Hydrogen passivation of poly-Si/SiOx contacts for Si solar cells using Al2O3 studied with deuterium

Schnabel, Manuel; van de Loo, Bas W. H.; Nemeth, William; Macco, Bart; Stradins, Paul; Kessels, W. M. M.; Young, David L.

doi:10.1063/1.5031118

Hydrogen passivation of poly-Si/SiO_x contacts for Si solar cells using Al₂O₃ studied with deuterium

Journal Article · Mon May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5031118· OSTI ID:1440399

^[1]; ^[2]; Nemeth, William ^[1]; ^[2]; Stradins, Paul ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Eindhoven Univ. of Technology, Eindhoven (The Netherlands)

Here, the interplay between hydrogenation and passivation of poly-Si/SiO_x contacts to n-type Si wafers is studied using atomic layer deposited Al₂O₃ and anneals in forming gas and nitrogen. The poly-Si/SiO_x stacks are prepared by thermal oxidation followed by thermal crystallization of a-Si:H films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Implied open-circuit voltages as high as 710 mV are achieved for p-type poly-Si/SiO_x contacts to n-type Si after hydrogenation. Correlating minority carrier lifetime data and secondary ion mass spectrometry profiles reveals that the main benefit of Al₂O₃ is derived from its role as a hydrogen source for chemically passivating defects at SiO_x; Al₂O₃ layers are found to hydrogenate poly-Si/SiO_x much better than a forming gas anneal. By labelling Al₂O₃ and the subsequent anneal with different hydrogen isotopes, it is found that Al₂O₃ exchanges most of its hydrogen with the ambient upon annealing at 400 °C for 1 h even though there is no significant net change in its total hydrogen content.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1440399

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5900-71231

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 112; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Improvement of Surface Passivation of Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact Structure by Thermal Annealing in Mixture of Water Vapor and Nitrogen Environment Zhang, Zhi; Liao, Mingdun; Huang, Yuqing Solar RRL, Vol. 3, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201900105	journal	June 2019
Hydrogenation Mechanisms of Poly‐Si/SiO _x Passivating Contacts by Different Capping Layers Truong, Thien N.; Yan, Di; Chen, Wenhao Solar RRL, Vol. 4, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201900476	journal	November 2019
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Deactivation of silicon surface states by Al-induced acceptor states from Al–O monolayers in SiO ₂ Hiller, Daniel; Jordan, Paul M.; Ding, Kaining Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 125, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5054703	journal	January 2019
Understanding the charge transport mechanisms through ultrathin SiO _x layers in passivated contacts for high-efficiency silicon solar cells Kale, Abhijit S.; Nemeth, William; Guthrey, Harvey Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5081832	journal	February 2019
Surface Passivation of Boron Emitters on n-Type Silicon Solar Cells Hyun, Ji Yeon; Bae, Soohyun; Nam, Yoon Chung Sustainability, Vol. 11, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143784	journal	July 2019

Figures / Tables (4)

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Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
atomic layer deposition
chemical reactions
electrical properties
isotopes
passivation
secondary ion mass spectroscopy