Understanding the Effect of Stress on Surface Roughening during Silicon Spalling: A Theoretical and Experimental Study

Pablo Guimera Coll, Rico Meier, Mariana Bertoni

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Spalling has been proposed as a promising kerfless technique for slicing thinner wafers (down to 5 μm) and thus enhance the wafer yield from an ingot. The main challenge of spalling is to control the roughness and thickness variation of the spalled wafers that can be as high as 100% of the wafer thickness. The roughness affects the mechanical stability (due to surface defects) as well as the effective minority carrier lifetime (surface recombination velocity). In this paper, we have developed a dynamic finite element analysis to correlate the surface roughness of a spalled silicon wafer with the stress applied at the crack tip. These predictions were experimentally validated with crack velocity measurements and surface roughness analysis for different applied stresses. By controlling the stress applied, we were able to reduce the surface roughness in silicon by 62.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2019 IEEE 46th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2019
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages3461-3463
Number of pages3
ISBN (Electronic)9781728104942
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2019
Event46th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2019 - Chicago, United States
Duration: Jun 16 2019Jun 21 2019

Publication series

NameConference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
Volume2
ISSN (Print)0160-8371

Conference

Conference46th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityChicago
Period6/16/196/21/19

Keywords

  • Finite Element Analysis
  • crack velocity
  • kerfless
  • silicon
  • spalling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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