Influence of Tabula Rasa on Process- and Light-Induced Degradation of Solar Cells Fabricated From Czochralski Silicon
Monocrystalline Si solar cells are fabricated from Czochralski (Cz) Si, which contains 1017–1018 cm-3 oxygen atoms. Cz Si undergoes degradation during high-temperature thermal processing steps, such as dopant diffusion to form the p - n junction. This degradation in the bulk minority carrier lifetime can be related to the formation of oxygen precipitates. We found that a high-temperature annealing process known as tabula rasa (TR) not only mitigates process-induced degradation via oxygen precipitate nuclei dissolution, but also modifies subsequent light-induced degradation. We report on the bulk carrier lifetime of n - and p -type Cz Si after TR, which homogenizes the interstitial oxygen in the bulk Si to its monoatomic form in either an N 2 or O 2 environment. A control sample, which was not subjected to a TR processing step, experienced severe process-induced degradation during a boron emitter thermal budget as oxygen precipitates were formed in the Si bulk. These precipitates could be imaged using photoluminescence. Additionally, samples that underwent a TR processing step prior to the boron emitter thermal budget show efficient gettering of metallic impurities compared to the control sample, which showed a decline in the implied open-circuit voltage after the gettering step. Furthermore, modification of the interstitial oxygen bonding by TR had a strong effect on the light-induced degradation kinetics. Instead of a typically observed monotonic decrease, minority carrier lifetime increases first, followed by a nonmonotonic decrease over a ~20 h period. Finally, we conclude that by modifying the interstitial oxygen bonding via TR pretreatment, p -type Cz Si wafers become substantially resistant to harsh solar cell processes and strongly modified light-induced degradation, which would open alternative ways to mitigate this degradation mechanism.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308; EE0008171
- OSTI ID:
- 1726057
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-77729; MainId:30644; UUID:41f69b10-e381-4e6b-aa09-151e81c8c630; MainAdminID:18882
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 10, Issue 6; ISSN 2156-3381
- Publisher:
- IEEECopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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