Ultralow surface recombination of c-Si substrates passivated by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposited Al2O3

Abstract

Hoex, B.; Heil, S.B.S.; Langereis, E.; van de Sanden, M.C.M.; Kessels, W.M.M.

“Zero-charge” SiO2/Al2O3 stacks for the simultaneous passivation of n+ and p+ doped silicon surfaces by atomic layer deposition

“…Less than a decade ago, it was reported that Al 2 O 3 films prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) provide superior passivation of p and p þ -type Si surfaces, which was technologically challenging at that time [1][2][3]. The excellent passivation by Al 2 O 3 can be related to a very low interface defect density D it (o10 11 cm À 2 ) on Si, which is essential for chemical passivation.…”

In situ reaction mechanism studies of plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition of Al2O3

“…The Al 2 O 3 material properties obtained with this experimental setup have been reported. 10,11 A typical example of the mass change during the plasma-assisted ALD cycles as measured by the QCM is shown in Fig. 1͑a͒.…”

Excellent passivation of highly doped p-type Si surfaces by the negative-charge-dielectric Al2O3

“…The level of surface passivation of thermal SiO 2 , a-SiN x : H and a-Si: H on these p + -emitter samples was already reported in a previous study. 2,8 Before deposition a possibly remaining film from previous experiments was stripped off and the samples received a conventional RCA cleaning with a final dip in di- 7 The passivation quality of the films was quantified by the emitter saturation current density J 0e of the p + -emitters. The emitter saturation current density J 0e was determined from contactless photoconductance decay measurements in both the quasi-steady-state and transient mode ͑Sinton WCT-100͒ 10 from the relation proposed by Kane and Swanson 11 1 eff − 1…”