Carbon, oxygen and their interaction with intrinsic point defects in solar silicon ribbon material. Annual report, September 1982-September 1983

This report first provides some background information on intrinsic point defects, and on carbon and oxygen in silicon in so far as it may be relevant for the efficiency of solar cells fabricated from EFG ribbon material. We discuss the co-precipitation of carbon and oxygen and especially of carbon and silicon self interstitials. A simple model for the electrical activity of carbon-self-interstitial agglomerates is presented. We assume that the self-interstitial content of these agglomerates determines their electrical activity and that both compressive stresses (high self-interstitial content) and tensile stresses (low self-interstitial content) give rise to electrical activity of the agglomerates. The self-interstitial content of these carbon-related agglomerates may be reduced by an appropriate high-temperature treatment and enhanced by a supersaturation of self-interstitials generated during formation of the p-n junction of solar cells. It is suggested that oxygen present in supersaturation in carbon-rich silicon may be induced to form SiO/sub 2/ precipitates by self-interstitials generated during phosphorus diffusion. It is proposed that the SiO/sub 2/-Si interface of the precipates gives rise to a continuum of donor states and that these interface states are responsible for at least part of the light-enhancement effects observed in oxygen containing EFG silicon after phosphorus diffusion.