A novel method to form nano-gridlines on textured CZ silicon wafers

Author

Xu, Li ; Borden, P.G. ; Stewart, Michael P. ; Paak, Steve

Author_Institution

Appl. Mater. Solar Bus. Group, Santa Clara, CA, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

7-12 June 2009

Abstract

We report a novel method to form metal nano-gridlines on textured Czochralski (CZ) silicon. This involves the deposition of tensile stressed silicon nitride under conditions that cause cracks at the base of the pyramid features. The crack width is adjusted with buffered BHF and the opening is self-aligned with the nitride as a mask. Subsequently, the metal lines are plated within the cracks, forming conductors with submicron dimensions. The metal grid provides a conduction path parallel to the emitter, relaxing sheet resistance requirements for a diffused emitter.

Keywords

crystal growth from melt; diffusion; electroplating; elemental semiconductors; masks; nanostructured materials; silicon; silicon compounds; solar cells; surface cracks; surface texture; Si; Si-SiN; conduction path; cracks; diffused emitter; mask; metal grid; metal lines; nanogridlines; plating; pyramid features; self-alignment; sheet resistance; solar cells; tensile stressed silicon nitride deposition; textured Czochralski silicon wafers; Conductive films; Conductivity; Electrodes; Epitaxial growth; Glass; Molecular beam epitaxial growth; Silicon; Substrates; Transistors; X-ray scattering;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2009 34th IEEE

Conference_Location

Philadelphia, PA

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2949-3

Electronic_ISBN

0160-8371

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2009.5411184

Filename

5411184