Direct correlation of transition metal impurities and minority carrier recombination in multicrystalline silicon

Impurity and minority carrier lifetime distributions were studied in as-grown multicrystalline silicon used for terrestrial-based solar cells. Synchrotron-based x-ray fluorescence and the light beam induced current technique were used to measure impurity and lifetime distributions, respectively. The purpose of this work was to determine the spatial relation between transition metal impurities and minority carrier recombination in multicrystalline silicon solar cells. Our results reveal a direct correlation between chromium, iron: and nickel impurity precipitates with regions of high minority carrier recombination. The impurity concentration was typically 5 X 10(16) atoms/cm(2), indicating the impurity-rich regions possess nanometer-scale precipitates. These results provide the first direct evidence that transition metal agglomerates play a significant role in solar cell performance. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.