Structural and electrical charaterization of crystallographic defects in silicon ribbons

Yang, K. H.; Schwuttke, G. H.; Ciszek, T.F.

doi:10.1016/0022-0248(80)90252-3

“…7 exhibit a strong IBI signal, but these defects have low intrinsic recombination activity. 100,101 Hence, nanotwinned regions exhibit high minority carrier lifetimes despite being highly stressed, reaffirming similar conclusions reached by Chen. 50 In contrast, the neighboring dislocationrich grain in Fig.…”

Section: A Effect Of Stress On Manufacturing Yieldsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…[98][99][100] These nanotwinned regions, commonly called "twin bands," are associated with high minority carrier lifetimes and low dislocation densities. 100,101 In our experiment, string ribbon samples were analyzed by IBI with a close-up 1ϫ objective. A nanotwinned band and an adjacent nontwinned grain were identified by EBSD.…”

Section: Twin Bandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7͑d͔͒ in heavily twinned regions of mc-Si, consistent with a wide body of literature. 20,21,[100][101][102][103] The concentration of metal-rich precipitates at twin boundaries is typically very low, unless pile-up dislocations are present; 104 unlike ␤-SiC microdefects, there are few nucleation points for metal impurity precipitates due to the highly reconstructed defect core structure.…”

Section: Twin Bandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Infrared birefringence imaging of residual stress and bulk defects in multicrystalline silicon

Ganapati

¹

,

Schoenfelder

²

,

Castellanos

³

et al. 2010

Journal of Applied Physics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This manuscript concerns the application of infrared birefringence imaging ͑IBI͒ to quantify macroscopic and microscopic internal stresses in multicrystalline silicon ͑mc-Si͒ solar cell materials. We review progress to date, and advance four closely related topics. ͑1͒ We present a method to decouple macroscopic thermally-induced residual stresses and microscopic bulk defect related stresses. In contrast to previous reports, thermally-induced residual stresses in wafer-sized samples are generally found to be less than 5 MPa, while defect-related stresses can be several times larger. ͑2͒ We describe the unique IR birefringence signatures, including stress magnitudes and directions, of common microdefects in mc-Si solar cell materials including: ␤-SiC and ␤-Si 3 N 4 microdefects, twin bands, nontwin grain boundaries, and dislocation bands. In certain defects, local stresses up to 40 MPa can be present. ͑3͒ We relate observed stresses to other topics of interest in solar cell manufacturing, including transition metal precipitation, wafer mechanical strength, and minority carrier lifetime. ͑4͒ We discuss the potential of IBI as a quality-control technique in industrial solar cell manufacturing.

show abstract

“…3͒, from which dislocation clusters have been observed to originate. 100,119 By examining our results in the context of a growing body of literature, we conclude that stressed microdefects can indirectly impact minority carrier lifetime by generating dislocations.…”

Section: A Effect Of Stress On Manufacturing Yieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infrared birefringence imaging of residual stress and bulk defects in multicrystalline silicon

Ganapati

¹

,

Schoenfelder

²

,

Castellanos

³

et al. 2010

2010 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This manuscript concerns the application of infrared birefringence imaging ͑IBI͒ to quantify macroscopic and microscopic internal stresses in multicrystalline silicon ͑mc-Si͒ solar cell materials. We review progress to date, and advance four closely related topics. ͑1͒ We present a method to decouple macroscopic thermally-induced residual stresses and microscopic bulk defect related stresses. In contrast to previous reports, thermally-induced residual stresses in wafer-sized samples are generally found to be less than 5 MPa, while defect-related stresses can be several times larger. ͑2͒ We describe the unique IR birefringence signatures, including stress magnitudes and directions, of common microdefects in mc-Si solar cell materials including: ␤-SiC and ␤-Si 3 N 4 microdefects, twin bands, nontwin grain boundaries, and dislocation bands. In certain defects, local stresses up to 40 MPa can be present. ͑3͒ We relate observed stresses to other topics of interest in solar cell manufacturing, including transition metal precipitation, wafer mechanical strength, and minority carrier lifetime. ͑4͒ We discuss the potential of IBI as a quality-control technique in industrial solar cell manufacturing.

show abstract

“…In past years, numerical simulation for silicon crystal growth has been carried out by many researchers. It is well known that the grain structure of mc-Si ingot has a strong effect on the conversion efficiency of solar cells because the grain boundaries are the locations of lattice defects which interact with minority carriers [4,5]. Ma et al designed an insulation partition in a seeded directional solidification (DS) furnace and the result shows that it can reduce the total heating power consumption as well as improve the efficiency of solar cells [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Simulation of Multi-Crystalline Silicon Crystal Growth Using a Macro–Micro Coupled Method during the Directional Solidification Process

Lian

¹

,

Liu

²

,

Li

³

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In this work, the crystal growth of multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) during the directional solidification process was studied using the cellular automaton method. The boundary heat transfer coefficient was adjusted to get a suitable temperature field and a high-quality mc-Si ingot. Under the conditions of top adiabatic and bottom constant heat flux, the shape of the crystal-melt interface changes from concave to convex with the decrease of the heat transfer coefficient on the side boundaries. In addition, the nuclei form at the bottom boundary while columnar crystals develop into silicon melt with amzigzag-faceted interface. The higher-energy silicon grains were merged into lower energy ones. In the end, the number of silicon grains decreases with the increase of crystal length.

show abstract

Structural and electrical charaterization of crystallographic defects in silicon ribbons

Cited by 75 publications

References 18 publications

Infrared birefringence imaging of residual stress and bulk defects in multicrystalline silicon

Infrared birefringence imaging of residual stress and bulk defects in multicrystalline silicon

Infrared birefringence imaging of residual stress and bulk defects in multicrystalline silicon

Numerical Simulation of Multi-Crystalline Silicon Crystal Growth Using a Macro–Micro Coupled Method during the Directional Solidification Process

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About