Grooving of grain boundaries in multicrystalline silicon: Effect on solar cell performance

In this work, we investigate the effect of grooving of grain boundaries (GB) in multicrystalline silicon using chemical etching in HF/HNO3 solutions. The grain boundaries were grooved in order to reduce the area of these highly recombining regions. Using optimized conditions, grooved GBs enable deep...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms Beam interactions with materials and atoms, 2006-12, Vol.253 (1-2), p.260-263
Main Authors: Dimassi, W., Bouaïcha, M., Nouri, H., Boujmil, M.F., Ben Nasrallah, S., Bessaïs, B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical etching
Gettering
Grain boundaries
Multicrystalline silicon
Passivation
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Summary:In this work, we investigate the effect of grooving of grain boundaries (GB) in multicrystalline silicon using chemical etching in HF/HNO3 solutions. The grain boundaries were grooved in order to reduce the area of these highly recombining regions. Using optimized conditions, grooved GBs enable deep phosphorus diffusion and deep metallic contacts. As a result, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE), and the I–V characteristics under the dark and AM1.5 illumination were improved. It was also observed a reduction of the GB recombination velocity, which was deduced from light-beam-induced-current (LBIC) measurements. Such grooving in multicrystalline silicon enables passivation of GB-related defects. These results are discussed and compared to solar cells based on untreated multicrystalline silicon wafers.
ISSN:0168-583X
1872-9584
DOI:10.1016/j.nimb.2006.10.034