Firing stability of atomic layer deposited Al2O3 for c-Si surface passivation

As the manufacture of most crystalline silicon solar cells involves various high temperature processes, a good thermal stability of the surface passivation is essential. In this paper we demonstrate the thermal stability of the c-Si surface passivation by atomic layer deposited Al₂O₃ during a firing process as applied for screen printed solar cells. The initial outstanding surface passivation quality, provided by both Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃/a-SiN_x:H stacks, remained high after firing as indicated by effective surface recombination velocities < 14 cm/s for 2 ¿·cm n-type silicon wafers.