Processing dependence of minority carrier lifetimes in multicrystalline silicon

Author

Stocks, Matthew ; Blakers, Andrew ; Cuevas, Andres

Author_Institution

Electron. Device Lab., Australian Nat. Univ., Canberra, ACT, Australia

fYear

1996

fDate

8-11 Dec 1996

Firstpage

8

Lastpage

11

Abstract

Multicrystalline silicon (mcSi) solar cell efficiency is primarily influenced by minority carrier lifetime of the material. Lifetimes in mcSi vary strongly during processing. Step by step monitoring has allowed identification of both beneficial and poor processing steps and lead to rapid improvements in cell efficiency. Phosphorous gettering significantly improves lifetimes in the mcSi substrates investigated, where effective lifetimes of 250 μs in 1.5 Ω cm mcSi have been observed. This has permitted the achievement of record open circuit voltages greater than 655 mV and efficiencies greater than 18% with 0.2 Ω cm and 0.5 Ω cm mcSi solar cells

Keywords

carrier lifetime; elemental semiconductors; getters; minority carriers; silicon; solar cells; 18 percent; 655 mV; Si; Si:P; minority carrier lifetime; multicrystalline silicon; open circuit voltage; phosphorous gettering; processing; solar cell efficiency; Charge carrier lifetime; Circuits; Crystalline materials; Crystallization; Gettering; Monitoring; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon; Substrates; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Optoelectronic and Microelectronic Materials And Devices Proceedings, 1996 Conference on

Conference_Location

Canberra, ACT

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3374-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/COMMAD.1996.610044

Filename

610044