Pulsed excimer laser annealing of ion implanted silicon: Characterization and solar cell fabrication

A pulsed ultraviolet excimer laser (XeCl, 308-nm wavelength, ∼41-ns pulse duration) has been sucessfully used for laser annealing of both boron- and arsenic-implanted silicon, and for formation of high quality p-n junctions. Transmission electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and sheet electrical properties measurements are used to characterize ion implanted and XeCl laser annealed specimens. Predictions of thermal melting model calculations of the annealing process are also compared with results of these measurements. Finally, we demonstrate the first use of high repetition rate, scanned, overlapping excimer laser pulses to fabricate large area photovoltaic solar cells with good performance characteristics.