Solion ion source for high-efficiency, high-throughput solar cell manufacturing

Journal Article · Sat Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4828371· OSTI ID:22254150

Koo, John; Binns, Brant; Miller, Timothy; Krause, Stephen; Skinner, Wesley; Mullin, James ^[1]

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1. Applied Materials, Inc., Varian Semiconductor Equipment Business Unit, 35 Dory Road, Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930 (United States)

In this paper, we introduce the Solion ion source for high-throughput solar cell doping. As the source power is increased to enable higher throughput, negative effects degrade the lifetime of the plasma chamber and the extraction electrodes. In order to improve efficiency, we have explored a wide range of electron energies and determined the conditions which best suit production. To extend the lifetime of the source we have developed an in situ cleaning method using only existing hardware. With these combinations, source life-times of >200 h for phosphorous and >100 h for boron ion beams have been achieved while maintaining 1100 cell-per-hour production.

• OSTI ID: 22254150
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 85, Issue 2; Conference: ICIS 2011: 14. international conference on ion sources, Giardini-Naxos, Sicily (Italy), 12-16 Sep 2011; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
BORON IONS
ELECTRODES
ION BEAMS
ION SOURCES
MANUFACTURING
SOLAR CELLS