Photocarrier radiometry for noncontact evaluation of space monocrystalline silicon solar cell under low-energy electron irradiation

A space monocrystalline silicon（c-Si） solar cell under low-energy（〈 1 MeV） electron irradiation was investigated using noncontact photocarrier radiometry（PCR）. Monte Carlo simulation（MCS） was employed to characterize the effect of different energy electron irradiation on the c-Si solar cell. The carrier transport parameters（carrier lifetime, diffusion coefficient, and surface recombination velocities） were obtained by best fitting the experimental results with a theoretical one-dimensional two-layer PCR model. The results showed that the increase of the irradiation electron energy caused a large reduction of the carrier lifetime and diffusion length. Furthermore, the rear surface recombination velocity of the Si：p base of the solar cell at the irradiation electron energy of 1 Me V was dramatically enhanced due to 1 MeV electron passing through the whole cell. Short-circuit current（I sc） degradation evaluated by PCR was in good agreement with that obtained by electrical measurement.

Thermal annealing induced photocarrier radiometry enhancement for ion implanted silicon wafers

An experimental study on the photocarrier radiometry signals of As^＋ ion implanted silicon wafers before and after rapid thermal annealing is performed. The dependences of photocarrier radiometry amplitude on ion implantation dose （1×10^11-1×10^16/cm^2）, implantation energy （20-140 keV） and subsequent isochronical annealing temperature （500- 1100℃ are investigated. The results show that photocarrier radiometry signals are greatly enhanced for implanted samples annealed at high temperature, especially for those with a high implantation dose. The reduced surface recombination rate resulting from a high built-in electric field generated by annealing-activated impurities in the pn junction is believed to be responsible for the photocarrier radiometry signal enhancement. Photocarrier radiometry is contactless and can therefore be used as an effective in-line tool for the thermal annealing process monitoring of the ion-implanted wafers in semiconductor industries.

Combined frequency- and time-domain photocarrier radiometry characterization of ion-implanted and thermally annealed silicon wafers

A combined frequency-swept and quasi-time-domain photocarrier radiometry （PCR） technique was developed to characterize thermally annealed silicon wafers with B＋, P＋, and As＋ ion implantation at doses ranging from 1 ×1011 cm-2 to 1 ×1016 cm-2. The implantation dose dependence of the PCR amplitude, the frequency dependencies of the PCR amplitude and phase, as well as the quasi-time-domain PCR waveforms were simultaneously employed to analyze all the ion-implanted silicon samples. The dependence of the effective lifetime on the implantation dose has been investigated and shown to be related to the trap density and the lifetime extracted from the transient PCR signals.

Differential nonlinear photocarrier radiometry for characterizing ultra-low energy boron implantation in silicon

The measuring of the depth profile and electrical activity of implantation impurity in the top nanometer range of silicon encounters various difficulties and limitations, though it is known to be critical in fabrication of silicon complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor(CMOS) devices. In the present work, SRIM program and photocarrier radiometry(PCR)are employed to monitor the boron implantation in industrial-grade silicon in an ultra-low implantation energy range from 0.5 keV to 5 keV. The differential PCR technique, which is improved by greatly shortening the measurement time through the simplification of reference sample, is used to investigate the effects of implantation energy on the frequency behavior of the PCR signal for ultra-shallow junction. The transport parameters and thickness of shallow junction, extracted via multi-parameter fitting the dependence of differential PCR signal on modulation frequency to the corresponding theoretical model, well explain the energy dependence of PCR signal and further quantitatively characterize the recovery degree of structure damage induced by ion implantation and the electrical activation degree of impurities. The monitoring of nmlevel thickness and electronic properties exhibits high sensitivity and apparent monotonicity over the industrially relevant implantation energy range. The depth profiles of implantation boron in silicon with the typical electrical damage threshold(YED) of 5.3×10^(15)cm^(-3) are evaluated by the SRIM program, and the determined thickness values are consistent well with those extracted by the differential PCR. It is demonstrated that the SRIM and the PCR are both effective tools to characterize ultra-low energy ion implantation in silicon.

Optical and photo-carrier characterization of ultra-shallow junctions in silicon

Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), photocarrier radiometry (PCR) and photoluminescence (PL) techniques were employed to measure the ultra-shallow junction (USJ) wafers. These USJ wafers were prepared by As+ ion implantation at energies of 0.5-5 keV, at a dose of 1×1015 As+ /cm 2 and spike annealing. Experimentally the damaged layer of the as-implanted wafer and the recrystallization and activation of the post-annealed wafer were evaluated by SE in the spectral range from 0.27 to 20 m. The PCR amplitude decreased monotonically with the increasing implantation energy. The experimental results also showed that the PCR amplitudes of post-annealed USJ wafers were greatly enhanced, compared to the non-implanted and non-annealed substrate wafer. The PL measurements showed the enhanced PCR signals were attributed to the band-edge emissions of silicon. For explaining the PL enhancement, the electronic transport properties of USJ wafers were extracted via multi-wavelength PCR experiment and fitting. The fitted results showed the decreasing surface recombination velocity and the decreasing diffusion coefficient of the implanted layer contributed to the PCR signal enhancement with the decreasing implantation energy. SE, PCR and PL were proven to be non-destructive metrology tools for characterizing ultra-shallow junctions.