Passivation of textured crystalline silicon surfaces by catalytic CVD silicon nitride films and catalytic phosphorus doping

Abstract

Silicon nitride (SiNx) films formed by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) and phosphorus (P)-doped layers formed by catalytic impurity doping (Cat-doping) are applied for the passivation of pyramid-shaped textured crystalline Si (c-Si) surfaces formed by anisotropic etching in alkaline solution. Lower surface recombination velocities (SRVs) tend to be obtained when smaller pyramids are formed on c-Si surfaces. P Cat-doping is effective for reducing the SRV of textured c-Si surfaces as in the case of flat c-Si surfaces. We realize SRVs of textured c-Si surfaces of ∼8.0 and ∼6.7 cm/s for only SiNx passivation and for the combination of SiNx and P Cat-doping, respectively. These structures also have high optical transparency and low Auger recombination loss, and are of great worth in application for the surface passivation of interdigitated back-contact c-Si solar cells.