An open source based repository for defects in silicon

Silicon is the most studied semiconductor, having almost every aspect of it being investigated. All this information is spread over a large set of publications, review articles and textbooks and cannot be found in a single location. Furthermore, the available data is not always consistent and depends on the techniques and samples used. This problem even exists for more specialised areas such as the study of defects in silicon photovoltaics, which is the focus of this paper. Currently, if a signature of a defect is experimentally determined a literature search must then be performed through texts going back decades in the hope to find a defect with similar properties. This paper addresses this time consuming activity by introducing an open source text based repository, which anyone can access or contribute to, and that provides clearly arranged information about defects in silicon.