE-PVSC (2000)], is presented as an extremely fast, spatially resolved lifetime measurement method. It is based on the principle of absorption of infrared radiation by free carriers. The physical principles and necessary calibration procedures are discussed, showing that the steady state carrier density and thus actual carrier lifetime at low-level injection is measured, whereas many standard lifetime measurement techniques measure differential lifetimes only. A charge coupled device camera operating in the infrared is applied for measuring the infrared transmissivity of the sample. This overcomes the necessity of scanning the sample in order to receive laterally resolved information. Thus measurement times can be cut from hours to minutes or even seconds. An additional advantage is the absence of any moving parts which may cause spatial errors or even failures in the measurement. As ...
The Invention of the Jewish People
'All modern nation states have a story of their origins, passed down through both official and popular culture, and yet few of these accounts have proved as divisive and influential as the Israeli national myth. The well-known tale of Jewish exile at the hands of the Romans during the first century AD, and the assertion of both cultural and racial continuity through to the Jewish people of the present day, resonates far beyond Israel's borders. Despite its use as a justification for Jewish settlement in Palestine and the project of a Greater Israel, there have been few scholarly investigations into the historical accuracy of the story as a whole. In this bold and ambitious new book, Shlomo Sand shows that the Israeli national myth has its origins in the nineteenth century, rather than in biblical times - when Jewish historians, like scholars in many other cultures, reconstituted an imagined people in order to model a future nation. Sand forensically dissects the official story - and demonstrates the construction of a nationalist myth and the collective mystification that this requires. A bestseller in Israel and France, Shlomo Sand's book has sparked a widespread and lively debate. Should the Jewish people regard themselves as genetically distinct and identifiable across the millennia - or should that doctrine now be left behind and if the myth of the Jewish state is dismantled, could this open a path toward a more inclusive Israeli state, content within its borders?'