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Investigation of Charge Trapping at Grain Boundaries in Polycrystalline and Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Jennifer T. Heath ,
Chun-Sheng Jiang ,
Helio Moutinho  and
Mowafak Al-Jassim
Jennifer T. Heath
Affiliation:
jheath@linfield.edu, Linfield College, Physics, McMinnville, Oregon, United States
Chun-Sheng Jiang
Affiliation:
chun.sheng.jiang@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
Helio Moutinho
Affiliation:
helio.moutinho@nrel.gov, United States
Mowafak Al-Jassim
Affiliation:
mowafak.aljassim@nrel.gov, United States
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Abstract

Scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) often shows a change in contrast at grain boundaries [1-3]. The origins of this contrast and the efficacy of SCM as a tool to identify band bending at grain boundaries in pc-Si and mc-Si are discussed. Contrast at these grain boundaries could be influenced by different oxide growth rates or by defect states at the oxide interface. In order to determine the influence of such mechanisms on the SCM signal, such effects must be modeled; we show that a simple one-dimensional model agrees well with more detailed models of SCM signal strength and indicates, for example, that very small changes in oxide thickness measurably affect the SCM signal. In our experimental data, the uniformity and quality of the oxide layer are confirmed, and increased contrast consistent with depletion regions is still observed at higher order grain boundaries as identified by electron backscattering diffraction, including 9 and 27a. Scans of the SCM signal as a function of dc probe voltage allow such regions to be more quantitatively investigated.

Keywords

scanning probe microscopy (SPM)grain boundariesSi
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1268: Symposium EE – Defects in Inorganic Photovoltaic Materials , 2010 , 1268-EE07-10
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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