Variations in minority carrier-trapping effects caused by hydrogen passivation in multicrystalline silicon wafer

Yujin Jung, Kwan Hong Min, Soohyun Bae, Yoonmook Kang, Donghwan Kim, Hae Seok Lee

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In a multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafer, trapping effects frequently occur in the carrier lifetime measurement based on the quasi-steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC) technique. This affects the accurate measurement of the carrier lifetime of an mc-Si solar cell by causing distortions at a low injection level close to the Pmax point. Therefore, it is necessary to understand this effect and effectively minimize the trapping-center density. In this study, the variations in the minority carrier-trapping effect of hydrogen at different annealing temperatures in an mc-Si were observed using QSSPC, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and atom probe tomography. A trapping effect was confirmed and occurred in the grain boundary area, and the effect was reduced by hydrogen. Thus, in an mc-Si wafer, effective hydrogen passivation on the grain area and grain boundary is crucial and was experimentally proven to minimize the distortion of the carrier lifetime.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number5783
    JournalEnergies
    Volume13
    Issue number21
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020 Nov 1

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

    Keywords

    • Grain boundary
    • Hydrogen passivation
    • Multicrystalline silicon
    • Photoconductance
    • Trapping effect

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
    • Fuel Technology
    • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
    • Energy (miscellaneous)
    • Control and Optimization
    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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