TY - JOUR

T1 - Understanding the light-induced lifetime degradation and regeneration in multicrystalline silicon

AU - Bredemeier, Dennis

AU - Walter, Dominic C.

AU - Herlufsen, Sandra

AU - Schmidt, Jan

PY - 2016/8

Y1 - 2016/8

N2 - In this contribution, we focus on improving the fundamental understanding of the carrier lifetime degradation and regeneration observed in block-cast multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers under illumination at elevated temperature. We observe a pronounced degradation in lifetime at 1 sun light intensity and 75°C after rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in a belt-firing furnace at a set peak temperature of 900°C. However, almost no lifetime instability is detected in mc-Si wafers which are fired at a peak temperature of only 650°C, clearly showing that the firing step is triggering the degradation effect. Lifetime spectroscopy reveals that the light-induced recombination centre is a deep-level centre with an asymmetric electron-to-hole capture cross section ratio of 20±7. After completion of the degradation, the lifetime is observed to recover and finally reaches even higher carrier lifetimes compared to the initial state. While the lifetime degradation is found to be homogeneous, the regeneration shows an inhomogeneous behaviour, which starts locally and spreads later laterally throughout the sample. Furthermore, the regeneration process is extremely slow with time constants of several hundred hours. We demonstrate, however, that by increasing the regeneration temperature, it is possible to significantly speed up the regeneration process so that it might become compatible with industrial solar cell production. To explain the observed lifetime evolution, we propose a defect model, where metal precipitates in the mc-Si bulk dissolve during the RTA treatment and the mobile metal atoms bind to a homogeneously distributed impurity. Restructuring and subsequent dissociation of this defect complex is assumed to cause the lifetime degradation, whereas a subsequent diffusion of the mobile species to the sample surfaces and crystallographic defects explains the regeneration.

AB - In this contribution, we focus on improving the fundamental understanding of the carrier lifetime degradation and regeneration observed in block-cast multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers under illumination at elevated temperature. We observe a pronounced degradation in lifetime at 1 sun light intensity and 75°C after rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in a belt-firing furnace at a set peak temperature of 900°C. However, almost no lifetime instability is detected in mc-Si wafers which are fired at a peak temperature of only 650°C, clearly showing that the firing step is triggering the degradation effect. Lifetime spectroscopy reveals that the light-induced recombination centre is a deep-level centre with an asymmetric electron-to-hole capture cross section ratio of 20±7. After completion of the degradation, the lifetime is observed to recover and finally reaches even higher carrier lifetimes compared to the initial state. While the lifetime degradation is found to be homogeneous, the regeneration shows an inhomogeneous behaviour, which starts locally and spreads later laterally throughout the sample. Furthermore, the regeneration process is extremely slow with time constants of several hundred hours. We demonstrate, however, that by increasing the regeneration temperature, it is possible to significantly speed up the regeneration process so that it might become compatible with industrial solar cell production. To explain the observed lifetime evolution, we propose a defect model, where metal precipitates in the mc-Si bulk dissolve during the RTA treatment and the mobile metal atoms bind to a homogeneously distributed impurity. Restructuring and subsequent dissociation of this defect complex is assumed to cause the lifetime degradation, whereas a subsequent diffusion of the mobile species to the sample surfaces and crystallographic defects explains the regeneration.

KW - elevated temperature

KW - light-induced degradation

KW - multicrystalline silicon

KW - regeneration

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85014474266&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.egypro.2016.07.060

DO - 10.1016/j.egypro.2016.07.060

M3 - Article

VL - 92

SP - 773

EP - 778

JO - Energy Procedia

JF - Energy Procedia

SN - 1876-6102

ER -