Characteristics of dual-frequency capacitively coupled SF_6/O_2 plasma and plasma texturing of multi-crystalline silicon

Due to it being environmentally friendly, much attention has been paid to the dry plasma texturing technique serving as an alternative candidate for multicrystalline silicon （mc-Si） surface texturing. In this paper, capacitively coupled plasma （CCP） driven by a dual frequency （DF） of 40.68 MHz and 13.56 MHz is first used for plasma texturing of mc-Si with SF6/O2 gas mixture. Using a hairpin resonant probe and optical emission techniques, DF-CCP characteristics and their influence on mc-silicon surface plasma texturing are investigated at different flow rate ratios, pressures, and radio-frequency （RF） input powers. Experimental results show that suitable plasma texturing of mc-silicon occurs only in a narrow range of plasma parameters, where electron density ne must be larger than 6.3 x 109 cm-3 and the spectral intensity ratio of the F atom to that of the O atom （[F]/[O]） in the plasma must be between 0.8 and 0.3. Out of this range, no cone-like structure is formed on the mc-silicon surface. In our experiments, the lowest reflectance of about 7.3% for mc-silicon surface texturing is obtained at an [F]/[O] of 0.5 and ne of 6.9 × 109 cm-3.

Preparation, microstructure and dislocation of solar-grade multicrystalline silicon by directional solidification from metallurgical-grade silicon

A vacuum directional solidification with high temperature gradient was performed to prepare low cost solar-grade multicrystalline silicon （mc-Si） directly from metallurgical-grade mc-Si. The microstructure characteristic, grain size, boundary, solid-liquid growth interface, and dislocation structure under different growth conditions were studied. The results show that directionally solidified multicrystalline silicon rods with high density and orientation can be obtained when the solidification rate is below 60 μm/s. The grain size gradually decreases with increasing the solidification rate. The control of obtaining planar solid-liquid interface at high temperature gradient is effective to produce well-aligned columnar grains along the solidification direction. The growth step and twin boundaries are preferred to form in the microstructure due to the faceted growth characteristic of mc-Si. The dislocation distribution is inhomogeneous within crystals and the dislocation density increases with the increase of solidification rate. Furthermore, the crystal growth behavior and dislocation formation mechanism of mc-Si were discussed.

Effect of hydrogen annealing on characteristics of polycrystalline silicon

The characteristics of mc-Si used for solar cells during H2 ambient annealing at 800-1200 ℃ were investigated by means of FTIR and QSSPCD. The results reveal that grain boundaries or defects in mc-Si may facilitate the formation of oxygen precipitates, and the formation of oxygen precipitates has deleterious effect on the lifetime of mc-Si. Decreasing lifetime could result from the formation of new recombination during annealing. Additionally, It is found that hydrogen may facilitate the formation of oxygen precipitates in mc-Si. On the other hand, the diffusion of hydrogen may passivate the defects/boundaries and it is beneficial to the lifetime of mc-Si.

Ionic/electronic conductivity regulation of n-type polyoxadiazole lithium sulfonate conductive polymer binders for high-performance silicon microparticle anodes

Low-cost silicon microparticles(SiMP),as a substitute for nanostructured silicon,easily suffer from cracks and fractured during the electrochemical cycle.A novel n-type conductive polymer binder with excellent electronic and ionic conductivities as well as good adhesion,has been successfully designed and applied for high-performance SiMP anodes in lithium-ion batteries to address this problem.Its unique features are attributed to the stro ng electron-withdrawing oxadiazole ring structure with sulfonate polar groups.The combination of rigid and flexible components in the polymer ensures its good mechanical strength and ductility,which is beneficial to suppress the expansion and contraction of SiMP s during the charge/discharge process.By fine-tuning the monomer ratio,the conjugation and sulfonation degrees of the polymer can be precisely controlled to regulate its ionic and electronic conductivities,which has been systematically analyzed with the help of an electrochemical test method,filling in the gap on the conductivity measurement of the polymer in the doping state.The experimental results indicate that the cell with the developed n-type polymer binder and SiMP(~0.5 μm) anodes achieves much better cycling performance than traditional non-conductive binders.It has been considered that the initial capacity of the SiMP anode is controlled by the synergetic effect of ionic and electronic conductivity of the binder,and the capacity retention mainly depends on its electronic conductivity when the ionic conductivity is sufficient.It is worth noting that the fundamental research of this wo rk is also applicable to other battery systems using conductive polymers in order to achieve high energy density,broadening their practical applications.

Wafer-level and highly controllable fabricated silicon nanowire transistor arrays on （111） silicon-on-insulator （SOl） wafers for highly sensitive detection in liquid and gaseous environments

This paper presents a wafer-level and highly controllable fabrication technology for silicon nanowire field-effect transistor （SiNW-FET arrays） on （111） silicon- on-insulator （SOI） wafers. Herein, 3,000 SiNW FET array devices were designed and fabricated on 4-inch wafers with a rate of fine variety of more than 90% and a dimension deviation of the SiNWs of less than ＋ 20 nm in each array. As such, wafer-level and highly controllable fabricated SiNW FET arrays were realized. These arrays showed excellent electrical properties and highly sensitive determination of pH values and nitrogen dioxide. The high-performance of the SiNW FET array devices in liquid and gaseous environments can enable the detection under a wide range of conditions. This fabrication technology can lay the foundation for the large-scale application of SiNWs.

Influence of atomic layer deposition Al_2O_3 nano-layer on the surface passivation of silicon solar cells

A stack of Al2O3/SiNx dual layer was applied for the back side surface passivation of p-type multi-crystalline silicon solar cells, with laser-opened line metal contacts, forming a local aluminum back surface field （local Al-BSF） structure. A slight amount of Al2O3, wrapping around to the front side of the wafer during the thermal atomic layer deposition process, was found to have a negative influence on cell performance. The different process flow was found to lead to a different cell performance, because of the Al2O3 wrapping around the front surface. The best cell performance, with an absolute efficiency gain of about 0.6% compared with the normal full Al-BSF structure solar cell, was achieved when the Al2O3 layer was deposited after the front surface of the wafer had been covered by a SiNx layer. We discuss the possible reasons for this phenomenon, and propose three explanations as the Ag paste, being hindered from firing through the front passivation layer, degraded the SiNx passivation effect and the Al2O3 induced an inversion effect on the front surface. Characterization methods like internal quantum efficiency and contact resistance scanning were used to assist our understanding of the underlying mechanisms.

Co‑packaged optics(CPO):status,challenges,and solutions

Due to the rise of 5G,IoT,AI,and high-performance computing applications,datacenter trafc has grown at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 30%.Furthermore,nearly three-fourths of the datacenter trafc resides within datacenters.The conventional pluggable optics increases at a much slower rate than that of datacenter trafc.The gap between application requirements and the capability of conventional pluggable optics keeps increasing,a trend that is unsustainable.Copackaged optics(CPO)is a disruptive approach to increasing the interconnecting bandwidth density and energy efciency by dramatically shortening the electrical link length through advanced packaging and co-optimization of electronics and photonics.CPO is widely regarded as a promising solution for future datacenter interconnections,and silicon platform is the most promising platform for large-scale integration.Leading international companies(e.g.,Intel,Broadcom and IBM)have heavily investigated in CPO technology,an inter-disciplinary research feld that involves photonic devices,integrated circuits design,packaging,photonic device modeling,electronic-photonic co-simulation,applications,and standardization.This review aims to provide the readers a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art progress of CPO in silicon platform,identify the key challenges,and point out the potential solutions,hoping to encourage collaboration between diferent research felds to accelerate the development of CPO technology.