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 Al
₂
O
₃
during a firing process as applied for screen printed solar cells. The initial outstanding surface passivation quality, provided by both Al
₂
O
₃
and Al
₂
O
₃
/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.