Tunneling Atomic Layer-Deposited Aluminum Oxide: a Correlated Structural/Electrical Performance Study for the Surface Passivation of Silicon Junctions.

Passivation is a key process for the optimization of silicon p-n junctions. Among the different technologies used to passivate the surface and contact interfaces, alumina is widely used. One key parameter is the thickness of the passivation layer that is commonly deposited using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique.

Local Schottky contacts of embedded Ag nanoparticles in AlO/SiN :H stacks on Si: a design to enhance field effect passivation of Si junctions.

This paper describes an original design leading to the field effect passivation of Si n-p junctions. Ordered Ag nanoparticle (Ag-NP) arrays with optimal size and coverage fabricated by means of nanosphere lithography and thermal evaporation, were embedded in ultrathin-AlO/SiN :H stacks on the top of implanted Si n-p junctions, to achieve effective surface passivation. One way to characterize surface passivation is to use photocurrent, sensitive to recombination centers.