Easy-to-apply methodology to measure the hydrogen concentration in boron-doped crystalline silicon

verfasst von
Dominic C. Walter, Dennis Bredemeier, Robert Falster, Vladimir V. Voronkov, Jan Schmidt
Abstract

Hydrogen is a highly relevant impurity in crystalline silicon associated with a variety of effects particularly important in solar cell technology such as defect and surface passivation. It has been the subject of countless studies. Much of this however relies to a certain degree on speculation due to limitations in hydrogen measurement capability, making a direct quantitative correlation of these phenomena with the hydrogen content largely impossible so far. In this contribution, we apply recent advances in the understanding of hydrogen introduction and behaviour in silicon - in particular the conversion of quenched in dimeric hydrogen to boron hydrogen pairs (BH) - and introduce an easy-to-apply methodology to determine quantitatively the hydrogen concentration in bulk boron-doped silicon. The technique involves the measurement and analysis of changes to the bulk resistivity, as recorded by contactless eddy-current measurements, due to the formation of BH pairs during annealing at temperatures between 140 and 180 °C. To demonstrate the method, we apply it to boron-doped float-zone silicon wafers with SiN

x:H coatings of different compositions, introducing different total hydrogen concentrations between 5 × 10

14 and 1.3 × 10

15 cm

−3 into the silicon bulk during a fast-firing step. Without firing, the hydrogen content is below the detection limit of 3 × 10

14 cm

−3 for the 1 Ω cm test sample used.

Organisationseinheit(en)
Institut für Festkörperphysik
Abt. Solarenergie
Externe Organisation(en)
Institut für Solarenergieforschung GmbH (ISFH)
Typ
Artikel
Journal
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Band
200
ISSN
0927-0248
Publikationsdatum
15.09.2019
Publikationsstatus
Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Elektronische, optische und magnetische Materialien, Erneuerbare Energien, Nachhaltigkeit und Umwelt, Oberflächen, Beschichtungen und Folien
Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung
SDG 7 – Erschwingliche und saubere Energie
Elektronische Version(en)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.109970 (Zugang: Geschlossen)