Laser-Doping of Crystalline Silicon Substrates using Doped Silicon Nanoparticles

Abstract

Crystalline Si substrates are doped by laser annealing of solution processed Si. For this experiment, dispersions of highly B-doped Si nanoparticles (NPs) are deposited onto intrinsic Si and laser processed using an 807.5nm cw-laser. During laser processing the particles as well as a surface-near substrate layer are melted to subsequently crystallize in the same orientation as the substrate. The doping profile is investigated by secondary ion mass spectroscopy revealing a constant B concentration of 2x10^18 cm^-3 throughout the entire analyzed depth of 5\mu m. Four-point probe measurements demonstrate that the effective conductivity of the doped sample is increased by almost two orders of magnitude. The absolute doping depth is estimated to be in between 8\mu m and 100\mu m. Further, a pn-diode is created by laser doping an n-type c-Si substrate using the Si NPs.