Influence of precursor gas ratio and firing on silicon surface passivation by APCVD aluminium oxide. Issue 11 (2nd September 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Davis, Kristopher O.; Jiang, Kaiyun; Wilson, Marshall; Demberger, Carsten; Zunft, Heiko; Haverkamp, Helge; Habermann, Dirk; Schoenfeld, Winston V.
• Is Part Of: Physica status solidi. Volume 7:Issue 11(2013:Nov.)
• Page Start: 942
• Page End: 945
• Publication Date: 2013-09-02
• Subjects: Solid state physics -- Periodicals; 530.4105
• DOI: 10.1002/pssr.201308092
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1862-6254

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Using a high throughput, in‐line atmosphere chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) tool, we have synthesized amorphous aluminum oxide (AlO<italic>_x</italic>) films from precursors of trimethyl‐aluminum (TMA) and O₂, yielding a maximum deposition 150 nm min^–1 per wafer. For p‐type crystalline silicon (c‐Si) wafers, excellent surface passivation was achieved with the APCVD AlO<italic>_x</italic> films, with a best maximum effective surface recombination velocity (<italic>S</italic>_{eff, ma<italic>x</italic>}) of 8 cm/s following a standard industrial firing step. The findings could be attributed to the existence of large negative charge (<italic>Q</italic>_f ≈ –3 × 10¹² cm^–2) and low interface defect density (<italic>D</italic>_it ≈ 4 × 10¹¹ eV^–1 cm^–2) achieved by the films. This data demonstrates a high potential for APCVD AlO<italic>_x</italic> to be used in high efficiency, low cost industrial solar cells. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim)</p> </abstract>