Thermal atomic layer deposition of AlOxNy thin films for surface passivation of nano-textured flexible silicon

Abstract Aluminum oxynitride (AlOxNy) films with different nitrogen concentration are prepared by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) for flexible nano-textured silicon (NT-Si) surface passivation. The AlOxNy films are shown to exhibit a homogeneous nitrogen-doping profile and the presence of an adequate amount of hydrogen, which is investigated by Time-of-Fight Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ToF-ERDA). The effective minority carrier lifetimes are measured after the NT-Si surface passivation; the minimum surface recombination velocity (SRV) of 5 cm-s−1 is achieved with the AlOxNy film in comparison to the Al2O3 and AlN films (SRV of 7–9 cm-s−1). The better SRV with AlOxNy film is due …