Epitaxy, Si-Foils and SiC Deposition

R&D Services

Our R&D services comprise:

c-Si Thin-Film on Foreign Substrates

CVD and Epitaxy

Kerff-Less Wafering

One specialist field within crystalline silicon solar cells is that of crystalline Si thin-film solar cells (CSiTF solar cells). Here, the desirable qualities of wafer and thin-film solar cells are combined: high efficiency without degradation and low levels of silicon consumption.

The manufacturing concepts we are employing at Fraunhofer ISE use epitaxy or recrystallization to produce the silicon layers in CSiTF cells. These layers are either fabricated directly on inexpensive substrates (e.g. low-grade silicon wafers or ceramics), or are attached to suitable substrates using transfer technology after their production. The substrate-layer stacks thus created are called wafer equivalents. Customized functional coatings, such as those made from silicon carbide, are being developed for different wafer equivalents. Furthermore, cell and module concepts that are tailored to these wafer equivalents are also the subject of our research and development work; for example module-scale, integrated cell connection or nanotextures.

These research topics all involve testing for basic operating functions and development that promotes high throughput and low manufacturing costs.

In addition, we not only develop technology for CSiTF solar cell and module concepts, but also generate expert knowledge and file patents that are available for licensing.

We also offer the following services:

  • Encapsulation and infiltration with µc-Si/µc-SiC
  • Si epitaxy (n-, p-doped)
  • Porous silicon formation, reorganization and lift-off
  • Amorphous SiC deposition
     
  • Annealing (H2, Ar, N2 atmospheres)
  • Crystallization (solid phase and liquid phase zone melting)
     
  • Dopant profile characterisation by Spreading Resistance Profiling  (SRP) and Electrochemical Capacitance-Voltage (ECV) measurements
  • X-Ray diffraction (XRD;Glacing-Incidence-XRD, rocking curve and X-ray reflectometry)
     
  • Laser marking of wafered ingots
  • Laser cutting of silicon in a variety of shapes and formats
  • Grinding/polishing of cross-sections and beveled sections for sample characterisation and other purposes
     
  • Cleaning/diffusion/oxidization of materials with diverse impurity classifications and greatly varying dimensions, performed in systems divided into cleanliness classes
  • Plasma texturing
  • Remote plasma hydrogen passivation (RPHP) – passivating Si bulk defects by in-diffusion of atomic hydrogen

Selected Research Projects

 

iPorSi

Development of Nano-Porous Silicon Layers in an Inline Process

 

MehrSi

High-Efficiency III-V Multi-Junction Solar Cells on Silicon

 

PV-NIL

Nanoimprint Lithography for Extremely Fine Solar Cell Structures

 

Current Publications - Epitaxy, Si-Foils and SiC Deposition:

Jahr
Year
Titel/Autor:in
Title/Author
Publikationstyp
Publication Type
2023 Measurement of Local Recombination Activity in High Diffusion Length Semiconductors
Heinz, Friedemann; Oezkent, Maximilian; Rittmann, Clara; Schindler, Florian; Schubert, Martin; Kwapil, Wolfram; Glunz, Stefan
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2023 F&E Entwicklungen vom Si-Material bis zum Modul: Nachhaltig und hochproduktiv
Wolf, Andreas
Vortrag
Presentation
2023 Epitaxially Grown p-type Silicon Wafers Ready for Cell Efficiencies Exceeding 25%
Rittmann, Clara; Schindler, Florian; Richter, Armin; Niewelt, Tim; Stolzenburg, Hannah; Steinhauser, Bernd; Dalke, Jonas; Drießen, Marion; Weiss, Charlotte; Janz, Stefan; Schubert, Martin
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2023 Rear-Junction n-Type Cell Concept Utilizing PERC Process Sequence on Epitaxially-grown Base and Emitter
Rittmann, Clara; Steinhauser, Bernd; Drießen, Marion; Fell, Andreas; Richter, Armin; Ohnemus, Markus; Höffler, Hannes; Weiss, Charlotte; Janz, Stefan
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2022 Epitaxially grown p-type silicon wafers ready for cell efficiencies exceeding 25 %
Rittmann, Clara; Dalke, Jonas; Richter, Armin; Steinhauser, Bernd; Drießen, Marion; Weiss, Charlotte; Schindler, Florian; Schubert, Martin; Janz, Stefan; Niewelt, Tim; Stolzenburg, Hannah
Vortrag
Presentation
2022 Monitoring of Porous Silicon Layers Used for Epitaxial Wafer Production with Inline Reflectance Spectroscopy
Vahlman, Henri Johannes; Al-Hajjawi, Saed; Haunschild, Jonas; Wöhrle, Nico; Richter, Maxi; Jablonka, Lukas; Schremmer, Hans; Rein, Stefan
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2022 Microscopic Charge Carrier Lifetime Mapping for Silicon Material Analysis
Heinz, Friedemann; Oezkent, Maximilian; Rittmann, Clara; Schindler, Florian; Schubert, Martin; Kwapil, Wolfram; Glunz, Stefan
Vortrag
Presentation
2022 Inline Characterization of Stacking Faults in EpiWafers
Al-Hajjawi, Saed; Haunschild, Jonas; Wörnhör, Alexandra; Sorgenfrei, Ralf; Schremmer, Hans; Rein, Stefan
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2021 Efficiency Potential Analysis of p- and n-Type Epitaxially Grown Si Wafers
Rittmann, C.; Dalke, J.; Drießen, M.; Weiss, C.; Schindler, F.; Sorgenfrei, R.; Schubert, M.C.; Janz, S.
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2021 Spectroscopic Inline Characterisation of Partially Processed Epi Wafers after Porosification
Al-Hajjawi, Saed; Vahlman, Henri; Haunschild, Jonas; Rajagopalan, Shravan Kumar; Schremmer, Hans; Jablonka, L.; Rein, Stefan
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2021 Passivated, Highly Reflecting, Laser Contacted Ge Rear Side for III-V Multi-Junction Solar Cells
Weiss, C.; Schön, J.; Höhn, O.; Fuhrmann, B.; Dimroth, F.; Janz, S.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2020 Kerfless Wafering Approach with Si and Ge Templates for Si, Ge and III-V Epitaxy
Weiss, C.; Schreiber, W.; Drießen, M.; Sorgenfrei, R.; Liu, T.; Ohnemus, M.; Janz, S.
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2019 Correlating Template Properties with the Quality of Epitaxially Grown Silicon Wafers
Drießen, M.; Fehrenbach, T.; Kirste, L.; Weiss, C.; Janz, S.
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2018 Defects in Epitaxially Grown Silicon Wafers Causing Lifetime Patterns
Drießen, M.; Beu, P.; Heinz, F.D.; Fehrenbach, T.; Gust, E.; Schindler, F.; Janz, S.
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2018 Challenges for Silicon Photovoltaics. Next steps in manufacturing and advanced technologies
Bett, A.W.
Vortrag
Presentation
2018 Optimization of inline processes for the production of freestanding epitaxially grown thin films for solar cells
Ivanov, Alexey; Sorgenfrei, R.; Gust, Elke; Barth, Philipp; Nieuwenhuysen, Kris van; Kühnhold-Pospischil, Saskia; Riepe, Stephan; Janz, Stefan
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2018 Rapid vapor-phase direct doping for high-efficiency solar cells
Kühnhold-Pospischil, Saskia; Steinhauser, Bernd; Richter, Armin; Gust, Elke; Janz, Stefan
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2018 Trends in Solar Electricity
Bett, A.W.
Vortrag
Presentation
2017 Origin and impact of crystallographic defects in epitaxially grown Si wafers
Janz, S.; Amiri, D.; Gust, E.; Kühnhold-Pospischil, S.; Riepe, S.; Heinz, F.; Drießen, M.
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2017 Monolithic two-terminal III-V//Si triple-junction solar cells with 30.2% efficiency under 1-Sun AM1.5g
Cariou, R.; Benick, J.; Beutel, P.; Razek, N.; Flötgen, C.; Hermle, M.; Lackner, D.; Glunz, S.W.; Bett, A.W.; Wimplinger, M.; Dimroth, F.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2017 20% efficient solar cells fabricated from epitaxially grown and freestanding n-type wafers
Milenkovic, N.; Driessen, M.; Steinhauser, B.; Benick, J.; Lindekugel, S.; Hermle, M.; Janz, S.; Reber, S.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2016 Solar cells with 20% efficiency and lifetime evaluation of epitaxial wafers
Drießen, M.; Amiri, D.; Milenkovic, N.; Steinhauser, B.; Lindekugel, S.; Benick, J.; Reber, S.; Janz, S.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2016 Forschungstrends bei den Photovoltaik-Technologien
Rech, B.; Albrecht, S.; Brendel, R.; Peibst, R.; Schmidt, J.; Glunz, S.W.; Bett, A.; Rau, U.; Kirchartz, T.; Camus, C.; Egelhaaf, H.-J.; Baumann, A.; Powalla, M.
Vortrag
Presentation
2016 Epitaxial N-type silicon solar cells with 20% efficiency
Milenkovic, N.; Drießen, M.; Steinhauser, B.; Benick, J.; Lindekugel, S.; Hermle, M.; Janz, S.; Reber, S.
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
Diese Liste ist ein Auszug aus der Publikationsplattform Fraunhofer-Publica

This list has been generated from the publication platform Fraunhofer-Publica