Mechanical strength of mono- and multicrystalline wafers

Thin silicon wafers are used for the majority of solar cells produced today. The strength behavior of such wafers has to be understood to avoid wafer breakage during manufacturing. In this work, mono- and multicrystalline wafers are characterized. Differences in strength are found to be mainly caused by the different defects due to the wafering process. The strength also depends on the orientation of the sawing marks. Roughness measurements can be correlated to the strength results.