Influence of substitutional metallic impurities on the performances of p-type crystalline silicon solar cells: The case of gold

Abstract

The influence of a gold bulk contamination on the performances of boron doped p-type crystalline silicon solar cells is investigated for different base doping levels and different kinds of materials, such as float zone Si, Czochralski Si, and multicrystalline Si. Solar cells are made from intentionally contaminated silicon wafers. By monitoring the evolution of the electrically active substitutional gold concentration by means of bulk lifetime and minority carrier diffusion length measurements, this paper highlights the eventual gettering or hydrogenation effects occurring throughout the whole process but also of the danger of such an impurity in materials containing large densities of extended defects generating recombination centers by means of the impurity-defect interaction.