Residual stresses in polycrystalline silicon sheet and their relation to electron-hole lifetime

This letter summarizes research on the characterization of residual stresses and electron-hole lifetimes of polycrystalline silicon sheet for photovoltaic applications. Full-field polariscopy, scanning room temperature photoluminescence, and surface photovoltage are used to characterize the polycrystalline silicon sheet. An orientation dependent stress-optic coefficient has been developed and used to extract the in-plane residual stresses from analysis of transmitted near-infrared light. The characteristics of the spatial distribution and the quantitative correlation between the residual stresses and the electron-hole lifetime are presented. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.