@phdthesis{Kot2013, author = {Kot, Dawid}, title = {Influence of vacancies introduced by RTA on the nucleation, size, morphology, and gettering efficiency of oxygen precipitates in silicon wafers}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus-28435}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Internal gettering based on oxygen precipitates is a technique which is used to remove occasional metal contaminations from the active region of microelectronic devices. In order to obtain efficient internal gettering, the precipitation of oxygen in silicon must be precisely controlled. This can be done by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). RTA offers the possibility to establish well defined vacancy concentrations in silicon wafers. Since vacancies are well known to enhance the precipitation of oxygen in Czochralski silicon, RTA pre-treatments can be used to control the generation of oxygen precipitates. This work provides information about the influence of vacancies, introduced by RTA, in silicon wafers on the nucleation of oxygen precipitates during a subsequent annealing in the temperature range between 400 °C and 1000 °C. Moreover, detailed investigations show morphologies and sizes of oxygen precipitates observed in vacancy supersaturated samples subjected to an annealing in the temperature range between 700 °C and 1000 °C for different annealing times. The morphology of the oxygen precipitates was investigated by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. In case of FTIR spectroscopy, the absorption bands were assigned to morphologies of the oxygen precipitates observed by STEM. The final part of investigations presented in this work is dedicated to the gettering efficiency of metal impurities. Special focus is devoted towards the gettering efficiency of Cu in vacancy supersaturated samples. In order to understand the gettering of Cu in samples contaminated with high and low concentrations of Cu, two getter tests were carried out. A haze getter test was used to investigate the getter efficiency of Cu in highly contaminated samples. In this particular case, the concentration of Cu equals the concentration of Cu at its solubility limit at 900 °C. A "7 day storage getter test", developed in this work, was used for the investigation of the getter efficiency of Cu in samples contaminated with low concentration of Cu amounting to 1×1013 cm-2. It was found that the density of oxygen precipitates increases with increasing concentration of vacancies. The nucleation curves of oxygen precipitates in the vacancy supersaturated samples consist of three maxima wherein the maximum observed at 800 °C can be found only in the vacancy rich samples. These maxima can be explained assuming the nucleation of coherent plate-like nuclei consisting of oxygen mono-layers ((Oi)2-p1) and oxygen double-layers ((Oi)2-p2) for the peaks at 450 °C and at 650 °C, respectively, and VO2 mono layers for the peak at 800 °C. The STEM investigations have shown the change of the morphology of oxygen precipitates in samples subjected to nucleation annealing at various temperatures. It was observed, that different temperatures of the RTA pre-treatment and thus different supersaturations of vacancies did not influence the morphology of oxygen precipitates in samples annealed at 800 °C. After annealing at a temperature of 800 °C three and two dimensional dendritic precipitates were found. This kind of precipitates gave rise to an absorption band at 1040 cm-1 as shown by FTIR investigations. From the results of the getter test it was deduced that secondary defects like dislocations have a strong influence on the getter efficiency in samples contaminated with high concentrations of Cu and Ni. In case of the samples contaminated with low concentration of Cu, gettering at dislocations is less important and oxygen precipitates become the main getter sink for Cu. It was also observed, that Cu aggregates at the edge of plate-like precipitates at the site of tensile strain of the silicon lattice. Moreover, the size and density of oxygen precipitates can strongly influence the getter efficiency of metal impurities. The results and observations presented in this work can be very useful for designing and fabrication of high performance silicon wafers. The results can be used for the development of a gettering simulator based on oxygen precipitation. The results of the analysis of the FTIR spectra can be helpful for the fast characterization of the morphologies of oxygen precipitates by means of FTIR.}, subject = {Silicium; Wafer; Sauerstoff; Getterung; Thermomechanische Behandlung; RTA; Vakanz; Sauerstoffpr{\"a}zipitat; Getterung; RTA; Vacancy; Oxygen precipitate; Gettering}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Klossek2013, author = {Klossek, Andr{\´e}}, title = {Optical characterization of thin-film Si solar cells and knowledge transfer from bulk mc-Si}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus-29350}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2013}, abstract = {The aim of this work is to establish tools for optical characterization of defects in thin-film silicon solar cells. This is related to a challenging process of setup adjustments and careful interpretation of the measured raw data because of several artifacts and effects, which are typical for thin films. They are caused by the low layer/sample thickness and the related high impact of interfaces. Therefore, different thin-film samples were investigated to establish a process to correct/minimize these thin-film effects. The possibility of a knowledge transfer from mc-Si wafers with bulk thickness to thin Si films was checked. This would simplify a successful interpretation of the corrected data. Defects in mc-Si were investigated for many decades without the parasitic impact of thin films. Other Si phases, which are limited to thin-film samples, were investigated to learn details about their specific physical properties. These Si phases are amorphous and microcrystalline silicon. Additional to that electroluminescence investigations were performed on mc-Si solar cells. These investigation deals with topics, which are not even understood on bulk materials up to now. This could offer a basic for further knowledge transfers to thin-film Si.}, subject = {D{\"u}nnschichtsolarzelle; Photolumineszenz; D{\"u}nnschicht Solarzellen; Optische Charakterisierung; Photolumineszenz; Thin-film solar cells; Optical characterization; Photoluminescence}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Krause2015, author = {Krause, Christoph}, title = {Investigation of particular crystal defects in solar silicon materials using electron beam techniques}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-34846}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The aim of this work is to describe and explain the properties of defects in multicrystalline (mc) and thin-film solar silicon (Si). For this reason, investigations with scanning electron microscope methods were performed, namely cathodoluminescence (CL), electron beam induced current (EBIC), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Additionally, photoluminescence (PL) and reverse-biased electro luminescence (ReBEL) measurements were also conducted. Through correlation of PL, ReBEL and EBIC, it was possible to localize breakdown sites at mc-Si solar cells. Problems that occurred during the thin-film EBIC investigations could be demonstrated and explained. For the first time cross sectional EBIC investigations could be performed on thin-film silicon tandem cells. At mc-Si, it was possible to observe the oxygen related P-line next to the common D1-line luminescence at 10 K clearly distinguishable from each other at once. Furthermore, a hitherto not comprehensively discussed intense luminescence line at 0.93 eV could be described in detail. Through correlation of PL, CL, EBIC, EBSD, and TEM measurements, the origin of the now named Di luminescence at 0.93 eV is postulated to be in connection with Frank partial dislocations, with two energetic levels inside the band gap, one at 112±9 meV below the conduction band and the other at 93±10 meV above the valence band. Finally, it was attempted to explain the behavior of twin boundaries at temperatures below 30 K, where these show an enhanced collection efficiency in comparison to the surrounding grains. An alteration of the local "freeze out" temperature, possibly by a local band gap narrowing, is suggested as a reason. Another conceivable explanation is a breakdown of the diode potential at the grains.}, subject = {Defects; Silicon; EBIC; CL; Di luminescence; Defekte; Silizium; EBIC; CL; Di Lumineszenz; Solarzelle; Silicium; Zuverl{\"a}ssigkeit}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Mankovics2015, author = {Mankovics, Daniel}, title = {Luminescence investigation of bulk solar silicon and silicon thin films on glass substrate}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:co1-opus4-35196}, school = {BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The aim of this work is to study the optical properties of crystal defects in multicrystalline solar silicon and poly-/microcrystalline silicon thin films on glass substrate. First a setup for photoluminescence imaging on multicrystalline silicon solar wafers was developed. This system is suitable for detecting band-to-band luminescence as well as defect-related luminescence at room temperature on large-scale wafers at different stages of their processing. Spectroscopic photoluminescence investigations of multicrystalline silicon solar wafers indicated a new intense luminescence line at ≈ 0.91 eV at room temperature. The origin of this line is probably found in a specific grain boundary. Furthermore, luminescence in the region of 0.8 eV was investigated in detail, and it was found that probably oxygen is responsible for a peak at 0.77 eV at 80 K. Electroluminescence investigations at room temperature at both materials exhibit extended defect structures such as grain boundaries. Furthermore, it can be concluded that electroluminescence imaging in reverse bias mode indicate on serious breakdown points in solar cells, which can lead to destruction of solar cells and modules. By comparing defect-related and reverse bias electroluminescence images, a difference in the spatial distribution of defects emitting D1 radiation and defects emitting light under reverse bias beyond -12 V is detectable. In addition, there seems to be a correlation in the distribution of non-doping impurities and photoluminescence. Concerning this, vertical slabs of two silicon blocks were examined by means of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and photoluminescence. A correlation of the distributions of interstitial oxygen and the band-to-band luminescence profiles could be found. Additionally, a correlation between D3/D4 luminescence profile and nitrogen distribution in the blocks was observed. Finally, the growth process, particularly the transition from amorphous to microcrystalline silicon by PECVD, was studied by combined photoluminescence and Raman investigations. Formation of silicon nano-grains was detected by means of photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy.}, subject = {Silicon; Defects; Photoluminescence; Luminescence imaging; Silicon thin films; Silizium; Defekte; Photolumineszenz; Lumineszenz-Imaging; Silizium-D{\"u}nnfilme; Silicium; D{\"u}nnschichttechnik; Solarzelle; Fehleranalyse}, language = {en} }