A METHOD FOR IMPROVING WAFER PERFORMANCE FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES

A METHOD FOR IMPROVING WAFER PERFORMANCE FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES

The present disclosure is directed to a method for processing a silicon wafer that allows improving performance by exploiting the properties of crystallographic imperfections. The method comprises the steps of: forming a silicon layer with crystallographic imperfections in the proximity of a surface...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: SHI, ZHENGRONG, CIESLA, ALISON, BAGNALL, DARREN, CHEN, DANIEL, KIM, MOONYONG, PAYNE, DAVID NEIL, MAI, LY, CHONG, CHEE MUN, FUNG, TSUN HANG, ABBOTT, MALCOLM DAVID, HALLAM, BRETT JASON, CHAN, CATHERINE EMILY, CHEN, RAN, WENHAM, STUART ROSS
Format: Patent
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
ELECTRICITY
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:The present disclosure is directed to a method for processing a silicon wafer that allows improving performance by exploiting the properties of crystallographic imperfections. The method comprises the steps of: forming a silicon layer with crystallographic imperfections in the proximity of a surface of the silicon; exposing at least a portion of the device to hydrogen atoms in a manner such that hydrogen atoms migrate towards the region with crystallographic imperfections and into the silicon along the crystallographic imperfections; and controlling the charge state of hydrogen atoms located at the crystallographic imperfections to be positive when the imperfections are in a p-type region of the wafer; and negative when the imperfections are at an n-type region of the wafer by thermally treating the silicon while exposing the silicon to an illumination intensity of less than 10 mW/cm2.