Simple method for significant improvement of minority-carrier lifetime of evaporated BaSi2 thin film by sputtered-AlOx passivation. (15th March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shaalan, N.M.; Hara, K.O.; Trinh, C.T.; Nakagawa, Y.; Usami, N.
• Is Part Of: Materials science in semiconductor processing. Volume 76(2018)
• Page Start: 37
• Page End: 41
• Publication Date: 2018-03-15
• Subjects: BaSi2 thin film -- AlOx passivation -- Minority-carrier lifetime -- Thin film solar cell; Semiconductors -- Periodicals; Integrated circuits -- Materials -- Periodicals; Semiconducteurs -- Périodiques; Circuits intégrés -- Matériaux -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 621.38152
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mssp.2017.12.015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-8001

Abstract

Abstract: A novel surface passivation of AlOx on BaSi2 thin films fabricated by vacuum evaporation for solar cell application has been developed. The minority-carrier lifetime of evaporated BaSi2 film is shorter than that of epitaxial film. This lifetime has been improved by forming AlOx passivation layer on the BaSi2 surface by RF sputtering of Al followed by oxidation in air. A drastic improvement of the lifetime upon the passivation of AlOx was observed up to 15 μs with 3-nm of AlOx layer after rapid thermal annealing at 475 °C for 15 min. The dependence of lifetime on passivation layer thickness disappeared for thickness higher than 9 nm, especially after annealing, showing the chemical passivation effect of AlOx . The result confirmed that AlOx is a promising passivation-layer for improving properties of BaSi2 film.