Work

Excellent crystalline silicon surface passivation by amorphous silicon irrespective of the technique used for chemical vapor deposition

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Crystalline silicon surface passivation by amorphous silicon deposited by three different chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques at low (T∼130 °C) temperatures is compared. For all three techniques, surface recombination velocities (SRVs) are reduced by two orders of magnitude after prolonged thermal annealing at 200 °C. This reduction correlates with a decreased dangling bond density at the amorphous-crystalline interface, indicating that dangling bond saturation is the predominant mechanism. All three deposition methods yield excellent surface passivation. For a-Si:H layers deposited by radio frequency plasma enhanced CVD, we obtain outstanding carrier lifetimes of 10.3 ms, corresponding to SRVs below 1.32 cm/s.

Source: Applied Physics Letters

DOI: 10.1063/1.3579540

Authors: Jan-Willem A. Schüttauf, Karine H. M. van der Werf, Inge M. Kielen, Wilfried G. J. H. M. van Sark, Jatindra K. Rath, Ruud E. I. Schropp

Institution: Utrecht University

Language: English

Topic: Silicon and Solar Cell Technologies

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: European Commission

Awards: Heterojunction Solar Cells based on a-Si c-Si, G2325242462