Role of Annealing Conditions on Surface Passivation Properties of ALD Al2O3 Films

Abstract

The surface passivation performance of Al2O3 films attracted attention in the field of solar cells and semiconductor devices and depends on the conditions of the applied post-deposition annealing step. The effect of annealing temperature and different annealing atmospheres on the surface passivation quality of atomic layer deposited Al2O3 films was investigated on n-type float-zone Si wafers. Photoconductance decay measurements were carried out to characterize recombination velocities and carrier lifetimes. The chemical and field-effect passivation mechanism, i.e. the interface trap density and the fixed charge density, respectively, were studied by capacitance-voltage experiments. Low surface recombination velocities of Seff,max ∼1cm/s corresponding to a carrier lifetime of 9.0ms were achieved for samples annealed in O2 atmosphere whereas annealing in H2 and N2 led to slightly higher Seff,max-values ∼2cm/s. The annealing temperature was found to affect both the fixed charge density and the interface trap density whereas in contrast the annealing atmosphere affected only the interface trap density, i.e. the chemical passivation. According to the expectations the highest surface passivation quality is based on a high fixed charge density and a low interface trap density.