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Easy‐to‐use surface passivation technique for bulk carrier lifetime measurements on silicon wafers
Author(s) -
Schmidt Jan,
Aberle Armin G.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-159x(199807/08)6:4<259::aid-pip215>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - passivation , wafer , carrier lifetime , silicon , materials science , optoelectronics , engineering physics , nanotechnology , engineering , layer (electronics)
A novel, easily applicable surface passivation technique is presented, which, in combination with contactless photocoductance decay (PCD) measurements, allows a quick estimation of the bulk carrier lifetime of crystalline silicon wafers. The proposed passivation technique requires neither a chemical pre‐cleaning of the silicon wafer nor expensive instrumentation. On both surfaces of the wafer a thin varnish film is deposited using a spinner. Subsequently, both surfaces of the coated silicon wafer are charged by means of a corona chamber. Using microwave‐detected PCD measurements, we experimentally demonstrate that this novel surface passivation scheme provides differential surface recombination velocities in the 30–70 cm s −1 range on p ‐as well as n ‐type silicon wafers. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.