Metal induced crystallization of amorphous silicon for photovoltaic solar cells

A silicon thin-film technology could lead to less expensive modules by the use of less silicon material and by the implementation of monolithic module processes. A technology based on polycrystalline-silicon thin-films with a grain size between 1 μm and 1 mm (pc-Si), seems particularly promising since it combines the low-cost potential of a thin-film technology with the high efficiency potential of crystalline silicon. One of the possible approaches to fabricate pc-Si absorber layers is metal induced crystallization (MIC). For solar cell applications mainly aluminium is investigated as metal because 1) it forms a eutectic system with silicon instead of a silicide-metal system like e.g. Ni 2) only shallow level defects are formed in the forbidden bandgap of silicon and 3) a layer exchange process can be obtained in combination with a-Si. Aluminum induced crystallization (AIC) of a-Si on non-silicon substrates can results in grains with a preferential (100) orientation and a maximum grain sizes above 50 micrometer. These layers can act as seed layers for further epitaxial growth. Based on this two-step approach (AIC + epitaxial growth) we made solar cells with an energy conversion efficiency of 8%. Based on TEM, EBIC, SEM, defect etch and EBSD measurements we showed that the efficiency is nowadays mainly limited by the presence of electrical intragrain defects.