Use of low energy hydrogen ion implants in high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells

This program is a study of the use of low energy hydrogen ion implantation for high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells. The first quarterly report focuses on two tasks of this program: (1) an examination of the effects of low energy hydrogen implants on surface recombination speed; and (2) an examination of the effects of hydrogen on silicon regrowth and diffusion in silicon. The first part of the project focussed on the measurement of surface properties of hydrogen implanted silicon. Low energy hydrogen ions when bombarded on the silicon surface will create structural damage at the surface, deactivate dopants and introduce recombination centers. At the same time the electrically active centers such as dangling bonds will be passivated by these hydrogen ions. Thus hydrogen is expected to alter properties such as the surface recombination velocity, dopant profiles on the emitter, etc. In this report the surface recombination velocity of a hydrogen emplanted emitter was measured.