On the recombination centers of iron-gallium pairs in Ga-doped silicon

Nærland, Tine Uberg; Bernardini, Simone; Haug, Halvard; Grini, Sigbjørn; Vines, Lasse; Stoddard, Nathan; Bertoni, Mariana

doi:10.1063/1.5000358

Title: On the recombination centers of iron-gallium pairs in Ga-doped silicon

Journal Article · 28 August 2017 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5000358 · OSTI ID:1535341

Nærland, Tine Uberg ^[1]; Bernardini, Simone ^[2]; Haug, Halvard ^[3]; Grini, Sigbjørn ^[4]; Vines, Lasse ^[4]; Stoddard, Nathan ^[5];

^[2]

Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States); DOE/OSTI
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller (Norway)
Univ. of Oslo (Norway)
Solar World Industries America, Hillsboro, OR (United States)

Gallium (Ga) doped silicon (Si) is becoming a relevant player in solar cell manufacturing thanks to its demonstrated low light-induced degradation, yet little is known about Ga-related recombination centers. In this paper, we study iron (Fe)-related recombination centers in as-grown, high quality, directionally solidified, monocrystalline Ga-doped Si. While no defect states could be detected by deep level transient spectroscopy, lifetime spectroscopy analysis shows that the minority carrier lifetime in as-grown wafers is dominated by low levels of FeGa related defect complexes. FeGa pairs have earlier been shown to occur in two different structural configurations. Herein, we show that in terms of recombination strength, the orthorhombic pair-configuration is dominant over the trigonal pair-configuration for FeGa. Furthermore, the defect energy level in the band gap for the orthorhombic defect center is determined to be E_V + 0.09 eV, and the capture cross-section ratio of the same defect center is determined to be 220.

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Research Organization:: SolarWorld Americas, Inc., Hillsboro, OR (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006806

OSTI ID:: 1535341

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 122; ISSN 0021-8979

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

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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