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The electronic properties of present‐day multicrystalline silicon (mc‐Si) materials for photovoltaic applications are strongly influenced by point defects, their mutual interaction and their interaction with dislocations and grain boundaries. This paper presents results from fundamental investigations of metal impurity interaction with extended defects, namely a small‐angle grain boundary and bulk microdefects. It is shown that the distribution of copper silicide precipitates closely follows the density of bulk microdefects indicating the underlying physics of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ grains frequently observed in mc‐Si. Co‐precipitation of copper and nickel in the same samples leads to virtually the same distribution of multimetal silicide precipitates which according to light‐beam induced current measurements show the same recombination activity as single‐metal silicide particles. Transmission electron microscopy is used to show that for copper‐rich and nickel‐rich conditions two types of silicides co‐exist, i.e. Cu3Si precipitates containing a small amount of nickel and NiSi2 precipitates containing some copper. Finally, phosphorus‐diffusion gettering (PDG) is discussed as the main gettering process used in presentday silicon photovoltaics. Special emphasis is put on the effect of extended defects and their interaction with metal impurities on PDG kinetics. It is shown that different limiting processes will be simultaneously operative in mc‐Si as a result of inhomogeneous bulk defect distributions (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

A series of four new complexes bearing N‐heterocyclic carbene ligands (NHCs) as well as four compounds bearing N‐heterocyclic carbene ligands with remote heteroatoms (rNHCs) of the general types [(NHC)(PPh3)2PdCl]+BF4− and [(rNHC)(PPh3)2PdCl]+BF4−, respectively, have been prepared in high yields. Crystal and molecular structures have been determined for four representative examples. These compounds proved to be efficient catalysts for aryl coupling reactions of the Heck and Suzuki types (reaching TONs of as high as 6,200,000). Both aryl bromides and aryl chlorides can be used as substrates. Like the well known mixed, standard (NHC)(phosphine) compounds, the new six‐numbered, one‐N‐heterocyclic carbene complexes (and in particular certain rNHC‐containing ones) also combine the advantageous stability of bis(carbene) and the high activity of bis(phosphine) complexes. Furthermore, their good catalytic performance and, especially, their easy synthesis based on cheap and commercially available starting materials, make them by far superior when compared to the mixed (NHC)(phosphine) catalysts known thus far.