Patent ID: 8633097

Claim:
A method for forming a single junction photovoltaic cell, the method comprising: forming a dopant layer on a surface of a semiconductor substrate; forming a metalic seedlayer on the dopant layer; diffusing the dopant layer into the surface of the semiconductor substrate to form a doped layer of the semiconductor substrate; forming a tensile-stressed metal layer on the metallic seed layer; causing a fracture in the semiconductor substrate underneath the doped layer by the tensile-stressed metal layer; removing a spalled layer, the spalled layer comprising the doped layer and an undoped layer of the semiconductor substrate located above the fracture, from the semiconductor substrate at the fracture; and forming the single-junction photovoltaic cell using the spalled layer by removing the tensile-stressed metal layer from the spalled layer, and using the metallic seed layer as an etch stop layer during the removal of the tensile-stressed metal layer from the spalled layer.