Real-Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry as an In-Situ Diagnostic for Hot-Wire CVD Growth of Amorphous and Epitaxial Si

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2005

OSTI ID:860834

Levi, D; Teplin, C; Iwaniczko, E; Wang, T; Wang, Q; Yan, Y; Branz, H

Real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE) has proven to be an exceptionally valuable tool in the optimization of hot wire CVD (HWCVD) growth of both silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells and thin epitaxial layers of crystal silicon (epi-Si). For SHJ solar cells, RTSE provides real-time thickness information and rapid feedback on the degree of crystallinity of the thin intrinsic layers used to passivate the crystal silicon (c-Si) wafers. For epi-Si growth, RTSE provides real-time feedback on the crystallinity and breakdown of the epitaxial growth process. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to verify the RTSE analysis of thickness and crystallinity. In contrast to TEM, RTSE provides feedback in real time or same-day, while TEM normally requires weeks. This rapid feedback has been a key factor in the rapid progress of both the SHJ and epi-Si projects.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• OSTI ID: 860834
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-520-37047
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
BREAKDOWN
CRYSTAL SILICON (C-SI) WAFERS
ELLIPSOMETRY
FEEDBACK
HETEROJUNCTIONS
NANOCRYSTALLINE
OPTIMIZATION
PV
REAL-TIME SPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETRY (RTSE)
SILICON
SILICON HETEROJUNCTION (SHJ)
SOLAR CELLS
Silicon Materials and Devices
Solar Energy - Photovoltaics
THICKNESS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (TEM)