Mist chemical vapor deposition of aluminum oxide thin films for rear surface passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells

Abstract

We show the promising potential of mist chemical vapor deposition (CVD), a nonvacuum and solution-based technology, for the growth of an AlOx film as a rear surface passivation layer of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells, supported by its safety, low process cost, and low energy consumption for the growth. The AlOx layer grown at 350 °C with aluminum acetylacetonate and ozone, without a successive annealing process, showed an excellent surface passivation property with the negative fixed charge density of about (1–2) × 1012 cm−2, as highlighted by the surface recombination velocity of ∼10 cm/s.

Influence of precursor concentration and growth time on the surface morphology and crystallinity of α-Ga₂O₃ thin films fabricated by mist chemical vapor deposition

“…Also, these highly crystalline ¡-Ga 2 O 3 thin films should be suitable semiconductors in next-generation power devices that control large current with a channel in thin-film transistors. In addition, Uchida et al 17) have reported on fabricating highly insulating AlO x thin films by mist CVD. If mist CVD can form a single-crystal Al 2 O 3 gate insulator on ¡-Ga 2 O 3 , producing a high-quality allsingle-crystal TFT might be possible.…”

“…In addition, this process works under atmospheric pressure and it might be environmentally friendly. Recent studies have shown that mist CVD can form thin films of zinc oxide, 15) zinc magnesium oxide, 16) aluminum oxide (AlO x ), 17) and indium gallium zinc oxide. 18) The mist CVD is one technique in the category of modified spray-CVD dynamics 14),19), 20) and uses a reactor structure, such as the hot-wall method, 8) the line source method, 16) the fine channel method (FCM), 15) and the substrate rotation method.…”

AlOx Thin Films Synthesized by Mist Chemical Vapor Deposition, Monitored by a Fast-Scanning Mobility Particle Analyzer, and Applied as a Gate Insulating Layer in the Field-Effect Transistors

“…Several methods have been employed for the deposition of metal oxide films, such as sputtering, − metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), spray coating, atomic layer deposition (ALD), − plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), sol–gel, and mist-chemical vapor deposition (mist-CVD). , Mist-CVD includes the benefits of CVD and the solution processes, facilitating the production of a well-controlled thin film using a simple method. Additionally, mist-CVD can be employed to prepare metal-oxide–alloy thin films using metal acetylacetonates such as aluminum acetylacetonate (Al­(acac) 3 ), which are cost-effective, chemically stable, and low-vapor-pressure materials.…”

Mist chemical vapor deposition of MoO2 thin films

“…In this study, MoO2 thin films were prepared by the mist CVD method [10][11][12][13][14][15]. This method, which is also referred to as aerosol-assisted CVD, is a variant of CVD, in which the precursors are supplied to the reactor in the form of a mist rather than as vapor.…”