Silicon surface passivation by atomic layer deposited Al2 O 3

Abstract

Thin Al2 O3 films with a thickness of 7-30 nm synthesized by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (ALD) were used for surface passivation of crystalline silicon (c-Si) of different doping concentrations. The level of surface passivation in this study was determined by techniques based on photoconductance, photoluminescence, and infrared emission. Effective surface recombination velocities of 2 and 6 cm/s were obtained on 1.9 Ω cm n -type and 2.0 Ω cm p -type c-Si, respectively. An effective surface recombination velocity below 1 cm/s was unambiguously obtained for nearly intrinsic c-Si passivated by Al2 O3. A high density of negative fixed charges was detected in the Al2 O3 films and its impact on the level of surface passivation was demonstrated experimentally. The negative fixed charge density results in a flat injection level dependence of the effective lifetime on p -type c-Si and explains the excellent passivation of highly B-doped c-Si by Al2 O3. Furthermore, a brief comparison is presented between the surface passivations achieved for thermal and plasma-assisted ALD Al2 O3 films prepared in the same ALD reactor. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.