Electronic properties of grain boundaries in semiconductors

2014 The aim of this communication is to describe the main results which we have obtained in the past years on the electronic properties of grain boundaries in semiconductors. The study, experimental as well as theoretical, has focused on the main electronic characteristics i.e. density of states, optical cross sections, carrier capture cross sections (and recombination velocity) from which all the other electronic properties can be derived. The experimental results concern mostly Ge and Si bicrystals although some experiments were performed in poly-Si. Since the results obtained are rather numerous and detailed in publications, here we discuss them briefly, focusing on the leading idea with connects them. Revue Phys. Appl. 22 (1987) 579-583 JUILLET 1987,