TY - JOUR

T1 - Carrier Lifetime Stability of Boron-Doped Czochralski-Grown Silicon Materials for Years After Regeneration in an Industrial Belt Furnace

AU - Helmich, Lailah

AU - Walter, Dominic C.

AU - Pernau, Thomas

AU - Schmidt, Jan

PY - 2021/10/26

Y1 - 2021/10/26

N2 - We examine the long-term stability of the carrier lifetime in boron-doped Czochralski-grown silicon materials with different boron and oxygen concentrations, which were regenerated in an industrial belt furnace. After firing and subsequent regeneration in an industrial conveyor-belt furnace, the silicon samples are exposed to long-term illumination at an intensity of 0.1 suns and a sample temperature of about 30 °C for more than two years. After regeneration, we observe a minor re-degradation (30–72% reduced compared to the degradation observed without regeneration step). We attribute this re-degradation to a non-completed regeneration within the belt furnace due to the short regeneration period. Our results show that the industrial process consisting of firing with subsequent regeneration in the same unit is very effective for industrially relevant silicon materials. Typical industrial silicon wafers with a resistivity of (1.75 ± 0.03) Ωcm and an interstitial oxygen concentration of (6.9 ± 0.3) × 1017 cm–3 show lifetimes larger than 2 ms after regeneration and two years of light exposure.

AB - We examine the long-term stability of the carrier lifetime in boron-doped Czochralski-grown silicon materials with different boron and oxygen concentrations, which were regenerated in an industrial belt furnace. After firing and subsequent regeneration in an industrial conveyor-belt furnace, the silicon samples are exposed to long-term illumination at an intensity of 0.1 suns and a sample temperature of about 30 °C for more than two years. After regeneration, we observe a minor re-degradation (30–72% reduced compared to the degradation observed without regeneration step). We attribute this re-degradation to a non-completed regeneration within the belt furnace due to the short regeneration period. Our results show that the industrial process consisting of firing with subsequent regeneration in the same unit is very effective for industrially relevant silicon materials. Typical industrial silicon wafers with a resistivity of (1.75 ± 0.03) Ωcm and an interstitial oxygen concentration of (6.9 ± 0.3) × 1017 cm–3 show lifetimes larger than 2 ms after regeneration and two years of light exposure.

KW - Annealing

KW - Belts

KW - Boron–oxygen (BO) defect

KW - Czochralski-grown silicon (Cz-Si)

KW - Degradation

KW - Furnaces

KW - Lighting

KW - Sun

KW - Temperature measurement

KW - carrier lifetime

KW - light-induced degradation (LID)

KW - long-term stability

KW - regeneration

KW - Boron-oxygen (BO) defect

KW - long-Term stability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118530740&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/jphotov.2021.3116019

DO - 10.1109/jphotov.2021.3116019

M3 - Article

VL - 12

SP - 198

EP - 203

JO - IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

JF - IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

SN - 2156-3381

IS - 1

ER -