Cu gettering by phosphorus-doped emitters in <i>p</i>-type silicon: Effect on light-induced degradation

Inglese, Alessandro; Laine, Hannu S.; Vähänissi, Ville; Savin, Hele

doi:10.1063/1.5012680

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Based on the gettering experiments carried out earlier 10 and PL images shown in Fig. 2 (the first row), we confirmed that prior to RTA treatment, Cu was gettered to the phosphorus layer in all samples.…”

Section: à3supporting

confidence: 71%

“…10. Localized contamination using a droplet allows for monitoring of the reference areas outside the contaminated region on the same wafer, which provides information about possible external contamination, e.g., during heat treatments.…”

Section: à3mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It must be noted that there exist other empirical differences between LeTID and Cu-LID (e.g., SRH properties 29,38,39 and activation energy of degradation 31,38 ). However, Cu concentrations as low as 10 10 cm À3 have been shown to induce Cu-LID, 40 although the threshold concentration depends on the substrate quality. Therefore, it can be concluded that if copper exists in sufficiently high concentrations in wafers used in the investigation of these other LID effects (particularly LeTID), it is likely that the observed degradation effects in such cases can be at least partially attributed to Cu-LID.…”

Section: à3mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rapid thermal anneal activates light induced degradation due to copper redistribution

Nampalli

Laine

Colwell

et al. 2018

Applied Physics Letters

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While it is well known that copper impurities can be relatively easily gettered from the silicon bulk to the phosphorus or boron–doped surface layers, it has remained unclear how thermally stable the gettering actually is. In this work, we show experimentally that a typical rapid thermal anneal (RTA, a few seconds at 800 °C) used commonly in the semiconductor and photovoltaic industries is sufficient to release a significant amount of Cu species from the phosphorus-doped layer to the wafer bulk. This is enough to activate the so-called copper-related light-induced degradation (Cu-LID) which results in significant minority carrier lifetime degradation. We also show that the occurrence of Cu-LID in the wafer bulk can be eliminated both by reducing the RTA peak temperature from 800 °C to 550 °C and by slowing the following cooling rate from 40–60 °C/s to 4 °C/min. The behavior is similar to what is reported for Light and Elevated Temperature degradation, indicating that the role of Cu cannot be ignored when studying other LID phenomena. Numeric simulations describing the phosphorus diffusion and the gettering process reproduce the experimental trends and elucidate the underlying physical mechanisms.

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Section: à3supporting

confidence: 71%

Section: à3mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: à3mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rapid thermal anneal activates light induced degradation due to copper redistribution

Nampalli

Laine

Colwell

et al. 2018

Applied Physics Letters

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“…These results provide clear evidence that Cu-LID occurs in the final cells and that PERC cell fabrication does not necessarily getter Cu from the wafer bulk. This is consistent with recent experimental results obtained with lifetime samples [22].…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 94%

Impact of copper on light-induced degradation in Czochralski silicon PERC solar cells

Modanese

Wagner

Wolny

et al. 2018

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Both multicrystalline and Czochralski (Cz) silicon substrates are known to suffer from various mechanisms of light-induced degradation (LID), including copper-related LID (Cu-LID). Past studies on Cu-LID have mostly been performed on unprocessed wafers, omitting the impact of the solar cell process on the copper distribution. Here, we carefully contaminate Cz-substrates of different quality with different amounts of copper and process the substrates into complete industrial Cz-Si PERC solar cells, reaching a comprehensive mapping of the impact of Cu-LID for the PV industry. The results show that both the copper contamination level and Cz crystal quality are critical factors affecting the extent of Cu-LID. Most importantly, we show that copper can result in significant concentrations in the bulk of the finished PERC cells after being exposed to only trace surface contamination. Consequently, even a small local copper contamination area (~ 3-4 cm 2) is sufficient to induce strong LID in the full-sized (156×156 mm 2) cell parameters, resulting e.g. in ~7% relative efficiency loss during light soaking. The corresponding short circuit current density decreases by up to a factor of two in the contaminated areas.

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“…This circumstance suggests that the absence of an increase in the removal of impurities total efficacy may mean that total efficacy depends more on crystallographic defects than on impurity concentrations. In recently published works [23,24], it was reported that impurities of metals, such as copper, form electrically active precipitates in the bulk of silicon when exposed to illumination and can cause degradation of the electrical characteristics of SC. The literature also presents data on the degradation of SC from mc-Si under illumination without explaining the reasons for this phenomenon [25].…”

Section: Dependence Of Total Efficacy On Getteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of photovoltaic cells using monolike technology with technical and economical efficacy, and comparison with the traditional preparation method

Kalygulov

Plotnikov

Lay

2022

EEJET

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The survey explores the potential for the creation of sun oriented cells from Kazakhstani p-type semiconductors, filtered by a metallurgical strategy utilizing the benefits of the mono-like innovation. As per the exploratory information, it tends to be seen that the successful lifetime shows low markers on the solar element taken from the upper piece of the ingots before the gettering system. This applies to multi-glasslike silicon cells. After phosphorus dispersion, an expansion in complete viability should be visible, which doesn't rely upon the material under study. Generally speaking, a decrease in the effective lifetime of charge carriers in silicon can happen because of the presence of a lot of metal impurities, which can create formations in the form of deposits in crystal defects or dissolve in silicon. It is shown that silicon developed by the mono-like innovation has a more drawn out transporter lifetime contrasted with standard mc-Si. Likewise, it was shown that during the time spent making a solar element, the lifetime of charge transporters builds because of the gettering impact without extra refinement processes. The benefits of the created innovation were seen at the degree of sunlight based cells, appeared in an expansion in proficiency and a reduction in the conveyance of effectiveness along the ingot level. All in all, it is shown that a solar cell made of mono-like silicon has a fairly low corruption of productivity when presented to light. Mono-like silicon sooner rather than later may turn into a forward leap in the photovoltaic business because of the great potential for the development of sunlight-based cells with high proficiency and a critical decrease in expenses

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Cu gettering by phosphorus-doped emitters in p-type silicon: Effect on light-induced degradation

Cited by 4 publications

References 28 publications

Rapid thermal anneal activates light induced degradation due to copper redistribution

Rapid thermal anneal activates light induced degradation due to copper redistribution

Impact of copper on light-induced degradation in Czochralski silicon PERC solar cells

Characteristics of photovoltaic cells using monolike technology with technical and economical efficacy, and comparison with the traditional preparation method

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