From mc-Si material made by cold crucible continuous pulling to solar cells

Author

Martinuzzi, Santo ; Périchaud, Isabelle ; Clerc, Laurent ; Bacon, Magali ; Floret, Francis ; Sarti, Dominique ; Dour, Gilles ; Le, Quan Nam ; Goaer, Gilles ; Durand, Francis

Author_Institution

Lab. de Photoelectr. des Semicond., Marseille Univ., France

fYear

1996

fDate

13-17 May 1996

Firstpage

617

Lastpage

620

Abstract

Multicrystalline-Si ingots were prepared by a cold crucible continuous pulling technique and 230 μm thick wafers were cut using a wire saw. By means of mapping techniques such as light beam induced current, it is shown that the electrical properties of the wafers are homogeneous. Impurities have a tendency to aggregate in the form of quasi neutral precipitates and/or inclusions. Minority carrier diffusion lengths are relatively high in the grains: around 90 μm due to a low recombination strength of extended defects. Conversely the recombination strength of grain boundaries is high. Solar cells made with this material lead to conversion efficiencies higher than 12%

Keywords

OBIC; carrier lifetime; elemental semiconductors; grain boundaries; manufacturing processes; minority carriers; semiconductor device testing; silicon; solar cells; 230 mum; Si; cold crucible continuous pulling; extended defects; grain boundaries; grains; homogeneous electrical properties; impurities; inclusions; light beam induced current; mapping techniques; minority carrier diffusion lengths; multicrystalline-Si solar cells; quasi-neutral precipitates; recombination strength; wire saw cutting; Aggregates; Billets; Grain boundaries; Impurities; Infrared detectors; Photovoltaic cells; Radiative recombination; Silicon; Solids; Wire;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3166-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1996.564204

Filename

564204