Abstract
The purpose of this work is to check the potential of innovative processes for the Si wafers production toward the solar cell industry. Studies have been focused on a comparative analysis of mechanical properties of such wafers, since: (i) reduced wafer strength leads to a high breakage rate during subsequent handling and solar cell processing steps, (ii) cracking of solar cells has become one of the major sources of solar module failure and rejection. Therefore while developing new types of wafer materials and processing, it is essential to assess the mechanical strength of the wafers. Mechanical properties of several innovative Si based substrates are estimated. The bending strength measurements of the silicon wafer are performed using the ring-on-ring set-up coupled with a numerical model to obtain estimate of the fracture stress and the Weibull parameters of the fracture distribution. Results are presented for five different materials: sintered Si powder, standard multi-crystalline Si, Czochralski monocrystalline Si, and two types of thermal sprayed Si wafers.