Carrier trap passivation in multicrystalline Si solar cells by hydrogen from SiNx:H layers

Dekkers, H.F.W.; Carnel, L.; Beaucarne, G.

doi:10.1063/1.2219142

Cited by 59 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This could point at carrier trapping, 17 which is known to occur in multicrystalline silicon, 18,19 but perhaps also at c-Si surfaces. This phenomenon is however absent in the a-Si: H͑n + ͒ / c-Si͑n͒ high-low junction case ͑not shown͒.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature of doped a-Si:H/c-Si interface recombination

Wolf¹,

Kondo²

2009

Journal of Applied Physics

207

132

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Doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon ͑a-Si: H͒ films of only a few nanometer thin find application in a-Si: H/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells. Although such films may yield a field effect at the interface, their electronic passivation properties are often found to be inferior, compared to those of their intrinsic counterparts. In this article, based on H 2 effusion experiments, the authors argue that this phenomenon is caused by Fermi energy dependent Si-H bond rupture in the a-Si: H films, for either type of doping. This results in the creation of Si dangling bonds, counteracting intentional doping of the a-Si: H matrix, and lowering the passivation quality.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature of doped a-Si:H/c-Si interface recombination

Wolf¹,

Kondo²

2009

Journal of Applied Physics

207

132

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“…In order to reduce bulk recombination in c-Si hydrogen (H) is commonly introduced into the silicon substrate to passivate bulk defects [14][15][16][17][18]. An economical and widely used method to introduce H is the post-deposition annealing of an amorphous silicon nitride layer [19,20].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of high-temperature treatment on the hydrogen distribution in silicon oxynitride/silicon nitride stacks for crystalline silicon surface passivation

Schwab

Hofmann

Heller

et al. 2013

Phys. Status Solidi A

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This work investigates a double layer stack system that can be used for surface passivation of crystalline silicon. The stack consists of amorphous silicon-rich silicon oxynitride and amorphous silicon nitride on top. Both layers are fabricated by means of plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition. We investigate the stack in terms of changes in the hydrogen content and distribution within the different stack layers due to a high temperature treatment. For that purpose the stack is studied by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy and nuclear reaction analysis before and after fast firing at 850°C. Our results determine the bottom silicon oxynitride layer as very hydrogen-rich. Furthermore, we identify the silicon nitride capping layer as diffusion barrier to atomic hydrogen but still allowing an effusion of molecular hydrogen. We present a qualitative model that explains our findings and distinguishes between atomic and molecular hydrogen

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“…1,2 It also provides a humidity barrier, protecting underlying interfaces from the degrading effects of moisture, 3,4 and is a source of hydrogen for passivating silicon bulk defects. [5][6][7][8] On c-Si substrates, low surface recombination has been achieved by various plasma techniques and gas mixtures. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Details of the deposition processes and silicon substrates employed in these studies are included in Table I.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation and optimisation of PECVD SiNx as an antireflection coating and passivation layer for silicon solar cells

Wan¹,

McIntosh²,

Thomson³

2013

AIP Advances

116

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In this work, we investigate how the film properties of silicon nitride (SiNx) depend on its deposition conditions when formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The examination is conducted with a Roth & Rau AK400 PECVD reactor, where the varied parameters are deposition temperature, pressure, gas flow ratio, total gas flow, microwave plasma power and radio-frequency bias voltage. The films are evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to determine structural properties, by spectrophotometry to determine optical properties, and by capacitance–voltage and photoconductance measurements to determine electronic properties. After reporting on the dependence of SiNx properties on deposition parameters, we determine the optimized deposition conditions that attain low absorption and low recombination. On the basis of SiNx growth models proposed in the literature and of our experimental results, we discuss how each process parameter affects the deposition rate and chemical bond density. We then focus on the effective surface recombination velocity Seff, which is of primary importance to solar cells. We find that for the SiNx prepared in this work, 1) Seff does not correlate universally with the bulk structural and optical properties such as chemical bond densities and refractive index, and 2) Seff depends primarily on the defect density at the SiNx-Si interface rather than the insulator charge. Finally, employing the optimized deposition condition, we achieve a relatively constant and low Seff,UL on low-resistivity (≤1.1 Ωcm) p- and n-type c-Si substrates over a broad range of n = 1.85–4.07. The results of this study demonstrate that the trade-off between optical transmission and surface passivation can be circumvented. Although we focus on photovoltaic applications, this study may be useful for any device for which it is desirable to maximize light transmission and surface passivation

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Carrier trap passivation in multicrystalline Si solar cells by hydrogen from SiNx:H layers

Cited by 59 publications

References 18 publications

Nature of doped a-Si:H/c-Si interface recombination

Nature of doped a-Si:H/c-Si interface recombination

Effects of high-temperature treatment on the hydrogen distribution in silicon oxynitride/silicon nitride stacks for crystalline silicon surface passivation

Characterisation and optimisation of PECVD SiNx as an antireflection coating and passivation layer for silicon solar cells

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