Macroscopically smooth Si layer growth by LPE on cast metallurgical-grade Silicon substrates
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401 (United States)
An ideal solvent system, Cu-Al, has been found for growth of Si layers with thicknesses of tens of microns on cast MG-Si substrates by LPE at temperatures near 900{degree}C. This solvent system utilizes Al to ensure good wetting between the solution and substrate by removing silicon native oxides, and employs Cu to control Al doping into the layers. Isotropic growth is achieved because of a high concentration of solute silicon in the solution and the resulting microscopically rough interface. As a result, macroscopically smooth Si layers have been grown on cast MG-Si that are suitable for device fabrications. The thin layers ({approximately}30 {mu}m) grown on the MG-Si substrates have doping levels of 3{times}10{sup 17} cm{sup {minus}3} and up, benign grain boundaries, and minority-carrier diffusion lengths greater than the layer thicknesses. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-83CH10093
- OSTI ID:
- 450128
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9605265--
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 353; ISSN 0094-243X; ISSN APCPCS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Reduced Cu concentration in CuAl-LPE-grown thin Si layers
The effects of solvent and dopant impurities on the performance of LPE silicon solar cells