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Title: | Kerfless layer-transfer of thin epitaxial silicon foils using novel multiple layer porous silicon stacks with near 100% detachment yield and large minority carrier diffusion lengths | Authors: | Radhakrishnan, Hariharsudan Sivaramakrishnan Martini, Roberto DEPAUW, Valerie Van Nieuwenhuysen, Kris Bearda, Twan GORDON, Ivan Szlufcik, Jozef POORTMANS, Jef |
Issue Date: | 2015 | Publisher: | ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV | Source: | SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS, 135, p. 113-123 | Abstract: | Two important aspects for the success of the porous silicon-based layer transfer method in producing kerfless thin (< 50 mu m) silicon foils for future silicon solar modules are addressed in this work: achieving high detachment yield and high minority carrier diffusion lengths. The detachment characteristics of the porous silicon-based lift-off process is studied using finite element modeling as well as experiments. It is shown that for easy detachment and high detachment yield, a low density of thin silicon pillars must be attained in the high porosity detachment layer (HP-DL) after high temperature sintering. This is elegantly achieved by increasing the thickness of the low porosity template layer (LP-TL) which acts as the vacancy supply to increase the post-anneal porosity of the HP-DL In this way, near 100% detachment yield has been achieved. However, a thicker LP-TL results in a poorer quality epitaxial growth surface. To circumvent this trade-off, novel triple and quadruple layer porous silicon stacks are introduced which decouple the function of the LP-TL that acts as both the template for epitaxy and as the vacancy supply for the HP-DL In these new stacks, a surface zone of very low void size and density (nearly void-free) is created which allows high quality epitaxy on easily-detachable porous silicon stacks. Minority carrier lifetime measurements on epitaxial foils grown on such a triple layer stack has resulted in an effective lifetime of similar to 350 mu s at the injection level of 10(15) cm(-3) which corresponds to a minimum minority carrier diffusion length of similar to 670 mu m (> 16 times the silicon thickness). With such high quality epitaxial foils combined with high detachment yield, very high efficiency solar devices on thin silicon substrates would be a reality in the near future. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | Notes: | Corresponding author. Tel.: 032 16 28 1173/32 488 29 28 32. E-mail address: sivarama@imec.be (H. Sivaramakrishnan Radhakrishnan). | Keywords: | Porous silicon; Layer-transfer; Epitaxy; Detachment yield; Finite element modeling; Minority carrier lifetime;porous silicon; layer-transfer; epitaxy; detachment yield; finite element modeling; minority carrier lifetime | Document URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1942/18812 | ISSN: | 0927-0248 | e-ISSN: | 1879-3398 | DOI: | 10.1016/j.solmat.2014.10.049 | ISI #: | 000351976000017 | Rights: | © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | Category: | A1 | Type: | Journal Contribution | Validations: | ecoom 2016 |
Appears in Collections: | Research publications |
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