Synchrotron-based investigations into metallic impurity distribution and defect engineering in multicrystalline silicon via thermal treatments

Synchrotron-based microprobe investigations were conducted to study the effect of heat treatments and cooling rates on the distribution and chemical state of metal-rich precipitates in multicrystalline silicon. A brief summary of these results is presented herein; complete reports will be published elsewhere. The effect of temperature on the dissolution of metal-silicide precipitates during rapid thermal processing has been investigated, revealing that higher temperatures can lead to the dissolution of metal silicide precipitates correlated with decreases in cell performance. The effect of modifying cooling rates on the distributions of metals has also been investigated, indicating that while fast cools lead to widespread nucleation, slow cools can lead to the formation of significantly larger clusters and decreased intragranular recombination activity.