Characterization of polycrystalline silicon wafers for solar cells sliced with novel fixed‐abrasive wire

Abstract

Abstract For slicing crystalline silicon ingots, we have developed a novel fixed‐abrasive wire where diamond grit is fixed onto a bare wire by resin bonding. The properties of the wafers sliced using a multi‐wire saw with the fixed‐abrasive wire have been investigated. When compared with the wafers sliced with the loose‐abrasive wire, the slicing speed is improved by approximately 2.5‐fold and the thicknesses of saw‐damage layers are reduced by more than a factor of two. Polycrystalline silicon solar cells have been fabricated for the first time utilizing the wafers sliced with the fixed‐abrasive wire, and the cells with the saw‐damage etching depth of 7 µm have shown photovoltaic properties comparable to those prepared using the wafers sliced with the loose‐abrasive wire and subsequently etched to remove the damage layers up to 15 µm. It has been clarified that wafer slicing using the fixed‐abrasive wire is promising as a next‐generation slicing technique for fabrication of solar cells, particularly thin silicon cells where the wafer thicknesses approach or become less than 150 µm. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.