Degradation of silicon wafers at high temperatures for epitaxial deposition

The material quality degradation of silicon wafers by metal impurities, various crystal defects as well as light and thermally induced mechanisms is very important for the solar cell performance and has been investigated by various groups. In this paper, the material degradation during epitaxial deposition at high temperatures above 1100 degrees C will be discussed. Annealing experiments in hydrogen atmosphere are done with the laboratory rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition reactor to mimic the thermal process conditions for epitaxial growth of silicon from the gas phase. A general investigation of crystallographic and electronic properties of n- and p-type silicon wafers has been done between 950 degrees C and 1150 degrees C. A detailed sensitivity analysis of process parameters like cooling ramp, peak temperature, duration, and ambient gasses has been conducted. The degradation mechanism by metal impurities has been investigated by using silicon wafers with different diffusion barriers. Besides effective minority carrier lifetime, measurements by quasi steady state photo conductance, etch pit density, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements have been done. The presented results have been used to improve the deposition process of epitaxial thin-film solar cells, the production of silicon foils with a thickness <80 mu m, and the fabrication of epitaxial multi junction solar cells with silicon bottom cell.