Optimized Temperature in Phosphorous Diffusion Gettering Setup of Chromium Transition Metal in Solar Grade Multicrystalline p-Type Silicon Wafer

• Authors: D. Bouhafs , N. Khelifati , Y. Kouhlane
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

We have investigated in this work the effect of the temperature profile during homogeneous phosphorous diffusion gettering (PDG) on multicrystalline (mc-Si) silicon p-type wafers destined for photovoltaic solar cells. Temperatures were varied from 800°C to 950°C with time cycle of 90 minutes. Phosphorous profile of n⁺p junction was measured by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) from 0.45 μm to 2.4 μm. Chromium concentration profile measured on the same samples by SIMS shows a high accumulated concentration of Cr atoms in the gettering layer at 900°C and 950°C, compared to samples obtained at 800°C and 850°C. The effective lifetime (τ_{eff}) of minority charge carriers characterized by quasi-steady state photoconductance (QSSPC) is in correlation with these results. From the QSSPC measurements we have observed an amelioration of τ_{eff} from 7 μs before PDG to 26 μs in the samples after PDG, processed at 900°C. This indicates the extraction of a non-negligible concentration (5×10¹⁴ cm¯³ to 5×10¹⁵ cm¯³) of Cr from the bulk to the surface gettering layer, as observed in the chromium SIMS profiles. A light degradation of τ_{eff} (18 μs) is observed in the samples treated at 950°C due probably to a partial dissolution of the metallic precipitates, especially at the grain boundaries and in the dislocations vicinity. The related τ_{Cr-Impurity} lifetime value of about 8.5 μs is extracted, which is the result of interstitial Cr_{i} or Cr_{i}B_{s} pairs, proving their strongest recombination activity in silicon.

Keywords

EN

88.40.jj; 81.05.Bx; 81.65.Tx; 87.15.Pc

Discipline

• 87.15.Pc: Electronic and electrical properties
• 81.65.Tx: Gettering
• 81.05.Bx: Metals, semimetals, and alloys
• 88.40.jj: Silicon solar cells

• Publisher: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 129
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 690-693

Dates

published

2016-04

Contributors

author

D. Bouhafs

• CRTSE, Division de Développement de Dispositifs de Conversion à Semiconducteurs, 2 Bvd Frantz Fanon, BP 140 Alger 7-Merveilles 16038, Algeria

author

N. Khelifati

• CRTSE, Division de Développement de Dispositifs de Conversion à Semiconducteurs, 2 Bvd Frantz Fanon, BP 140 Alger 7-Merveilles 16038, Algeria

author

Y. Kouhlane

• CRTSE, Division de Développement de Dispositifs de Conversion à Semiconducteurs, 2 Bvd Frantz Fanon, BP 140 Alger 7-Merveilles 16038, Algeria

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Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.129.690