Published: 1981
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The overall objective of this program is to define the effects of impurities, various thermochemical processes, and any impurity-process interactions upon the performance of terrestrial solar cells. The results of the study form a basis for silicon producers, wafer manufacturers, and cell fabricators to develop appropriate cost-benefit relationships for the use of less pure, less costly solar grade silicon. Cr is highly mobile in silicon even at temperatures as low as 600°C. Contrasting with earlier data for Mo, Ti, and V, Cr concentrations vary from place to place in polycrystalline silicon wafers and the electrically-active Cr concentration in the polysilicon is more than an order of magnitude smaller than would be projected from single crystal impurity data. We hypothesize that Cr diffuses during ingot cooldown after groth, preferentially segregates to grain boundaries and becomes electrically deactivated. Both Al and Au introduce deep levels when grown into silicon crystals. Accelerated aging data from Ni-contaminated silicon imply that no significant impurity-induced cell performance reduction should be expected over a twenty-year device lifetime. Combined electrical bias and thermal stressing of silicon solar cells containing Nb, Fe, Cu, Ti, Cr, and Ag, respectively produces no performance loss after 100 hour exposures up to 225°C. Ti and V, but not Mo, can be gettered from polycrystalline silicon by POCl3 or HCl at temperatures of 1000 and 1100°C.