Zone-melting recrystallization for solar cells. Annual progress report, September 1, 1982-August 31, 1983

Technical Report · Wed Aug 31 04:00:00 EDT 1983

OSTI ID:5848757

Smith, H I

Zone-melting recrystallization (ZMR) of Si on SiO/sub 2/ is investigated to determine if this process can be adpated to produce material configurations suitable for low-cost, high-efficiency photovoltaic cells. Fundamental recrystallization mechanisms, crystallographic characteristics and electrical properties are studied. Novel means of controlling crystallographic properties have been developed, including: hourglass, vertical-constriction, entrainment, and orientation-filtering techniques. EBIC studies indicated enhanced dopant diffusion along grain boundaries and subboundaries, and showed that the diffusion length of minority carriers is approx. 100 ..mu..m. DLTS studies showed that ZMR films do not contain deep levels associated with impurities, and have interface-state densities comparable to IC-grade Si wafers. A (100) crystallographic texture can be achieved in 50 ..mu..m-thick ZMR Si films using the vertical-constriction technique. Such films can provide a double pass of incident light and should be suitable for high-efficiency photovoltaic cells. Both two-sided and back-contact cells have been fabricated. We intend to develop a process in which thick Si films are recrystallized directly on the windows of photovoltaic modules. This should lead to considerable economy.

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-82ER13019
• OSTI ID: 5848757
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/13019-1; ON: DE83017851
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360601 -- Other Materials-- Preparation & Manufacture
CHALCOGENIDES
DESIGN
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FABRICATION
FILMS
MELTING
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
RECRYSTALLIZATION
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SILICON OXIDES
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
TESTING
THIN FILMS
ZONE MELTING