Effect of HF Treatment on Hydrogenated Silicon Nitride Anti-reflection Films Quality and Optical Properties

The effect of diluted hydrofluoric (HF) acid treatment on the refractive index, etch rate and chemical composition of hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN
_x
:H) films is investigated. The hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN
_x
:H) films are deposited using the direct plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on n
⁺
p crystalline silicon solar cells before contact screen-printing process. In order to study the optical properties and chemical composition of formed SiN
_x
:H layers, the reflectance and FT-IR spectra are used. Moreover, the printed contact on the deposited SiN
_x
:H films and its cross section are observed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after firing with different firing durations in quartz tube furnace