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Taking monocrystalline silicon to the ultimate lifetime limit

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Niewelt, T., Richter, A., Kho, T. C., Grant, Nicholas E., Bonilla, R. S., Steinhauser, B., Polzin, J.-I., Feldmann, F., Hermle, M., Murphy, John D., Phang, S. P., Kwapil, W. and Schubert, M. C. (2018) Taking monocrystalline silicon to the ultimate lifetime limit. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 185 . pp. 252-259. doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2018.05.040 ISSN 0927-0248.

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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2018.05.040

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Abstract

A central quantity to assess the high quality of monocrystalline silicon (on scales beyond mere purity) is the minority charge carrier lifetime. We demonstrate that the lifetime in high purity float zone material can be improved beyond existing observations, thanks to a deeper understanding of grown-in defects and how they can be permanently annihilated. In a first step we investigate the influence of several process sequences on the lifetime by applying a low temperature superacid passivation treatment. We find that a pre-treatment consisting of an oxidation at 1050 °C followed by a POCl3 diffusion at 900 °C can improve the lifetime by deactivating or eliminating grown-in defects. Then, pre-treated wafers of different float zone materials are passivated with three state-of-the-art layer stacks. Very high effective lifetime values are measured, thereby demonstrating the high quality of the surface passivation schemes and the pre-treated silicon wafers. The measured effective lifetimes exceed previous records, and we report an effective lifetime of 225 ms measured on a 200 µm thick 100 Ω cm n-type silicon wafer symmetrically passivated with a layer stack of a thin thermally grown oxide and a polycrystalline layer (the TOPCon layer stack).

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
Divisions: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Engineering > Engineering
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Silicon, Superacids, Solar cells
Journal or Publication Title: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Publisher: Elsevier Science BV
ISSN: 0927-0248
Official Date: October 2018
Dates:
DateEvent
October 2018Published
29 May 2018Available
17 May 2018Accepted
Volume: 185
Page Range: pp. 252-259
DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2018.05.040
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)
Date of first compliant deposit: 22 June 2018
Date of first compliant Open Access: 22 June 2018
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
UNSPECIFIEDBundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energiehttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006360
325763ASolarLIFEUNSPECIFIED
0324204ALIMESUNSPECIFIED
0324204C LIMESUNSPECIFIED
03225877DPEPPERUNSPECIFIED
01DR17019Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschunghttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347
UNSPECIFIEDAustralian Renewable Energy Agencyhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100005105
EP/M024911/1[EPSRC] Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000266
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