Phosphorus gettering of precipitated Cu in single crystalline silicon based on rapid thermal process

In this paper, we have investigated the effect of phosphorus diffusion gettering on the precipitated Cu in silicon via rapid thermal process (RTP). It is found that, for dot-like or star-like precipitates, the RTP-based phosphorus diffusion technique is efficient for gettering out the precipitated Cu. A two-step RTP gettering process is much more effective than a single-step RTP process. Furthermore, the choice of oxygen ambient can enhance the Cu gettering efficiency due to the involvement of considerable self-interstitial silicon atoms. The minority carrier lifetime of the sample subjected to RTP-based phosphorus gettering has also been verified to be significantly enhanced. These results are of interest for the gettering engineering of high-efficiency silicon solar cells.