Quantification of Sheet Resistance in Boron-Diffused Silicon Using Micro-Photoluminescence Spectroscopy at Room Temperature

Nguyen, Hieu T.; Johnston, Steve; Paduthol, Appu; Harvey, Steven P.; Phang, Sieu Pheng; Samundsett, Christian; Sun, Chang; Yan, Di; Trupke, Thorsten; Al-Jassim, Mowafak M.; Macdonald, Daniel

doi:10.1002/solr.201700088

Title: Quantification of Sheet Resistance in Boron-Diffused Silicon Using Micro-Photoluminescence Spectroscopy at Room Temperature

Journal Article · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Solar RRL

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201700088· OSTI ID:1395105

Nguyen, Hieu T. ^[1]; Johnston, Steve ^[2]; Paduthol, Appu ^[3]; Harvey, Steven P. ^[2]; Phang, Sieu Pheng ^[1]; Samundsett, Christian ^[1]; Sun, Chang ^[1]; Yan, Di ^[1]; Trupke, Thorsten ^[3]; Al-Jassim, Mowafak M. ^[2]; Macdonald, Daniel ^[1]

The Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
The Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (Australia)

A micro‐photoluminescence‐based technique is presented, to quantify and map sheet resistances of boron‐diffused layers in silicon solar cell precursors with micron‐scale spatial resolution at room temperature. The technique utilizes bandgap narrowing effects in the heavily‐doped layers, yielding a broader photoluminescence spectrum at the long‐wavelength side compared to the spectrum emitted from lightly doped silicon. By choosing an appropriate spectral range as a metric to assess the doping density, the impacts of photon reabsorption on the analysis can be avoided; thus, an accurate characterization of the sheet resistance can be made. This metric is demonstrated to be better representative of the sheet resistance than the surface doping density or the total dopant concentration of the diffused layer. The technique is applied to quantify sheet resistances of 12‐μm‐wide diffused fingers in interdigitated back‐contact solar cell precursors and large diffused areas. The results are confirmed by both 4‐point probe and time‐of‐flight secondary‐ion mass spectrometry measurements. Finally, the practical limitations associated with extending the proposed technique into an imaging mode are presented and explained.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; DE‐AC36‐08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1395105

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1378116

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-70126

Journal Information:: Solar RRL, Vol. 1, Issue 10; ISSN 2367-198X

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 6 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (34)

Uncertainty analysis for the coefficient of band-to-band absorption of crystalline silicon Schinke, Carsten; Christian Peest, P.; Schmidt, Jan AIP Advances, Vol. 5, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4923379	journal	June 2015
Micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy on metal precipitates in silicon Gundel, Paul; Schubert, Martin C.; Kwapil, Wolfram physica status solidi (RRL) - Rapid Research Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 7-8 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.200903221	journal	October 2009
Determining lifetime in silicon blocks and wafers with accurate expressions for carrier density Bowden, Stuart; Sinton, Ronald A. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 102, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2818371	journal	December 2007
Quantitative carrier lifetime measurement with micron resolution Gundel, Paul; Heinz, Friedemann D.; Schubert, Martin C. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 108, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3462433	journal	August 2010
Ultralow Values of the Absorption Coefficient of Si Obtained from Luminescence Daub, E.; Würfel, P. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 74, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.1020	journal	February 1995
Micrometer-Scale Deep-Level Spectral Photoluminescence From Dislocations in Multicrystalline Silicon Nguyen, Hieu T.; Rougieux, Fiacre E.; Wang, Fan IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2015.2407158	journal	May 2015
Temperature dependence of the band-band absorption coefficient in crystalline silicon from photoluminescence Nguyen, Hieu T.; Rougieux, Fiacre E.; Mitchell, Bernhard Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4862912	journal	January 2014
Photoluminescence Imaging of Silicon Wafers and Solar Cells With Spatially Inhomogeneous Illumination Zhu, Yan; Juhl, Mattias Klaus; Trupke, Thorsten IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 7, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2690875	journal	July 2017
Deep-level photoluminescence due to dislocations and oxygen precipitates in multicrystalline Si Tajima, Michio; Iwata, Yasuaki; Okayama, Futoshi Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 111, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4728194	journal	June 2012
Doping Density in Silicon and Solar Cells Analyzed With Micrometer Resolution Heinz, Friedemann D.; Gundel, Paul; Warta, Wilhelm IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2208620	journal	January 2013
Comprehensive Microscopic Analysis of Laser-Induced High Doping Regions in Silicon Gundel, Paul; Suwito, Dominik; Jager, Ulrich IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 58, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2011.2158649	journal	September 2011
A unified mobility model for device simulation—I. Model equations and concentration dependence Klaassen, D. B. M. Solid-State Electronics, Vol. 35, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-1101(92)90325-7	journal	July 1992
Evaluating the Aluminum-Alloyed $\hbox{p}^{+}$-Layer of Silicon Solar Cells by Emitter Saturation Current Density and Optical Microspectroscopy Measurements Woehl, Robert; Gundel, Paul; Krause, Jonas IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 58, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2010.2093145	journal	February 2011
Micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy on heavily-doped layers of silicon solar cells: Micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy on heavily-doped layers of silicon solar cells Nguyen, Hieu T.; Yan, Di; Wang, Fan physica status solidi (RRL) - Rapid Research Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.201510049	journal	March 2015
Modeling the Spectral Luminescence Emission of Silicon Solar Cells and Wafers Schinke, Carsten; Hinken, David; Schmidt, Jan IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2263985	journal	July 2013
Growth of Oxygen Precipitates and Dislocations in Czochralski Silicon Rougieux, Fiacre E.; Nguyen, Hieu T.; Macdonald, D. H. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 7, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2678840	journal	May 2017
Band-gap narrowing in heavily doped silicon at 20 and 300 K studied by photoluminescence Wagner, Joachim Physical Review B, Vol. 32, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.32.1323	journal	July 1985
A unified mobility model for device simulation—II. Temperature dependence of carrier mobility and lifetime Klaassen, D. B. M. Solid-State Electronics, Vol. 35, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-1101(92)90326-8	journal	July 1992
Temperature dependence of the radiative recombination coefficient of intrinsic crystalline silicon Trupke, T.; Green, M. A.; Würfel, P. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 94, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1610231	journal	January 2003
Spectroscopy and Topography of Deep-Level Luminescence in Photovoltaic Silicon Tajima, Michio IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 4, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2014.2350082	journal	November 2014
Impact of Carrier Profile and Rear-Side Reflection on Photoluminescence Spectra in Planar Crystalline Silicon Wafers at Different Temperatures Nguyen, Hieu T.; Rougieux, Fiacre E.; Baker-Finch, Simeon C. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2014.2359737	journal	January 2015
Self-consistent optical parameters of intrinsic silicon at 300K including temperature coefficients Green, Martin A. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 92, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2008.06.009	journal	November 2008
Design, fabrication and characterisation of a 24.4% efficient interdigitated back contact solar cell: 24.4% efficient interdigitated back contact solar cell Franklin, Evan; Fong, Kean; McIntosh, Keith Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 24, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2556	journal	October 2014
Band‐gap narrowing from luminescence in p ‐type Si Dumke, William P. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 54, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.332480	journal	June 1983
Dislocations in laser-doped silicon detected by micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy Nguyen, Hieu T.; Han, Young; Ernst, Marco Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4926360	journal	July 2015
Band‐gap narrowing in heavily doped silicon: A comparison of optical and electrical data Wagner, Joachim; del Alamo, Jesús A. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 63, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.340257	journal	January 1988
Fast, contactless and spatially resolved measurement of sheet resistance by an infrared method Isenberg, Joerg; Biro, Daniel; Warta, Wilhelm Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 12, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.548	journal	January 2004
Microscale Spatially Resolved Characterization of Highly Doped Regions in Laser-Fired Contacts for High-Efficiency Crystalline Si Solar Cells Roige, A.; Alvarez, J.; Kleider, J. -P. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2015.2392945	journal	March 2015
24% efficient silicon solar cells Wang, A.; Zhao, J.; Green, M. A. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 57, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.103610	journal	August 1990
Microscopic Distributions of Defect Luminescence From Subgrain Boundaries in Multicrystalline Silicon Wafers Nguyen, Hieu T.; Jensen, Mallory A.; Li, Li IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 7, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2684904	journal	May 2017
On the composition of luminescence spectra from heavily doped p-type silicon under low and high excitation Nguyen, Hieu T.; Macdonald, Daniel Journal of Luminescence, Vol. 181 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlumin.2016.08.036	journal	January 2017
Modelling silicon characterisation Cuevas, Andres Energy Procedia, Vol. 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2011.06.108	journal	January 2011
Analytical expressions for spectral composition of band photoluminescence from silicon wafers and bricks Green, Martin A. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3645636	journal	September 2011
Emitter sheet resistance from photoluminescence images Juhl, Mattias; Trupke, Thorsten; Augarten, Yael 2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2013.6744130	conference	June 2013

Cited By (1)

Contactless, nondestructive determination of dopant profiles of localized boron-diffused regions in silicon wafers at room temperature Nguyen, Hieu T.; Li, Zhuofeng; Han, Young-Joon Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46986-z	journal	July 2019

Similar Records

Isolating p- and n-Doped Fingers With Intrinsic Poly-Si in Passivated Interdigitated Back Contact Silicon Solar Cells

Journal Article · Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics · OSTI ID:1395105

Hartenstein, Matthew B.; Nemeth, William; LaSalvia, Vincenzo; +7 more

Deposition pressure dependent structural and optoelectronic properties of ex-situ boron-doped poly-Si/SiO_x passivating contacts based on sputtered silicon

Journal Article · Sat May 16 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells · OSTI ID:1395105

Truong, Thien N.; Yan, Di; Chen, Wenhao; +6 more