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Photovoltaic silicon produced by thermal plasma: Influence of atomic hydrogen on oxygen elimination and passivation of the crystal defects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

D. Morvan ,
I. Cazard-Juvernat  and
J. Amouroux
D. Morvan
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France
I. Cazard-Juvernat
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France
J. Amouroux
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France
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Abstract

The photovoltaic properties of the polycrystalline silicon depend on the crystallinity and the purity of the material. The thermal plasma process gives us an alternative method of silicon preparation since it is possible to produce an ultrahigh purity with simultaneously a passivation of crystalline defects and active impurities. We demonstrate the efficiency of the plasma purification process and particularly the influence of the atomic hydrogen in an argon thermal plasma on the photovoltaic properties of silicon. The results of the diffusion lengths measured by the photoelectrochemical method show that locally it rises up to 200 μm. We correlate these photovoltaic measurements with the properties of the crystal (defects and purity) by means of measurements by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) at low temperature (6 K), four probes resistivity technique, scanning electronic microscopy, inductively coupled plasma (ICP), and neutronic activation analyses. We show that the increase of the purity explains the high me asured diffusion lengths. Nevertheless, the thermal conditions of the crystallization of the silicon, due to the specificity of the plasma, lead to defects such as dislocations for which density is particularly high (>106 dis/cm2). The results show that chemical reactions between the atomic hydrogen of the plasma and the oxygen of the silicon occur. They decrease the oxygen content in silicon from 3 × 1017 at./cm3 down to 2 × 1016 at./cm3, while the residual hydrogen in silicon is close to 2 × 1015 at./cm3. This passivates the dangling bonds of ultrapure silicon with a high thermal stability up to 1000 K. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the hydrogen in the plasma modifies the electronic properties of the material to achieve a very good photocurrent even though the dislocation density of the silicon is very high.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 13 , Issue 10 , October 1998 , pp. 2709 - 2720
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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