Surface passivation investigation on ultra-thin atomic layer deposited aluminum oxide layers for their potential application to form tunnel layer passivated contacts

The surface passivation performance of atomic layer deposited ultra-thin aluminium oxide layers with different thickness in the tunnel layer regime, i.e., ranging from one atomic cycle (∼0.13 nm) to 11 atomic cycles (∼1.5 nm) on n-type silicon wafers is studied. The effect of thickness and thermal a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 2017-08, Vol.56 (8S2), p.8
Main Authors: Xin, Zheng, Ling, Zhi Peng, Nandakumar, Naomi, Kaur, Gurleen, Ke, Cangming, Liao, Baochen, Aberle, Armin G., Stangl, Rolf
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aluminum oxide
Fourier transforms
Infrared analysis
Passivity
Photovoltaic cells
Polystyrene resins
Silicon
Silicon wafers
Solar cells
Thickness
Thin films
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Summary:The surface passivation performance of atomic layer deposited ultra-thin aluminium oxide layers with different thickness in the tunnel layer regime, i.e., ranging from one atomic cycle (∼0.13 nm) to 11 atomic cycles (∼1.5 nm) on n-type silicon wafers is studied. The effect of thickness and thermal activation on passivation performance is investigated with corona-voltage metrology to measure the interface defect density Dit(E) and the total interface charge Qtot. Furthermore, the bonding configuration variation of the AlOx films under various post-deposition thermal activation conditions is analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Additionally, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrene sulfonate) is used as capping layer on ultra-thin AlOx tunneling layers to further reduce the surface recombination current density to values as low as 42 fA/cm2. This work is a useful reference for using ultra-thin ALD AlOx layers as tunnel layers in order to form hole selective passivated contacts for silicon solar cells.
ISSN:0021-4922
1347-4065
DOI:10.7567/JJAP.56.08MB14