Modified technique of using conventional slider boat for liquid phase epitaxy of silicon for solar cell application

Abstract

Epitaxial layers of silicon are grown on single crystal Si-substrate from a solution of silicon in indium using conventional graphite slider boat technique. The important problems of natural convection due to lower density of silicon compared to indium, poor wetting of substrate due to high angle of contact of indium solution on silicon substrate resulting in poor nucleation, melt removal from the growth substrate and saturation wafer associated with LPE in this technique are practically eliminated using sandwich method with simple modifications of the boat and the method of growth. Some experimental studies on the effect of different surface preparations of growth substrate are also reported. Growth results are shown and discussed. Further, improvization of slider boat to facilitate better study of growth parameters is suggested in the line of modification already carried out.