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

We investigated the effect of plasma nitridation of atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al2O3 films of crystalline Si wafers. Nitridation using NH3 plasma treatment in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition for various RF plasma powers was performed on Al2O3 to form aluminum oxynitride (AlON). The plasma nitridation of the Al2O3 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.