Defect reduction and surface passivation of SiO 2 /Si by heat treatment with high-pressure H 2 O vapor

Abstract

Heat treatment with high-pressure H2O vapor was applied to improve interface properties of SiO2/Si and passivate the silicon surface. Heat treatment at 180–420 °C with high-pressure H2O vapor changed SiOx films, 150 nm thick formed at room temperature by thermal evaporation in vacuum, into SiO2 films with a Si-O-Si bonding network similar to that of thermally grown SiO2 films. Heat treatment at 130 °C with 2.8×105 Pa H2O for 3 h reduced the recombination velocity for the electron minority carriers from 405 cm/s (as-fabricated 150-nm-thick SiOx/Si) to 5 cm/s. Field-effect passivation was demonstrated by an additional deposition of defective SiOx films on the SiO2 films formed by heat treatment at 340 °C with high-pressure H2O vapor. The SiOx deposition reduced the recombination velocity from 100 cm/s to 48 cm/s.