The influence of crystal orientation on surface passivation in multi-crystalline silicon

Author

Hang Cheong Sio ; Sieu Pheng Phang ; Yimao Wan ; Wensheng Liang ; Trupke, T. ; Sheng Cao ; Dongli Hu ; Yuepeng Wan ; Macdonald, Daniel

Author_Institution

Res. Sch. of Eng., Australian Nat. Univ. (ANU), Canberra, ACT, Australia

fYear

2013

fDate

16-21 June 2013

Firstpage

1770

Lastpage

1775

Abstract

We present an approach to study the variation of the surface recombination velocity in multi-crystalline silicon wafers through photoluminescence imaging for thin, passivated and mirror polished wafers. The influence of crystal orientation on surface passivation is investigated for various passivating films, including silicon nitride and aluminum oxide. Our results show that the influence of surface orientation is negligible in well passivated multi-crystalline silicon wafers due to the detrimental effects of crystal defects. Our study on hydrogenated samples suggests that aluminum oxide passivation exhibits a similar surface dependence as native oxide passivation. A slight and different surface dependence is observed in one of the silicon nitride films used in the study.

Keywords

crystal orientation; elemental semiconductors; passivation; photoluminescence; polishing; silicon; surface recombination; Si; aluminum oxide; crystal defects; crystal orientation; mirror polishing; multicrystalline silicon wafers; photoluminescence imaging; silicon nitride films; surface orientation; surface passivation; surface recombination velocity; Aluminum oxide; Films; Grain boundaries; Passivation; Silicon; charge carrier lifetime; photoluminescence; silicon; surfaces;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th

Conference_Location

Tampa, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2013.6744486

Filename

6744486