APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING LARGE-SURFACE AREA POLYCRYSTALLINE SILICON SHEETS FOR SOLAR CELL APPLICATION

摘要

A method and apparatus for forming a semiconductor sheet suitable for use as a solar cell by depositing an array of solidified drops of a feed material on a sheet support. The desired properties of the sheet fabricated with the teaching of this invention are: flatness, low residual stress, minority carrier diffusion length greater than 40 microns, and minimum grain dimension at least two times the minority carrier diffusion length. In one embodiment, the deposition chamber is adapted to form and process sheets that have a surface area of about 1,000-2,400 cmSUP2/SUP.