Record low surface recombination velocities on 1 Omega cm p-silicon using remote plasma silicon nitride passivation

Outstanding surface passivation of low-resistivity single-crystalline p-silicon is reported using silicon nitride fabricated at low temperature (375 degrees C) in a remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. The effective surface recombination velocity S-eff is determined as a function of the bulk injection level from light-biased photoconductance decay measurements. On polished as well as chemically textured silicon wafers we find that our remote plasma silicon nitride provides better surface passivation than the best high-temperature thermal oxides ever reported. For polished 1.5 and 0.7 Omega cm p-silicon wafers, record low S-eff values of 4 and 20 cm/s, respectively, are presented. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.