In this work, we have utilized an ion beam process known as gettering to migrate implanted Ni ions much deeper into the bulk substrate than their initial projected end of the range. The projected mean depth is known as Rp. The gettering effect is the most crucial part of the fabrication and we have found that for an H fluence of 3x 1016 cm-2 there is a threshold fluence of approximately 7.5 x 1015 cm-2 that cannot be surpassed if the gettering process is to be completed along with the substrate recovered to the high crystalline quality. This hard threshold is due to the gettering process relaxation induced mechanism that is responsible for migrating the Ni to the Rp/2 location while the H is vacating during the thermal annealing process. If the total number of vacancies produced by the H dissociation is not substantially larger than the total number of implanted Ni atoms the Ni will migrate to the Rp location of the Ni implantation at the amorphous and crystalline interface and toward the surface. When the gettering condition is not met the resulting magnetic responses vary from an exceptionally weak ferromagnetic response to not exhibiting a magnetic response. Additionally, conducting the ion implantation at an elevated substrate temperature does not increase the threshold Ni fluence above our established limit. During the elevated substrate temperature implantation, the hydrogen ions diffuse out to the surface resulting in less migration of the Ni to the initial Rp location within the Ni implantation region. The elevated temperature implantation condition appears to not create a sharp amorphous crystalline interface at the end of the range for the Ni implantation.

The objective of the proposed research is to develop low-cost, screen-printed 20% efficient silicon solar cells. In the first part of this thesis, a ~19% efficient, screen-printed cell was fabricated using the commercially-dominant aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) cell structure. Device modeling was then used to determine that increasing the efficiency to 20% required improvements in both back surface passivation and rear reflectance. In the second part of this thesis, a passivated, transparent boron BSF (B-BSF) structure was proposed as a high-throughput method for realizing these improvements. The first step in fabricating the proposed B-BSF cell involved the successful development of a water-based, spin-on solution of boric acid as a low-cost, non-toxic and non-pyrophoric alternative to common boron diffusion sources such as boron tribromide. A review of the literature shows that a common problem with boron diffusion is severe bulk lifetime degradation, with Fe contamination being commonly speculated as the cause. An experimental study was therefore devised in which the impact of boron diffusion and subsequent cell process steps on the bulk lifetime and bulk iron contamination was tracked. From this study, a model for boron diffusion-induced Fe contamination was developed along with methods for gettering Fe from the substrate. A key achievement of this thesis was the discovery of a novel, negatively charged, aluminum-doped spin-on glass (SOG) which can, in a short thermal step, simultaneously getter Fe and provide stable, high-quality passivation of planar, boron-diffused Si surfaces. Since past attempts at achieving low-cost, high-efficiency, boron-diffused cells have suffered from bulk lifetime degradation and difficulties with passivating a boron-diffused Si surface, the Al-doped SOG provides a solution to both challenges. Since a high rear reflectance is important for achieving high-efficiencies, an experimental study of various reflectors was undertaken and a silver colloid material was found which exhibits both high electrical conductivity and Lambertian reflectance >95%. The work on boric acid diffusion, iron gettering, surface passivation and rear reflectors was successfully integrated into a 20.2% efficient, screen-printed, B-BSF cell fabricated on 300 µm thick, p-type float-zone (FZ) Si wafers. Both device theory and modeling was used to show that, due to its well-passivated surfaces, this cell would suffer a large loss in efficiency due to light-induced degradation (LID) if it were fabricated on commercial p-type Czochralski (Cz) Si substrates. Since n-type Si substrates do not suffer from LID, the p-type process was slightly tweaked and applied to n-type FZ wafers, resulting in 20.3% efficient cells on 190 µm thick wafers. Computer modeling shows that both the p-type and n-type cells can maintain efficiencies of 20% for wafers as thin as 100 µm.

Purification of metallurgical grade silicon (MG- Si) by a combination of solvent refining and physical separation has been studied. MG-Si was alloyed with iron and solidified under different cooling rates to grow pure Si dendrites from the alloy. The Si dendrites and FeSi2 that were formed after solidification were then separated by a gravity-based method. The separation method relies on significantly different densities of Si and FeSi2, and uses a heavy liquid with specific gravity between the two phases to float the former on the surface of a heavy liquid, while the latter sinks to the bottom. The effect of particle size and cooling rate on the Si yield and separation efficiency of the Si phase was investigated. The floated Si particles were further purified by removing the physically adherent Fe-Si phase, using an acid leaching method. Analysis of the produced silicon indicates that several impurity elements including P and B can be efficiently removed using this simple and low-cost technique.

Purification of metallurgical grade silicon (MG- Si) by a combination of solvent refining and physical separation has been studied. MG-Si was alloyed with iron and solidified under different cooling rates to grow pure Si dendrites from the alloy. The Si dendrites and FeSi2 that were formed after solidification were then separated by a gravity-based method. The separation method relies on significantly different densities of Si and FeSi2, and uses a heavy liquid with specific gravity between the two phases to float the former on the surface of a heavy liquid, while the latter sinks to the bottom. The effect of particle size and cooling rate on the Si yield and separation efficiency of the Si phase was investigated. The floated Si particles were further purified by removing the physically adherent Fe-Si phase, using an acid leaching method. Analysis of the produced silicon indicates that several impurity elements including P and B can be efficiently removed using this simple and low-cost technique.

The goals of this work are the optimization of the magnetocaloric effect in Gadolinium thin film structures. We approach this issue from two directions, that of process optimization and of interface effects. Past results showed Gd2O3 in our Gadolinium thin films, and the presence of such oxide seemed to grow with the temperature at which the film was grown or annealed. Comparison of samples grown without chamber gettering to those that were gettered show differences in their structural and magnetic properties, and we conclude that gettering is an effective step in enhancing the quality of Gd thin film samples. Early work with Gd/W heterostructures showed a diminished magnetization of the interfacial gadolinium, which reduces the magnetocaloric response as magnetic entropy is proportional to m2/3. It is known that Fe interfaces can boost the Gd moments per atom to above that seen in bulk. As such, we fabricated a series of Fe/Gd heterostructures to study the effects on the structural and magnetic properties of Gd thin films. The use of Fe as a base layer shows increased high frequency oscillations in X-ray reflectivity measurements, indicating sharp interfaces between Gd and Fe. The magnetocaloric measurements produce a magnetic entropy curve with a novel tail extending leftward, making this an improved material over Gd for applications around 240K. All the same, vector magnetometry is needed to ensure that such tail is not due to rotations within the plane and is a direction for further study.

No description available.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第22442号 / 工博第4703号 / 新制||工||1734(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科原子核工学専攻 / (主査)教授 斉藤 学, 教授 神野 郁夫, 准教授 松尾 二郎 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

No description available.

科学研究費補助金 研究種目:一般研究(C) 課題番号:05680391 研究代表者:豊田 浩孝 研究期間:1993-1994年度

The doctoral thesis deals with the structure and properties of the polycrystalline silicon layers deposited on the silicon wafers backside. The wafers are further used for production of semiconductor devices. This work is focused on detailed description of the layers structure and study of the gettering properties and residual stress of the layers. The main goal of this work is to develop two novel technologies. The first one leads to improvement of the temperature stability of the gettering properties of the layers, and the second one solves the deposition of the layers with pre-determined residual stress. This doctoral thesis was created with the support of the company ON Semiconductor Czech Republic, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm.