Influence of co-reactants on surface passivation by nanoscale hafnium oxide layers grown by atomic layer deposition on silicon

Pain, Sophie L.; Khorani, Edris; Yadav, Anup; Niewelt, Tim; Leimenstoll, Antonio; Healy, Brendan F. M.; Walker, Marc; Walker, David; Grant, Nicholas E.; Murphy, John D.

doi:10.1039/d3lf00210a

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 61 publications

(136 reference statements)

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“…A passivation layer of HfO x with less than 5 nm thickness is sufficient in thermal ALD to achieve improved passivation [23,24]. However, the use of a thick HfO x passivation layer is necessary to achieve better minority carrier lifetime, particularly in the case of PALD [25][26][27]. These findings support the idea that the choice of ALD method and the thickness of the HfO x layer play crucial roles in optimizing passivation performance in photovoltaic applications [28,29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Effect of films thickness and hydrogen annealing on passivation performance of plasma ALD based Hafnium oxide films

Devi,

Tomer,

Pathi

et al. 2024

Phys. Scr.

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We investigate the silicon surface passivation property of Plasma Atomic Layer Deposited (PALD) hafnium oxide (HfOx) thin films and study its dependence on silicon (Si) doping type, film thickness, and post-deposition annealing conditions. Our results demonstrate that as-deposited HfOx films exhibit poor passivation quality that can be improved by performing post-deposition annealing at 450℃ in hydrogen ambient. We demonstrate that the films can effectively passivate p-Si surfaces as compared to n-Si, where the surface passivation quality of the films improves with increasing film thickness for both silicon doping type. The best performance with minority carrier lifetime of 1.7 ms, corresponding surface recombination velocity (SRV) ~10 cm/s, is achieved for HfOx films thickness ~23 nm deposited on the p-Si substrate. The Capacitance-Voltage (C-V) measurements give an insight into the passivation mechanism of the studied films. Field effect passivation is found to be an important passivation mechanism in plasma ALD deposited HfOx films, as revealed by C-V measurements. The films are also characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which reveals the chemical passivation provided by hydrogen ambient annealing. Overall, the impact of hafnium oxide film thickness and hydrogen ambient annealing conditions on silicon surface passivation is investigated. Our findings will help in utilizing plasma ALD process based hafnium oxide films for silicon solar cell device application.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Effect of films thickness and hydrogen annealing on passivation performance of plasma ALD based Hafnium oxide films

Devi,

Tomer,

Pathi

et al. 2024

Phys. Scr.

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Atomic Layer Deposition of Hafnium Oxide Passivating Layers on Silicon: Impact of Precursor Selection

Pain,

Yadav,

Walker

et al. 2024

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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Hafnium oxide (HfOx) films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have recently been demonstrated to provide high‐quality silicon surface passivation. Reports have suggested that changing the composition of the hafnium‐containing precursor can enable films of both charge polarities to be produced. Herein, the passivation quality of hafnium oxide grown with metal amide precursors and a tetrakis(ethylmethylamido)hafnium (TEMAHf) precursor is examined, considering film charge polarity, chemical‐ and field‐based passivation effects, and film crystallinity. Throughout, the properties of TEMAHf‐HfOx are benchmarked against that of hafnium oxide grown with a tetrakis(dimethylamido)hafnium precursor. It is found that precursor choice has no influence on the fixed negative charge polarity (of order −1012 q cm−2) of HfOx films grown via plasma‐enhanced ALD. TEMAHf‐HfOx passivation is influenced by post‐deposition annealing temperature and can passivate with a surface recombination velocity ≤3 cm s−1 on n‐type silicon, compared to surface recombination velocities ≤11 cm s−1 for TDMAHf‐HfOx of a similar thickness.

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Progress in TOPCon solar cell technology: Investigating hafnium oxide through simulation

Rahman,

Khokhar,

Hussain

et al. 2024

Current Applied Physics

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Influence of co-reactants on surface passivation by nanoscale hafnium oxide layers grown by atomic layer deposition on silicon

Abstract: Hafnium oxide thin films have attracted considerable interest for passivation layers, protective barriers, and anti-reflection coatings. This study presents a systematic investigation into the role of film growth co-reactant on film properties.

Cited by 3 publications

References 61 publications

Effect of films thickness and hydrogen annealing on passivation performance of plasma ALD based Hafnium oxide films

Effect of films thickness and hydrogen annealing on passivation performance of plasma ALD based Hafnium oxide films

Atomic Layer Deposition of Hafnium Oxide Passivating Layers on Silicon: Impact of Precursor Selection

Progress in TOPCon solar cell technology: Investigating hafnium oxide through simulation

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