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Low‐Temperature Saw Damage Gettering to Improve Minority Carrier Lifetime in Multicrystalline Silicon
Author(s) -
AlAmin M.,
Grant N. E.,
Murphy J. D.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201700268
Subject(s) - getter , materials science , wafer , impurity , carrier lifetime , silicon , optoelectronics , thermal , diffusion , chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , organic chemistry
The minority carrier lifetime in multicrystalline silicon − a material used in the majority of today's manufactured solar cells − is limited by defects within the material, including metallic impurities which are relatively mobile at low temperatures (≤700 °C). Addition of an optimised thermal process which can facilitate impurity diffusion to the saw damage at the wafer surfaces can result in permanent removal of the impurities when the saw damage is etched away. We demonstrate that this saw damage gettering is effective at 500 to 700 °C and, when combined with subsequent low‐temperature processing, lifetimes are improved by a factor of more than four relative to the as‐grown state. The simple method has the potential to be a low thermal budget process for the improvement of low‐lifetime “red zone” wafers.