Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• García-Tabarés, Elisa
• Carlin, John A.
• Grassman, Tyler J.
• Martín, Diego
• Rey-Stolle, Ignacio
• Ringel, Steven A.

Titel

Evolution of silicon bulk lifetime during III-V-on-Si multijunction solar cell epitaxial growth

Ist Teil von

• Progress in photovoltaics, 2016-05, Vol.24 (5), p.634-644

Ort / Verlag

Bognor Regis: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

Wiley Online Library All Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The evolution of Si bulk minority carrier lifetime during the heteroepitaxial growth of III–V on Si multijunction solar cell structures via metal‐organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) has been analyzed. In particular, the impact on Si lifetime resulting from the four distinct phases within the overall MOCVD‐based III–V/Si growth process were studied: (1) the Si homoepitaxial emitter/cap layer; (2) GaP heteroepitaxial nucleation; (3) bulk GaP film growth; and (4) thick GaAsyP1‐y compositionally graded metamorphic buffer growth. During Phase 1 (Si homoepitaxy), an approximately two order of magnitude reduction in the Si minority carrier lifetime was observed, from about 450 to ≤1 µs. However, following the GaP nucleation (Phase 2) and thicker film (Phase 3) growths, the lifetime was found to increase by about an order of magnitude. The thick GaAsyP1‐y graded buffer was then found to provide further recovery back to around the initial starting value. The most likely general mechanism behind the observed lifetime evolution is as follows: lifetime degradation during Si homoepitaxy because of the formation of thermally induced defects within the Si bulk, with subsequent lifetime recovery due to passivation by fast‐diffusing atomic hydrogen coming from precursor pyrolysis, especially the group‐V hydrides (PH3, AsH3), during the III–V growth. These results indicate that the MOCVD growth methodology used to create these target III–V/Si solar cell structures has a substantial and dynamic impact on the minority carrier lifetime within the Si substrate. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The evolution of the Si bulk minority carrier lifetime during key phases in the fabrication of a metal‐organic chemical vapor deposition‐grown III–V‐on‐Si epitaxial structure is presented. A two order of magnitude reduction in p‐type Si lifetime during Si homoepitaxy, followed by a complete recovery over the course of subsequent III–V heteroepitaxy, was observed. Lifetime degradation is related to the activation of recombination centers, while lifetime recovery is linked to passivation of the thermally generated recombination centers by means of atomic hydrogen.