SiN/SiO2 passivation stack of n-type silicon surface

The SiN/SiO stack is widely used to passivate the surface of n-type monocrystalline silicon solar cells. In this work, we have undertaken a study to compare the stack layer obtained with SiO grown by both rapid thermal and chemical ways to passivate n-type monocrystalline silicon surface. By varying...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials science--Poland 2019-09, Vol.37 (3), p.482-487
Main Authors: El Amrani, A., Si-Kaddour, R., Maoudj, M., Nasraoui, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
oxide
passivation
silicon
silicon nitride
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Summary:The SiN/SiO stack is widely used to passivate the surface of n-type monocrystalline silicon solar cells. In this work, we have undertaken a study to compare the stack layer obtained with SiO grown by both rapid thermal and chemical ways to passivate n-type monocrystalline silicon surface. By varying the plateau time and the plateau temperature of the rapid thermal oxidation, we determined the parameters to grow 10 nm thick oxide. Two-step nitric acid oxidation was used to grow 2 nm thick silicon oxide. Silicon nitride films with three refractive indices were used to produce the SiN/SiO stack. Regarding this parameter, the minority carrier lifetime measured by means of QSSPC revealed that the refractive index of 1.9 ensured the best passivation quality of silicon wafer surface. We also found that stacks with nitric acid oxidation showed definitely the best passivation quality. In addition to produce the most efficient passivation, this technique has the lowest thermal budget.
ISSN:2083-134X
DOI:10.2478/msp-2019-0065