Trace element analysis in solar silicon

The reliable analysis of trace elements in silicon is of fundamental importance for the understanding of material properties and quality control of solar cells. We demonstrate here the power of two analytical techniques for the determination of trace elements in solar silicon: ICP-MS and ToF-SIMS which are among the few techniques that achieve sufficiently low detection limits and which may complement each other due to their specific performance. We show examples of the quantitative chemical analysis of boron, phosphorus and iron in different solar silicon as well as the enrichment of metals and alkali metals in Si3N4 precipitates.