This thesis discusses the growth of thin-film silicon layers suitable for solar cells using
liquid phase epitaxy and the behaviour of oxide LPCVD silicon nitride stacks on silicon
in a high temperature ambient.¶
The work on thin film cells is focussed on the characteristics of layers grown using liquid
phase epitaxy. The morphology resulting from different seeding patterns, the transfer of
dislocations to the epitaxial layer and the lifetime of layers grown using oxide compared
with carbonised photoresist barrier layers are discussed. The second half of this work
discusses boron doping of epitaxial layers. Simultaneous layer growth and boron doping
is demonstrated, and shown to produce a 35um thick layer with a back surface field
approximately 3.5um thick.¶
If an oxide/nitride stack is formed in the early stages of cell processing, then characteristics of the nitride may enable increased processing flexibility and hence the realisation
of novel cell structures. An oxide/nitride stack on silicon also behaves as a good anti-
reflection coating. The effects of a nitride deposited using low pressure chemical vapour
deposition on the underlying wafer are discussed. With a thin oxide layer between the
silicon and the silicon nitride, deposition is shown not to significantly alter effective life-times.¶
Heating an oxide/nitride stack on silicon is shown to result in a large drop in effective
Lifetimes. As long as at least a thin oxide is present, it is shown that a high temperature
nitrogen anneal results in a reduction in surface passivation, but does not significantly
affect bulk lifetime. The reduction in surface passivation is shown to be due to a loss of
hydrogen from the silicon/silicon oxide interface and is characterised by an increase in
Joe. Higher temperatures, thinner oxides, thinner nitrides and longer anneal times are all
shown to result in high Joe values. A hydrogen loss model is introduced to explain the
observations.¶
Various methods of hydrogen re-introduction and hence Joe recovery are then discussed
with an emphasis on high temperature forming gas anneals. The time necessary
for successful Joe recovery is shown to be primarily dependent on the nitride thickness
and on the temperature of the nitrogen anneal. With a high temperature forming gas
anneal, Joe recovery after nitrogen anneals at both 900 and 1000oC and with an optimised
anti-reflection coating is demonstrated for chemically polished wafers.¶
Finally the effects of oxide/nitride stacks and high temperature anneals in both nitrogen
and forming gas are discussed for a variety of wafers. The optimal emitter sheet
resistance is shown to be independent of nitrogen anneal temperature. With textured
wafers, recovery of Joe values after a high temperature nitrogen anneal is demonstrated
for wafers with a thick oxide, but not for wafers with a thin oxide. This is shown to be
due to a lack of surface passivation at the silicon/oxide interface.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216760 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | McCann, Michelle Jane, michelle.mccann@uni-konstanz.de |
| Publisher | The Australian National University. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.anu.edu.au/legal/copyrit.html), Copyright Michelle Jane McCann |
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