Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T23:08:10.794Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Release of Impurities From Structural Defects in Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

S. A. McHugo  and
M. Imaizumi
S. A. McHugo
Affiliation:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Advanced Light Source, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
M. Imaizumi
Affiliation:
Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya 468, JAPAN
Get access

Abstract

It is critical to understand the behavior of metallic impurities in polycrystalline silicon used for solar cells. These impurities significantly increase the minority carrier recombination rate and, in turn, degrade cell performance. Impurity gettering is a commonly used method to remove these impurities from the material, however, past work has suggested that impurity release from structural defects drastically limits the gettering process. Presently, there is only a limited understanding of impurity release from structural defects. In this work, a correlation between structural defects and the location of metal impurities in as-grown material is established and the release of nickel and copper from structural defects in polycrystalline silicon was studied in as-grown material and after sequential thermal treatments which dissolve the impurities into the silicon matrix. Synchrotron-based x-ray fluorescence impurity mapping with spatial resolution of ≈ 1μm, was used to determine impurity distributions after each thermal treatment.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 469: Symposium E – Defects and Diffusion in Silicon Processing , 1997 , 487
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] Cabanel, C. and Laval, J.Y., J. Appl. Phys. 67, 1425 (1990)Google Scholar
[2] Higgs, V. and Kittler, M., Appl. Phys. Lett. 63, 2085 (1993)Google Scholar
[3] Kittler, M., Seifert, W. and Higgs, V., Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 137, 327 (1993)Google Scholar
[4] Fell, T.S., Wilshaw, P.R. and Coteau, M.D.d., Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 138, 695 (1993)Google Scholar
[5] Wang, S.A., Ciszek, T.F. and Schuyler, T., Solar Cells 24, 135 (1988)Google Scholar
[6] McHugo, S.A. and Sawyer, W.D., Appl. Phys. Lett. 62, 2519 (1993)Google Scholar
[7] Loghmarti, M., Stuck, R., Muller, J.C., Sayah, D. and Siffert, P., Appl. Phys. Lett., 62, 979 (1993)Google Scholar
[8] Perichaud, I., Floret, F., Stemmer, M. and Martinuzzi, S., Solid State Phen. 32–33, 77 (1993)Google Scholar
[9] Porre, O., Stemmer, M., Pasquinelli, M., Mat. Sci. & Eng. B 24, 188 (1994)Google Scholar
[10] Sopori, B.L., Jastrzebski, L., Tan, T., Narayanan, S. in Proc. of the 12th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conf., Netherlands, 1994, p. 1003 Google Scholar
[11] McHugo, S.A., Hieslmair, H., Weber, E.R., Appl. Phys. A 64, 127 (1997)Google Scholar
[12] Seibt, M., “6th workshop on the role of impurities and defects in silicon device processing”, Aug. 12–14, 1996, Snowmass Village, Colorado, to be publishedGoogle Scholar
[13] Wright-Jenkins, M., J. Elee. Soc. 124, 757 (1977)Google Scholar
[14] Weber, E.R., Appl. Phys. A 30, 1 (1983)Google Scholar
[15] Whelan, M.J., Metal Science Journal 3, 95 (1969)Google Scholar
[16] Aaron, H.B. and Kotier, G.R., Metallurgical Trans. 2, 392 (1971)Google Scholar