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2014
Conference Paper
Titel
Breakage Root Cause Analysis in as-Cut Monocrystalline Silicon Wafers
Abstract
Breakage of silicon wafers during manufacturing is an important issue in the processing of silicon solar cells. By reducing critical loadings with sensitive handling steps and improvement of manufacturing processes, the failure probability of wafers during production was reduced in the last years. Still, it is necessary to find and understand the reasons leading to breakage of silicon wafers. In this work, the subsurface damage is investigated in detail as the main factor for breakage of slurry based multi wire sawn wafers by use of fractographic analysis. The fracture origins, which lead to wafer breakage are identified and interpreted on as-cut monocrystalline wafers in bending tests. Typical origins of breakage are presented which were identified as half-penny shape cracks most likely resulting from indentation processes of SiC grain during wire sawing.