Plasma nitridation of atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al2O3 by NH3 in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) for silicon solar cell

Abstract We investigated the effect of plasma nitridation of atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al 2 O 3 films of crystalline Si wafers. Nitridation using NH 3 plasma treatment in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition for various RF plasma powers was performed on Al 2 O 3 to form aluminum oxynitride (AlON). The plasma nitridation of the Al 2 O 3 layer grown by ALD demonstrated a significant improvement in the passivation performance of a crystalline silicon solar cell. Indeed, the best values of open-circuit voltage and carrier lifetime for the AlON film at 400 W were 660 mV and 200 μs, respectively. The results of this experiment indicate that utilization of AlON film is a feasible means of improving the passivation performance of crystalline Si solar cells.