Effective hydrogenation and surface damage induced by MW-ECR plasma of fine-grained polycrystalline silicon

Abstract

This work reports the investigations on the effects of the hydrogenation process of thin film polycrystalline n⁺pp⁺ mesa silicon cells using MW-ECR plasma in a conventional PECVD system. Different operating parameters such as MW-ECR power, annealing temperature and the doping level of the emitter region were varied. The n⁺-type emitter regions were obtained by phosphorus diffusion in a conventional furnace using an oxide doping source containing phosphorus (P507 or P509 solutions, from Filmtronics Inc.). The MW hydrogenation was carried out at a sample temperature of 400°C for 60 min. Both types of emitters formed from P507 and P509 showed V _oc of 155 mV and 206 mV, which increased linearly to 305 mV and 331 mV, respectively, after hydrogenation when the MW power varied from 200 to 650 W. However, the sheet resistances of the n⁺ emitter region showed a slight increase depending upon hydrogenation power because of its etching. In a further study, hydrogenated samples were annealed in neutral or forming gas (FG) and we observed interesting results on V _oc in the presence of FG. The FG annealing temperature study revealed a strong dependence of V _oc on MW power, which affected the etching level of emitter and emitter dopant concentration, which controls the diffusion of hydrogen ions during post-hydrogenation step. The results were explained in detail by combining the effects of MW power and dopant level of the emitter.