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Cathodoluminescence is used to investigate the phenomenon of relatively efficient band-to-band luminescence from silicon specimens processed to contain near surface dislocations. Dislocations are produced either by ion implantation and subsequent high-temperature annealing or by mechanical abrasion of specimens having a wide range of doping concentrations. It is found that the luminescence is not directly related to the presence of dislocations and, in some cases, can be enhanced by low temperature annealing. This luminescence behaviour is explained by the effect of competing non-radiative recombination due to impurity deep levels and Auger recombination. The enhancement observed in some specimens is due to gettering of the deep level impurities.

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The effect of low temperature anneals (≤500C) on Cz-Si minority carrier lifetime has been investigated using near-band-edge cathodoluminescence (CL) The low temperature anneals are intended to produce efficient gettering by taking advantage of the increasing supersaturation of impurities as temperatures are reduced. It is found that the anneals affect the CL efficiency through several different mechanisms and that annealing under "dirty" conditions does not introduce significant amounts of electrically active impurities into the material. In order to aid the interpretation of experimental results, modelling of the effect of different sample parameters on CL is carried out. Using this theoretical work, an experimental method is developed for measuring minority carrier lifetime using CL which is independent of surface recombination.