Crystalline silicon surface passivation by thermal ALD deposited Al doped ZnO thin films

The evidence of good quality silicon surface passivation using thermal ALD deposited Al doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films is demonstrated. AZO films are prepared by introducing aluminium precursor in between zinc and oxygen precursors during the deposition. The formation of AZO is confirmed by ellipsometry, XRD and Hall measurements. Effective minority carrier lifetime (τeff) greater than 1.5ms at intermediate bulk injection levels is realized for symmetrically passivated p-type silicon surfaces under optimised annealing conditions of temperature and time in hydrogen ambient. The best results are realised at 450°C annealing for >15min. Such a layer may lead to implied open circuit voltage gain of 80mV.