Development of Textured High-Quality Si and SiGe Multicrystal Ingots with Same Grain Orientation and Large Grain Sizes by the New Dendritic Casting Method

Abstract

We have developed the dendrite casting method based on our new concept to control the grain orientation and grain size. The Si and SiGe multicrystal ingots grown by this method have same grain orientation and quite large grain sizes (≥3cm), and have the longer lifetime more than 35μs without hydrogen passivation. The conversion efficiency of the solar cell prepared by the Si multicrystal with same orientation was found to be improved compared with that based on the conventional Si multicrystal. Therefore, this dendritic casting method is very promising in the field of the Si and SiGe multicrystal solar cells.