Quantitative residual stress imaging of multicrystalline, quasi-mono, and thin kerfless silicon wafers by infrared birefringence and sectioning

One of the parameters with highest impact on photovoltaic module cost is manufacturing yield during solar cell production and handling. This work presents a method to quantify residual stress in silicon wafers, through a combination of infrared birefringence imaging (IBI) and sectioning. We spatially resolve and decouple in-plane residual stress components in silicon wafers produced by four different growth methods.