The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 29, 2011
Filed:
Nov. 03, 2008
Joel P. DE Souza, Putnam Valley, NY (US);
Keith E. Fogel, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
Daniel A. Inns, White Plains, NY (US);
Devendra K. Sadana, Pleasantville, NY (US);
Katherine L. Saenger, Ossining, NY (US);
Joel P. de Souza, Putnam Valley, NY (US);
Keith E. Fogel, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
Daniel A. Inns, White Plains, NY (US);
Devendra K. Sadana, Pleasantville, NY (US);
Katherine L. Saenger, Ossining, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
The invention provides a high temperature (about 1150° C. or greater) annealing process for converting thick polycrystalline Si layers on the order of 1 μm to 40 μm on a single crystal seed layer into thick single crystal Si layers having the orientation of the seed layer, thus allowing production of thick Si films having the quality of single crystal silicon at high rates and low cost of processing. Methods of integrating such high temperature processing into solar cell fabrication are described, with particular attention to process flows in which the seed layer is disposed on a porous silicon release layer. Another aspect pertains to the use of similar high temperature anneals for poly-Si grain growth and grain boundary passivation. A further aspect relates to structures in which these thick single crystal Si films and passivated poly-Si films are incorporated.