Abstract
We present an approach to characterize the relative saturation current density (J(oe)) and sheet resistance (R-SH) of laser doped regions on silicon wafers based on rapid photoluminescence (PL) imaging. In the absence of surface passivation layers, the R-SH of laser doped regions using a wide range of laser parameters is found to be inversely proportional to the PL intensity (I-PL). We explain the underlying mechanism for this correlation, which reveals that, in principle, I-PL is inversely proportional to J(oe) at any injection level. The validity of this relationship under a wide range of typical experimental conditions is confirmed by numerical simulations. This method allows the optimal laser parameters for achieving low R-SH and J(oe) to be determined from a simple PL image. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.