Synchrotron-based investigation of transition-metal getterability in n-type multicrystalline silicon

Morishige, Ashley E.; Jensen, Mallory A.; Hofstetter, Jasmin; Yen, Patricia X.  T.; Wang, Chenlei; Lai, Barry; Fenning, David P.; Buonassisi, Tonio

doi:10.1063/1.4950765

Synchrotron-based investigation of transition-metal getterability in n-type multicrystalline silicon

Journal Article · Tue May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4950765· OSTI ID:1395889

^[1]; Jensen, Mallory A. ^[1]; Hofstetter, Jasmin ^[1]; Yen, Patricia X. T. ^[1]; Wang, Chenlei ^[2]; Lai, Barry ^[3]; Fenning, David P. ^[4]; Buonassisi, Tonio ^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Supreme Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)

Solar cells based on n-type multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers are a promising path to reduce the cost per kWh of photovoltaics; however, the full potential of the material and how to optimally process it are still unknown. Process optimization requires knowledge of the response of the metal-silicide precipitate distribution to processing, which has yet to be directly measured and quantified. To supply this missing piece, we use synchrotron-based micro-X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) to quantitatively map >250 metal-rich particles in n-type mc-Si wafers before and after phosphorus diffusion gettering (PDG). We find that 820°C PDG is sufficient to remove precipitates of fast-diffusing impurities and that 920°C PDG can eliminate precipitated Fe to below the detection limit of μ-XRF. Thus, the evolution of precipitated metal impurities during PDG is observed to be similar for n- and p-type mc-Si, an observation consistent with calculations of the driving forces for precipitate dissolution and segregation gettering. Measurements show that minority-carrier lifetime increases with increasing precipitate dissolution from 820°C to 880°C PDG, and that the lifetime after PDG at 920°C is between the lifetimes achieved after 820°C and 880°C PDG.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1395889

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1253398

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 108; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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