Electrical properties of n-type multicrystalline silicon for photovoltaic application—Impact of high temperature boron diffusion

The effects of boron diffusion were investigated on electronic grade n-type single- and multicrystalline silicon wafers for solar cells application. Doped p+-layers were formed using specific spin-on dopant (SOD) source annealed in a tube furnace. Homogeneous diffused layers with sheet resistance values of 70 Ω/sq were achieved on large area silicon wafers. Bulk electrical properties were investigated measuring the effective carrier lifetime after the diffusion step. A significant degradation of the bulk electrical properties was observed using the SOD technique. Unlike for the single-crystalline silicon, it was determined that this effect was not due to an interstitial iron contamination originating from the SOD, but rather by the thermal degradation of the material. Boron diffusion was followed by a phosphorous diffusion sequence, necessary in the fabrication process for the formation of the back surface field. This additional step leads to an improvement of effective lifetime values due to an efficient gettering of the impurities. Finally, bulk carrier lifetimes from 100 μs to over 300 μs were deduced on n-type multicrystalline silicon after boron and phosphorus diffusion. This underlines the potential of this material for photovoltaic application and its stability after high temperature treatments provided that a gettering step is included after the boron diffusion step.