Solid phase epitaxy of silicon thin films by diode laser irradiation for photovoltaic applications

Schmidt, Thomas; Höger, I.; Gawlik, Annett; Andrä, G.; Falk, F.

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2012.08.004

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The liquid phase epitaxial process was numerically simulated using commercial software (Comsol). The simulation takes account of heat conduction with the absorbed light of the excimer laser as heating source and the Jackson–Chalmers model for the epitaxial crystallization .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multicrystalline silicon thin film solar cells on glass with epitaxially grown emitter prepared by a two-step laser crystallization process

Gawlik

Plentz

Höger

et al. 2014

Phys. Status Solidi A

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In this paper, we demonstrate a two‐step laser crystallization process for thin film silicon solar cells on glass. In a first step a 5 µm thick amorphous silicon layer is crystallized by a diode laser to get the absorber. The multicrystalline layer consists of grains with sizes in the range of 1 mm to 10 mm. In a second step a thin amorphous silicon layer is epitaxially crystallized by an excimer laser to form the emitter.Epitaxy was investigated in a fluence range of 700 to 1200 mJ/cm2. The resulting thickness of the emitter is measured and numerically simulated, both resulting in 185 nm for a fluence of 1100 mJ/cm2. The solar cells achieve maximum open circuit voltages of 548 mV, short‐circuit current densities of up to 22.0 mA/cm2 and an efficiency of 8.0%.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multicrystalline silicon thin film solar cells on glass with epitaxially grown emitter prepared by a two-step laser crystallization process

Gawlik

Plentz

Höger

et al. 2014

Phys. Status Solidi A

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“…Concerning the thin film on top of the wafer the phase change between amorphous and crystalline silicon influences mainly the reflectivity of the sample. The thermal contribution of the thin film is negligible [18]. The optical properties of the film were assumed as a mixture between aSi and c-Si whereas the time dependent crystalline part was taken roughly from the measured TRR curves.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

TEM analysis of Si thin films prepared by diode laser induced solid phase epitaxy at high temperatures

2014

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The solid phase crystallization of amorphous silicon thin films deposited on <111>-oriented wafers at high temperatures was investigated. The films were heated up by diode laser irradiation for some milliseconds to seconds. Time resolved reflectivity measurements together with numerical temperature calculations showed that temperatures above 1000°C were reached before significant crystallization took place. By comparing two different laser intensities it is shown that random nucleation and growth dominate solid phase epitaxy if high temperatures are reached faster. The interface between epitaxially grown and randomly crystallized material is very rough which can be attributed to contaminations found at the substrate-film interface.

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“…The phase transitions of the silicon film (melting and solidification) were taken into account by means of modifying the optical and thermal properties around the transition temperature and by adding a contribution to the specific heat capacity simulating the latent heat of the process (for details see Ref. [15]). As an example, a result of this calculation is shown in Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

Thermal stresses and cracking behavior during laser crystallization of silicon on glass for thin film solar cells

Pliewischkies

Schmidt

Höger

et al. 2014

Phys. Status Solidi A

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During the preparation of silicon thin film solar cells on glass substrates by diode laser induced liquid phase crystallization (LPC), cracking is an issue. This is due to thermal stresses caused by high temperature gradients within the sample. In this paper, the relation between thermal stress and the temperature distribution within the sample during LPC is discussed. Experiments for two sets of laser irradiation parameters were done leading to crack free or cracked crystallization of the film. Additionally, the evolution of temperature during LPC was modeled numerically. Based on the simulation, the thermal stresses introduced were calculated. The complex viscoelastic problem was simplified to an elastic multilayer model, which can be solved analytically. The theoretical results can explain the experimental behavior.

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Solid phase epitaxy of silicon thin films by diode laser irradiation for photovoltaic applications

Cited by 7 publications

References 21 publications

Multicrystalline silicon thin film solar cells on glass with epitaxially grown emitter prepared by a two-step laser crystallization process

Multicrystalline silicon thin film solar cells on glass with epitaxially grown emitter prepared by a two-step laser crystallization process

TEM analysis of Si thin films prepared by diode laser induced solid phase epitaxy at high temperatures

Thermal stresses and cracking behavior during laser crystallization of silicon on glass for thin film solar cells

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