caa a22 4500 38801914X CHVBK 20180307124919.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199810 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1557/JMR.1998.0373 doi S0884291400046094 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1557/JMR.1998.0373 Photovoltaic silicon produced by thermal plasma: Influence of atomic hydrogen on oxygen elimination and passivation of the crystal defects [Elektronische Daten] The photovoltaic properties of the polycrystalline silicon depend on the crystallinity and the purity of the material. The thermal plasma process gives us an alternative method of silicon preparation since it is possible to produce an ultrahigh purity with simultaneously a passivation of crystalline defects and active impurities. We demonstrate the efficiency of the plasma purification process and particularly the influence of the atomic hydrogen in an argon thermal plasma on the photovoltaic properties of silicon. The results of the diffusion lengths measured by the photoelectrochemical method show that locally it rises up to 200 μm. We correlate these photovoltaic measurements with the properties of the crystal (defects and purity) by means of measurements by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) at low temperature (6 K), four probes resistivity technique, scanning electronic microscopy, inductively coupled plasma (ICP), and neutronic activation analyses. We show that the increase of the purity explains the high me asured diffusion lengths. Nevertheless, the thermal conditions of the crystallization of the silicon, due to the specificity of the plasma, lead to defects such as dislocations for which density is particularly high (>106 dis/cm2). The results show that chemical reactions between the atomic hydrogen of the plasma and the oxygen of the silicon occur. They decrease the oxygen content in silicon from 3 × 1017 at./cm3 down to 2 × 1016 at./cm3, while the residual hydrogen in silicon is close to 2 × 1015 at./cm3. This passivates the dangling bonds of ultrapure silicon with a high thermal stability up to 1000 K. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the hydrogen in the plasma modifies the electronic properties of the material to achieve a very good photocurrent even though the dislocation density of the silicon is very high. Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998 Morvan D. Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France Cazard-Juvernat I. Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France Amouroux J. Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France Journal of Materials Research Cambridge University Press 13/10(1998-10), 2709-2720 0884-2914 13:10<2709 1998 13 JMR https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1998.0373 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1998.0373 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Morvan D. Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Cazard-Juvernat I. Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Amouroux J. Laboratoire des réacteurs chimiques en phase plasma, Université P&M Curie, ENSCP, 11 rue P&M Curie, 75005 Paris, France NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Materials Research Cambridge University Press 13/10(1998-10), 2709-2720 0884-2914 13:10<2709 1998 13 JMR CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge