Suppression of substrate distortion during zone-melting recrystallization process for thin film silicon solar cells

The distortion of silicon substrate during zone-melting recrystallization ( ZMR) process was investigated by thermal simulation and zone heating repeti tion. From the simulation result, the distortion becomes small with increas ing T-g and it disappears when T-s is set above 1350 degreesC. From zone he ating repetition, the reduction of the distortion was confirmed by higher T -s experiment. When T-g is 1340 degreesC the substrate is expected to be re used 20 times. When a substrate of thickness more than 1.5 mm is used in th is high-T-g Z M R process, reuse number of times can be estimated as more t han 100 times. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.