Role of copper in light induced minority-carrier lifetime degradation of silicon

We investigate the impact of copper on the light induced minority-carrier lifetime degradation in various crystalline silicon materials. We demonstrate here that the presence of neither boron nor oxygen is necessary for the degradation effect. In addition, our experiments reveal that copper contamination alone can cause the light induced minority-carrier lifetime degradation.Peer reviewe

Gettering of Iron in Silicon Solar Cells With Implanted Emitters

We present here experimental results on the gettering of iron in Czochralski-grown silicon by phosphorus implantation. The gettering efficiency and the gettering mechanisms in a high resistivity implanted emitter are determined as a function of both initial iron level and gettering anneal. The results show that gettering in implanted emitters can be efficient if precipitation at the emitter is activated. This requires low gettering temperatures and/or high initial contamination level. The fastest method to getter iron from the bulk is to rapidly nucleate iron precipitates before the gettering anneal. Here, this was achieved by a fast ramp to the room temperature in between the implantation anneal and the gettering anneal.Peer reviewe

Room-temperature method for minimizing light-induced degradation in crystalline silicon

Although light-induced degradation (LID) in crystalline silicon is attributed to the formation of boron-oxygen recombination centers, copper contamination of silicon has recently been observed to result in similar degradation. As positively charged interstitialcopper stays mobile at room temperature in silicon, we show that the bulk copper concentration can be reduced by depositing a large negative charge onto the wafer surface. Consequently, light-induced degradation is reduced significantly in both low- and high-resistivity boron-doped Czochralski-grown silicon.Peer reviewe

Phosphorus and boron diffusion gettering of iron in monocrystalline silicon

We have studied experimentally the phosphorus diffusion gettering (PDG) of iron in monocrystalline silicon at the temperature range of 650–800 °C. Our results fill the lack of data at low temperatures so that we can obtain a reliable segregation coefficient for iron between a phosphorus diffused layer and bulk silicon. The improved segregation coefficient is verified by time dependent PDG simulations. Comparison of the PDG to boron diffusion gettering (BDG) in the same temperature range shows PDG to be only slightly more effective than BDG. In general, we found that BDG requires more carefully designed processing conditions than PDG to reach a high gettering efficiency.Peer reviewe

Impact of phosphorus gettering parameters and initial iron level on silicon solar cell properties

We have studied experimentally the effect of different initial iron contamination levels on the electrical device properties of p-type Czochralski-silicon solar cells. By systematically varying phosphorus diffusion gettering (PDG) parameters, we demonstrate a strong correlation between the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and the gettering efficiency. Similar correlation is also obtained for the short-circuit current (Jsc), but phosphorus dependency somewhat complicates the interpretation: the higher the phosphorus content not only the better the gettering efficiency but also the stronger the emitter recombination. With initial bulk iron concentration as high as 2 × 1014 cm−3, conversion efficiencies comparable with non-contaminated cells were obtained, which demonstrates the enormous potential of PDG. The results also clearly reveal the importance of well-designed PDG: to achieve best results, the gettering parameters used for high purity silicon should be chosen differently as compared with for a material with high impurity content. Finally we discuss the possibility of achieving efficient gettering without deteriorating the emitter performance by combining a selective emitter with a PDG treatment.Peer reviewe

Effect of transition metals on oxygen precipitation in silicon

Effects of iron and copper impurities on the amount of precipitated oxygen and the oxide precipitate and stacking fault densities in Czochralski-grown silicon have been studied under varying thermal anneals. Silicon wafers were intentionally contaminated with iron or copper and subsequently subjected to different two-step heat treatments to induce oxygen precipitation. The iron contamination level was 2 × 10exp13cm-3 and copper contamination level 6 × 10exp13cm-3. Experiments did not show that iron contamination would have any effect on the amount of precipitated oxygen or the defect densities. Copper contamination tests showed some indication of enhanced oxygen precipitation.Peer reviewe

Enhanced performance in the deteriorated area of multicrystalline silicon wafers by internal gettering

The deteriorated area of the multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) ingots grown by directional solidification, commonly known as the Red Zone, is usually removed before wafering. This area, characterized by poor minority carrier lifetime, is located on the sides, at the top, and the bottom of the mc-Si ingots. In this study, the effect of internal gettering by oxygen precipitates and structural defects has been investigated on the bottom zone of a mc-Si ingot. Nucleation and growth of oxygen precipitates as well as low temperature annealing were studied. Photoluminescence imaging, lifetime mapping, and interstitial iron measurements performed by μ-PCD reveal a considerable reduction of the bottom Red Zone. An improvement of lifetime from below 1 µs to about 20 µs and a reduction of interstitial iron concentration from 1.32 × 1013 at/cm3 to 8.4 × 1010 at/cm3 are demonstrated in this paper.Peer reviewe

Light-induced degradation in copper-contaminated gallium-doped silicon

To date, gallium-doped Czochralski (Cz) silicon has constituted a solar cell bulk material free of light-induced degradation. However, we measure light-induced degradation in gallium-doped Cz silicon in the presence of copper impurities. The measured degradation depends on the copper concentration and the material resistivity. Gallium-doped Cz silicon is found to be less sensitive to copper impurities than borondoped Cz silicon, emphasizing the role of boron in the formation of copper-related light-induced degradation.Peer reviewe

Main defect reactions behind phosphorus diffusion gettering of iron

Phosphorus diffusion is well known to getter effectively metal impurities during silicon solar cell processing. However, the main mechanisms behind phosphorus diffusion gettering are still unclear. Here, we analyze the impact of oxygen, phosphosilicate glass as well as active and clustered phosphorus on the gettering efficiency of iron. The results indicate that two different mechanisms dominate the gettering process. First, segregation of iron through active phosphorus seems to correlate well with the gettered iron profile. Secondly, immobile oxygen appears to act as an effective gettering sink for iron further enhancing the segregation effect. Based on these findings, we present a unifying gettering model that can be used to predict the measured iron concentrations in the bulk and in the heavily phosphorus doped layers and explains the previous discrepancies reported in the literature.Peer reviewe

Glass Polarization Induced Drift in Microelectromechanical Capacitor

We present a quantitative physical model for glass substrate polarization and study the glasspolarization by measuring the capacitance drift from microelectromechanicalcapacitor test structure. The model consists of mobile and immobile charge species, which are related to alkali metals and non-bridging oxygen in glass. The model explains consistently our results and the previously observed non-homogeneous charging effect in a radio-frequency switch fabricated on a glass substrate. The results indicate that the bulk properties of the glass layer itself can be a significant source of drift. The modeling allows estimation of the drift behavior of the several kinds of device structures.Peer reviewe