Effect of RF power on the properties of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon passivation layer deposited by facing target sputtering

We demonstrated the deposition of high-quality intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (i-a-Si:H) passivation layers for silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells by facing target sputtering (FTS). The RF power of FTS significantly affects the electrical properties of i-a-Si: H and the passivation quality at the i-a-Si:H/crystalline silicon interface. A low surface recombination velocity of 7.0 cm/s and a relatively high deposition rate of 4.0 nm/min were simultaneously achieved at the optimum RF power. This result indicates the potential of FTS as a SiH4-free fabrication process of SHJ solar cells. (c) 2018 The Japan Society of Applied Physics