Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology (한국결정성장학회지)

The Korea Association of Crystal Growth (한국결정성장학회)
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Passivation property of Al2O3 thin film for the application of n-type crystalline Si solar cells

N-type 결정질 실리콘 태양전지 응용을 위한 Al2O3 박막의 패시베이션 특성 연구

  • Jeong, Myung-Il (School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Semiconductor Physics Research Center (SPRC), Chonbuk National University) ;
  • Choi, Chel-Jong (School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Semiconductor Physics Research Center (SPRC), Chonbuk National University)
  • 정명일 (전북대학교 반도체화학공학부) ;
  • 최철종 (전북대학교 반도체화학공학부)
  • Received : 2014.06.03
  • Accepted : 2014.06.13
  • Published : 2014.06.30
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Abstract

The passivation property of $Al_2O_3$ thin film formed using atomic layer deposition (ALD) for the application of crystalline Si solar cells was investigated using microwave photoconductance decay (${\mu}$-PCD). After post-annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ for 5 min, $Al_2O_3$ thin film exhibited the structural stability having amorphous nature without the interfacial reaction between $Al_2O_3$ and Si. The post-annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ for 5 min led to an increase in the relative effective lifetime of $Al_2O_3$ thin film. This could be associated with the field effective passivation combined with surface passivation of textured Si. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) with $Al_2O_3$ thin film post-annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ for 5 min was carried out to evaluate the negative fixed charge of $Al_2O_3$ thin film. From the relationship between flatband voltage ($V_{FB}$) and equivalent oxide thickness (EOT), which were extracted from C-V characteristics, the negative fixed charge of $Al_2O_3$ thin film was calculated to be $2.5{\times}10^{12}cm^{-2}$, of which value was applicable to the passivation layer of n-type crystalline Si solar cells.

Atomic layer deposition(ALD)을 이용하여 $Al_2O_3$ 박막을 형성하고 이에 대한 패시베이션 특성에 대한 연구를 수행하였다. ALD로 증착된 $Al_2O_3$ 박막은 $400^{\circ}C$ 5분간 후속 열처리 공정 후에도 $Al_2O_3$ - 실리콘 계면 반응 없이 비정질 상태를 유지할 만큼 구조적으로 안정한 특성을 나타내었다. 후속 열처리 후 $Al_2O_3$ 박막의 패시베이션 특성이 향상되었으며, 이는 field effective 패시베이션과 화학적 패시베이션 효과가 동시에 상승에 기인하는 것으로 판단된다. $Al_2O_3$ 박막의 음고정 전하를 정량적으로 평가하기 위해서 후속 열처리 공정을 거친 $Al_2O_3$ 박막을 이용하여 metal-oxide-semiconductor(MOS) 소자를 제작하고 capacitance-voltage(C-V) 분석을 수행하였다. C-V 결과로부터 추출된 flatband voltage($V_{FB}$)와 equivalent oxide thickness(EOT)의 관계식을 통하여 $Al_2O_3$ 박막의 고정음전하는 $2.5{\times}10^{12}cm^{-2}$로 계산되었으며, 이는 본 연구에서 제시된 $Al_2O_3$ 박막 공정이 N-type 실리콘 태양전지의 패시베이션 공정에 응용 가능하다는 것을 의미한다.

Keywords

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