Simple and versatile UV-ozone oxide for silicon solar cell applications

Bakhshi, Sara; Zin, Ngwe; Ali, Haider; Wilson, Marshall; Chanda, Debashis; Davis, Kristopher O.; Schoenfeld, Winston V.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2018.06.006

Simple and versatile UV-ozone oxide for silicon solar cell applications

Journal Article · Thu Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2018.06.006· OSTI ID:1613432

Bakhshi, Sara ^[1]; Zin, Ngwe ^[2]; Ali, Haider ^[2]; ^[3]; Chanda, Debashis ^[2]; Davis, Kristopher O. ^[2]; Schoenfeld, Winston V. ^[2]

Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States); DOE/OSTI
Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States)
Semilab SDI LLC, Tampa, FL (United States)

Semiconductor surface clean is sometimes perceived as costly but long recognized as pivotal in determining the final semiconductor device performance and yield. In this contribution, we investigated the effectiveness of crystalline silicon surface cleaning by a simple UV-ozone process in comparison to the industry standard RCA clean for silicon photovoltaic applications. We present a unique method of processing the silicon surface effectively by UV-ozone cleaning. Despite being simple, UV-ozone cleaning results in a superior surface passivation quality that is comparable to high-quality RCA clean. When used as a stack dielectric—UV-ozone oxide overlaid by aluminum oxide—the thickness of UV-ozone oxide plays an important role in determining the passivation quality. Of all treatment times, 15 min of UV-ozone treatment results in an outstanding passivation quality, achieving the effective carrier lifetime of 3 ms and saturation current density of 5 fA/cm². In addition, we present a simple and effective technique to extract values of electron/hole capture cross-section for the purpose of analyzing the interface passivation quality from already measured surface recombination parameters of saturation current density, interfacial trap density and total fixed charge, instead of measuring on the separately prepared metal-insulated-semiconductor (MIS) samples by the techniques: frequency-dependent parallel conductance or deep-level transient spectroscopy.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0007533

OSTI ID:: 1613432

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1591688

Journal Information:: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Journal Name: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells Vol. 185; ISSN 0927-0248

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (38)

Ueber die elektrostatische Induction und die Verzögerung des Stroms in Flaschendrähten Siemens, W. Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Vol. 178, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.18571780905	journal	January 1857
Ultraviolet depolymerization of photoresist polymers Bolon, D. A.; Kunz, C. O. Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol. 12, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.760120206	journal	March 1972
Dielectric surface passivation for silicon solar cells: A review Bonilla, Ruy S.; Hoex, Bram; Hamer, Phillip physica status solidi (a), Vol. 214, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.201700293	journal	June 2017
A study of UV/Ozone cleaning procedure for silicon surfaces Baunack, S.; Zehe, A. Physica Status Solidi (a), Vol. 115, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.2211150124	journal	September 1989
Iron contamination in silicon technology Istratov, A. A.; Hieslmair, H.; Weber, E. R. Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing, Vol. 70, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s003390051074	journal	May 2000
Electrical characteristics of the SiO2Si interface near midgap and in weak inversion Cooper, J. A.; Schwartz, R. J. Solid-State Electronics, Vol. 17, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-1101(74)90086-0	journal	July 1974
Variation of the layer thickness to study the electrical property of PECVD Al2O3 / c-Si interface Saint-Cast, Pierre; Heo, Youn-Ho; Billot, Etienne Energy Procedia, Vol. 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2011.06.195	journal	January 2011
Simple Cleaning and Conditioning of Silicon Surfaces with UV/Ozone Sources Moldovan, Anamaria; Feldmann, Frank; Krugel, Georg Energy Procedia, Vol. 55 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.08.067	journal	January 2014
Enhancing the performance of P3HT:ICBA based polymer solar cells using LiF as electron collecting buffer layer and UV–ozone treated MoO3 as hole collecting buffer layer Cheng, Fei; Fang, Guojia; Fan, Xi Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 110 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2012.12.006	journal	March 2013
Tunnel oxide passivated carrier-selective contacts based on ultra-thin SiO 2 layers Moldovan, Anamaria; Feldmann, Frank; Zimmer, Martin Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 142 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2015.06.048	journal	November 2015
Influence of surface preparation and cleaning on the passivation of boron diffused silicon surfaces for high efficiency photovoltaics Ali, Haider; Moldovan, Anamaria; Mack, Sebastian Thin Solid Films, Vol. 636 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2017.06.043	journal	August 2017
Efficiency Enhancement of InP Nanowire Solar Cells by Surface Cleaning Cui, Yingchao; Wang, Jia; Plissard, Sebastien R. Nano Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl4016182	journal	August 2013
Dielectric-Barrier Discharges: Their History, Discharge Physics, and Industrial Applications Kogelschatz, Ulrich Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, Vol. 23, Issue 1, p. 1-46 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022470901385	journal	March 2003
High-efficiency inverted dithienogermole–thienopyrrolodione-based polymer solar cells Small, Cephas E.; Chen, Song; Subbiah, Jegadesan Nature Photonics, Vol. 6, Issue 2, p. 115-120 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.317	journal	December 2011
COCOS (corona oxide characterization of semiconductor) non-contact metrology for gate dielectrics Wilson, Marshall The 2000 international conference on characterization and metrology for ULSI technology, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1354401	conference	January 2001
Ultralow surface recombination of c-Si substrates passivated by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposited Al2O3 Hoex, B.; Heil, S. B. S.; Langereis, E. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2240736	journal	July 2006
Improvements in the determination of interface state density using deep level transient spectroscopy Eades, Wendell D.; Swanson, Richard M. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 56, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.334179	journal	September 1984
High-efficiency inverted bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells with UV ozone-treated ultrathin aluminum interlayer Zhang, Hongmei; Ouyang, Jianyong Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3479916	journal	August 2010
Impact of illumination level and oxide parameters on Shockley–Read–Hall recombination at the Si‐SiO ₂ interface Aberle, Armin G.; Glunz, Stefan; Warta, Wilhelm Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 71, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.350782	journal	May 1992
Interface recombination parameters of atomic-layer-deposited Al ₂ O ₃ on crystalline silicon Werner, F.; Cosceev, A.; Schmidt, J. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 111, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3700241	journal	April 2012
Monitoring metal contamination of silicon by multiwavelength room temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy Jian, Shiu-Ko Jang; Jeng, Chih-Cherng; Yoo, Woo Sik AIP Advances, Vol. 2, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4769746	journal	December 2012
On effective surface recombination parameters McIntosh, Keith R.; Black, Lachlan E. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4886595	journal	July 2014
On the c-Si/SiO ₂ interface recombination parameters from photo-conductance decay measurements Bonilla, Ruy S.; Wilshaw, Peter R. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 121, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4979722	journal	April 2017
Improved quantitative description of Auger recombination in crystalline silicon Richter, Armin; Glunz, Stefan W.; Werner, Florian Physical Review B, Vol. 86, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.165202	journal	October 2012
The New Concept for Particle Remove in Wet Bench Cleaning Chen, Sheng-hsiung; Chen, Shen-li; Chung, Long-yeu 13th International Symposium on the Physical and Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits https://doi.org/10.1109/IPFA.2006.251015	conference	November 2006
Effect of UV-Ozone Exposure on PCBM Belay, Amare Benor; Zhou, Wei; Krueger, Rodica IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 2, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2183579	journal	April 2012
Modeling Recombination at the Si–Al$_{2}$O $_{3}$ Interface Black, L. E.; McIntosh, K. R. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2247464	journal	July 2013
Uncertainty in Photoconductance Measurements of the Emitter Saturation Current Thomson, Andrew F.; Hameiri, Ziv; Grant, Nicholas E. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2270346	journal	October 2013
Improving Silicon Surface Passivation with a Silicon Oxide Layer Grown via Ozonated Deionized Water Bakhshi, Sara; Zin, Ngwe; Davis, Kristopher O. 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366153	conference	June 2017
UV/Ozone Cleaning of Surfaces Vig, J.; LeBus, J. IEEE Transactions on Parts, Hybrids, and Packaging, Vol. 12, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1109/TPHP.1976.1135156	journal	December 1976
Surface cleaning by ultraviolet radiation Sowell, R. R.; Cuthrell, R. E.; Mattox, D. M. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, Vol. 11, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.1318658	journal	January 1974
MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductors) Physics and Technology by E. H. Nicollian and J. R. Brews Wieder, H. H. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, Vol. 21, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.571867	journal	November 1982
Preparation of surfaces for high quality interface formation Vossen, J. L.; Thomas, J. H.; Maa, J. ‐S. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 2, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.572725	journal	April 1984
The Evolution of Silicon Wafer Cleaning Technology Kern, Werner Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2086825	journal	January 1990
Preoxidation UV Treatment of Silicon Wafers Ruzyllo, J.; Duranko, G. T.; Hoff, A. M. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 134, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2100818	journal	August 1987
Glow Discharge Phenomena in Plasma Etching and Plasma Deposition Vossen, J. L. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 126, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2129029	journal	February 1979
Characteristics of Spontaneous Reaction Occurred by Metal Contamination and Silicon Substrate for Ultralarge-Scale Integration Semiconductor Process Chen, Po-Ying Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 155, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2953520	journal	January 2008
From ozone generators to flat television screens: history and future potential of dielectric-barrier discharges Kogelschatz, U.; Eliasson, B.; Egli, W. Pure and Applied Chemistry, Vol. 71, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199971101819	journal	October 1999

Cited By (1)

The effects of insulator thickness and substrate doping density on the performance of ZnO/SiO ₂ /n-Si solar cells Noor, Fatimah A.; Oktasendra, Fandi; Sustini, Euis Materials Technology, Vol. 33, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1080/10667857.2018.1520956	journal	September 2018

Similar Records

UV Ozone Treatment for Improving Contact Resistance on Graphene

Journal Article · Sat Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2011 · Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B · OSTI ID:1052259

The development of ultraviolet-ozone cleaning as a production process in the packaging of integrated circuits

Technical Report · Wed Feb 28 23:00:00 EST 1990 · OSTI ID:6970722

UV/ozone treated Au for air-stable, low hole injection barrier electrodes in organic electronics

Journal Article · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Journal of Applied Physics · OSTI ID:20884695

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY

Simple and versatile UV-ozone oxide for silicon solar cell applications

Citation Formats

References (38)

Cited By (1)

Similar Records

Related Subjects