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Investigations on the long time behavior of the metastable boron–oxygen complex in crystalline silicon
Author(s) -
Herguth A.,
Schubert G.,
Kaes M.,
Hahn G.
Publication year - 2008
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/pip.779
Subject(s) - silicon , metastability , boron , oxygen , materials science , recombination , carrier lifetime , charge carrier , chemical physics , degradation (telecommunications) , solar cell , crystalline silicon , optoelectronics , photochemistry , chemistry , electronic engineering , biochemistry , organic chemistry , engineering , gene
Abstract Boron and oxygen contamination in Czochralski‐grown (Cz) silicon leads to a degradation of the minority charge carrier lifetime within short times due to the formation of recombination active complexes. The formation of these complexes is investigated for longer times showing a further development of the defect. This development called ‘regeneration’ is triggered by illumination or applied forward voltages and leads to a new state of the defect. This new state of the defect is proven to be less recombination active allowing higher stable minority carrier lifetimes and conversion efficiencies of solar cells. The influences of temperature and light intensity are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.