Synchrotron-based analysis of chromium distributions in multicrystalline silicon for solar cells

Jensen, Mallory Ann; Hofstetter, Jasmin; Morishige, Ashley E.; Coletti, Gianluca; Lai, Barry; Fenning, David P.; Buonassisi, Tonio

doi:10.1063/1.4921619

Title: Synchrotron-based analysis of chromium distributions in multicrystalline silicon for solar cells

Journal Article · Wed May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4921619· OSTI ID:1248234

Jensen, Mallory Ann ^[1]; Hofstetter, Jasmin ^[1]; Morishige, Ashley E. ^[1]; Coletti, Gianluca ^[2]; Lai, Barry ^[3];

^[4]; Buonassisi, Tonio ^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
ECN Solar Energy, Petten (The Netherlands)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)

Chromium (Cr) can degrade silicon wafer-based solar cell efficiencies at concentrations as low as 10¹⁰ cm^–3. In this contribution, we employ synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy to study chromium distributions in multicrystalline silicon in as-grown material and after phosphorous diffusion. We complement quantified precipitate size and spatial distribution with interstitial Cr concentration and minority carrier lifetime measurements to provide insight into chromium gettering kinetics and offer suggestions for minimizing the device impacts of chromium. We observe that Cr-rich precipitates in as-grown material are generally smaller than iron-rich precipitates and that Cr_i point defects account for only one-half of the total Cr in the as-grown material. This observation is consistent with previous hypotheses that Cr transport and CrSi₂ growth are more strongly diffusion-limited during ingot cooling. Here, we apply two phosphorous diffusion gettering profiles that both increase minority carrier lifetime by two orders of magnitude and reduce [Cr_i] by three orders of magnitude to ≈10¹⁰ cm^–3. Some Cr-rich precipitates persist after both processes, and locally high [Cr_i] after the high-temperature process indicates that further optimization of the chromium gettering profile is possible.

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division; National Science Foundation (NSF); Department of Defense

Grant/Contract Number:: AC01-06CH11357; EE0005314; EEC-1041895

OSTI ID:: 1248234

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1226745

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 20; ISSN 0003-6951

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

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 23 works

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