Liquid Phase Epitaxy

Liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) is a growth technique that can be suitable for photovoltaic applications regarding its simplicity and its capacity to produce high-quality thin film. The growth of Silicon proceeds from a molten solution (metal + Si), which is slowly cooled. Temperature range is typically 700–1,000°C and growth rate can be as high as 1

μ

m min

-1

. In this chapter, we first introduce the fundamental principles of LPE and then we discuss on the influence of the metallic solvent (In, Sn, Cu, Al …), the temperature range on the growth rate and on the quality of the epitaxial layers. We also review epitaxial growth on polycrystalline silicon or foreign substrates. We finally discuss the development of high throughput LPE deposition equipment.