Hydrogen passivation of dislocations in silicon

Abstract

The I–V characteristics of metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) and photoelectrochemical (PEC) solar cells fabricated on passivated and unpassivated p-silicon samples are used to study the effects of atomic hydrogen passivation of dislocations in Si. Upon passivation, both types of cells show a dramatic decrease in the reverse dark current. In general, the open circuit voltage V oc , the fill factor FF, and the short circuit current I sc are also improved. Occasionally, anomalous I–V characteristics were observed in some passivated samples indicating the possibility of acceptor neutralization by atomic hydrogen. This effect may complicate the interpretation of the experimental results, in terms of a dislocation conductivity model. Identifying specific effects of hydrogenation of dangling bonds on the conductivity and the density of recombination centers in dislocations is, thus, hampered.