Surface passivation of c-Si for silicon heterojunction solar cells using high-pressure hydrogen diluted plasmas

In this work we demonstrate excellent c-Si surface passivation by depositing a-Si:H in the high-pressure and high hydrogen dilution regime. By using high hydrogen dilution of the precursor gases during deposition the hydrogen content of the layers is sufficiently increased, while the void fraction is reduced, resulting in dense material. Results show a strong dependence of the lifetime on the substrate temperature and a weaker dependence on the hydrogen dilution. After applying a post-deposition annealing step on the samples equilibration of the lifetime occurs independent of the initial nanostructure.