Surface passivation in n-type silicon and its application in silicon drift detector

Based on the surface passivation of n-type silicon in a silicon drift detector(SDD), we propose a new passivation structure of SiO2/Al2O3/SiO2 passivation stacks. Since the SiO2 formed by the nitric-acid-oxidation-of-silicon(NAOS)method has good compactness and simple process, the first layer film is formed by the NAOS method. The Al2O3 film is also introduced into the passivation stacks owing to exceptional advantages such as good interface characteristic and simple process. In addition, for requirements of thickness and deposition temperature, the third layer of the SiO2 film is deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD). The deposition of the SiO2 film by PECVD is a low-temperature process and has a high deposition rate, which causes little damage to the device and makes the SiO2 film very suitable for serving as the third passivation layer. The passivation approach of stacks can saturate dangling bonds at the interface between stacks and the silicon substrate, and provide positive charge to optimize the field passivation of the n-type substrate.The passivation method ultimately achieves a good combination of chemical and field passivations. Experimental results show that with the passivation structure of SiO2/Al2O3/SiO2, the final minority carrier lifetime reaches 5223 μs at injection of 5×10¹⁵ cm^-3. When it is applied to the passivation of SDD, the leakage current is reduced to the order of nA.     

Silicon surface passivation by aluminium oxide studied with electron energy loss spectroscopy

The origin behind crystalline silicon surface passivation by Al₂O₃ films is studied in detail by means of spatially‐resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy. The bonding configurations of Al and O are studied in as‐deposited and annealed Al₂O₃ films grown on c‐Si substrates by plasma‐assisted and thermal atomic layer deposition. The results confirm the presence of an interfacial SiO₂‐like film and demonstrate changes in the ratio between tetrahedrally and octahedrally coordinated Al in the films after annealing. These observations reveal the underlying origin of c‐Si surface passivation by Al₂O₃. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effect of ultrathin GeO_x interfacial layer formed by thermal oxidation on Al_2O_3 capped Ge

We propose a modified thermal oxidation method in which an Al2O3 capping layer is used as an oxygen blocking layer （OBL） to form an ultrathin GeOx interracial layer, and obtain a superior Al2O3/GeOx/Ge gate stack. The GeOx interfacial layer is formed in oxidation reaction by oxygen passing through the Al2O3 OBL, in which theAl2O3 layer could restrain the oxygen diffusion and suppress the GeO desorption during thermal treatment. The thickness of the GeOx interfacial layer would dramatically decrease as the thickness of Al2O3 OBL increases, which is beneficial to achieving an ultrathin GeOx interfacial layer to satisfy the demand for small equivalent oxide thickness （EOT）. In addition, the thickness of the GeOx interfacial layer has little influence on the passivation effect of the Al2O3/Ge interface. Ge （100） p-channel metal- oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors （pMOSFETs） using the Al2O3/GeOx/Ge gate stacks exhibit excellent electrical characteristics; that is, a drain current on-off （Ionloft） ratio of above 1 104, a subthreshold slope of - 120 mV/dec, and a peak hole mobility of 265 cm2/V.s are achieved.     

A12o3钝化及其在晶硅太阳电池中的应用

介绍了A1203的材料性质及其原子层沉积制备方法,详细阐述了该材料的钝化机制（化学钝化和场效应钝化）,并从薄膜厚度、热稳定性及叠层钝化等角度阐释其优化方案．概述了Al203钝化在晶体硅太阳电池中的应用,主要包括钝化发射极及背面局部扩散电池和钝化发射极及背表面电池．最后,对A1203钝化工艺的未来研究方向和大规模的工业应用进行了展望．     

绝缘层修饰对喷墨打印有机场效应晶体管形貌和性能的影响

通过对OTFT绝缘层SiO_2表面分别采用十八烷基三氯硅烷(OTS)处理和原子层沉积薄层氧化铝的修饰方式,制备了喷墨打印有机薄膜晶体管并研究了修饰前后绝缘层的表面形貌、接触角及有源层的物相结构。虽然绝缘层的表面形貌在修饰前后变化不大,但是表面接触角和打印后有源层的物相结构有较大差别。OTS处理和沉积氧化铝修饰后,器件的迁移率比修饰前分别增大了4倍和9倍,而开关比则分别增大了1个和4个数量级。修饰后的最大迁移率可达0.35 cm~2/(V·s),开关比可达6.0×10~6。     

AlOx prepared by atomic layer deposition for high efficiency-type crystalline silicon solar cell

The influence of atomic layer deposition parameters on the negative charge density in AlOx film is investigated by the corona-charge measurement. Results show that the charge density can reach up to -1.56×10^12 cm%-2 when the thickness of the film is 2.4 nm. The influence of charge density on cell conversion efficiency is further simulated using solar cell analyzing software （PC1D）. With AlOx passivating the rear surface of the silicon, the cell efficiency of 20.66% can be obtained.     

具有高开启/关断电流比的Al2O3/AlGaN/GaN金属氧化物半导体高电子迁移率晶体管

采用原子层淀积(ALD)方法,制备了Al₂O₃为栅介质的高性能AlGaN/GaN金属氧化物半导体高电子迁移率晶体管(MOS-HEMT)。在栅压为-20 V时,MOS-HEMT的栅漏电比Schottky-gate HEMT的栅漏电低4个数量级以上。在栅压为+2 V时,Schottky-gate HEMT的栅漏电为191μA;在栅压为+20 V时,MOS-HEMT的栅漏电仅为23.6 nA,比同样尺寸的Schottky-gate HEMT的栅漏电低将近7个数量级。AlGaN/GaN MOS-HEMT的栅压摆幅达到了±20 V。在栅压V_gs=0 V时, MOS-HEMT的饱和电流密度达到了646 mA/mm,相比Schottky-gate HEMT的饱和电流密度(277 mA/mm)提高了133%。栅漏间距为10μm的AlGaN/GaN MOS-HEMT器件在栅压为+3 V时的最大饱和输出电流达到680 mA/mm,特征导通电阻为1.47 mΩ·cm²。Schottky-gate HEMT的开启与关断电流比仅为10⁵,MOS-HEMT的开启与关断电流比超过了10⁹,超出了Schottky-gate HEMT器件4个数量级,原因是栅漏电的降低提高了MOS-HEMT的开启与关断电流比。在V_gs=-14 V时,栅漏间距为10μm的AlGaN/GaN MOS-HEMT的关断击穿电压为640 V,关断泄露电流为27μA/mm。     

Crystalline silicon surface passivation investigated by thermal atomic-layer-deposited aluminum oxide

Atomic-layer-deposited(ALD) aluminum oxide(Al_2O_3) has demonstrated an excellent surface passivation for crystalline silicon(c-Si) surfaces, as well as for highly boron-doped c-Si surfaces. In this paper, water-based thermal atomic layer deposition of Al_2O_3 films are fabricated for c-Si surface passivation. The influence of deposition conditions on the passivation quality is investigated. The results show that the excellent passivation on n-type c-Si can be achieved at a low thermal budget of 250℃ given a gas pressure of 0.15 Torr. The thickness-dependence of surface passivation indicates that the effective minority carrier lifetime increases drastically when the thickness of Al_2O_3 is larger than 10 nm. The influence of thermal post annealing treatments is also studied. Comparable carrier lifetime is achieved when Al_2O_3 sample is annealed for 15 min in forming gas in a temperature range from 400℃ to 450℃. In addition, the passivation quality can be further improved when a thin PECVD-SiN_x cap layer is prepared on Al_2O_3, and an effective minority carrier lifetime of2.8 ms and implied Voc of 721 mV are obtained. In addition, several novel methods are proposed to restrain blistering.     

Passivation of GaAs surface by atomic-layer-deposited titanium nitride

The suitability of titanium nitride (TiN) for GaAs surface passivation and protection is investigated. A 2-6-nm thick TiN passivation layer is deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at 275 ° C on top of InGaAs/GaAs near surface quantum well (NSQW) structures to study the surface passivation. X-ray reflectivity measurements are used to determine the physical properties of the passivation layer. TiN passivation does not affect the surface morphology of the samples, but increases significantly the photoluminescence intensity and carrier lifetime of the NSQWs, and also provides long-term protection of the sample surface. This study shows that ALD TiN coating is a promising low-temperature method for ex situ GaAs surface passivation.     

Equivalent oxide thickness scaling of Al2O3/Ge metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors with ozone post oxidation

Aluminum-oxide films deposited as gate dielectrics on germanium （Ge） by atomic layer deposition were post oxidized in an ozone atmosphere. No additional interfacial layer was electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy detected by the high-resolution cross-sectional transmission measurements made after the ozone post oxidation （OPO） treatment. Decreases in the equivalent oxide thickness of the OPO-treated Al2O3/Ge MOS capacitors were confirmed. Furthermore, a continuous decrease in the gate leakage current was achieved with increasing OPO treatment time. The results can be attributed to the film quality having been improved by the OPO treatment.     

Influences of annealing on structural and compositional properties of Al_2O_3 thin films grown on 4H–SiC by atomic layer deposition

Annealing effects on structural and compositional performances of Al_2O_3 thin films on 4H–Si C substrates are studied comprehensively. The Al_2O_3 films are grown by atomic layer deposition through using trimethylaluminum and H_2 O as precursors at 300?C, and annealed at various temperatures in ambient N_2 for 1 min. The Al_2O_3 film transits from amorphous phase to crystalline phase as annealing temperature increases from 750?C to 768?C. The refractive index increases with annealing temperature rising, which indicates that densification occurs during annealing. The densification and grain formation of the film upon annealing are due to crystallization which is relative with second-nearest-neighbor coordination variation according to the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). Although the binding energies of Al 2p and O 1s increase together during crystallization, separations between Al 2p and O 1s are identical between as-deposited and annealed sample, which suggests that the nearest-neighbour coordination is similar.     

Interfacial and electrical properties of HfAlO/GaSb metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors with sulfur passivation

Interfacial and electrical properties of HfAlO/GaSb metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors(MOSCAPs) with sulfur passivation were investigated and the chemical mechanisms of the sulfur passivation process were carefully studied. It was shown that the sulfur passivation treatment could reduce the interface trap density Ditof the HfAlO/GaSb interface by 35% and reduce the equivalent oxide thickness(EOT) from 8 nm to 4 nm. The improved properties are due to the removal of the native oxide layer, as was proven by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and high-resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy(HRXTEM) results. It was also found that GaSb-based MOSCAPs with HfAlO gate dielectrics have interfacial properties superior to those using HfO2 or Al2O3 dielectric layers.     

Investigation of a 4H-SiC metal-insulationsemiconductor structure with an A1203/SiO2 stacked dielectric

Atomic layer deposited （ALD） Al2O3/dry-oxidized ultrathin SiO2 films as a high-k gate dielectric grown on 8° off-axis 4H-SiC （0001） epitaxial wafers are investigated in this paper. The metal-insulation-semiconductor （MIS） capacitors, respectively with different gate dielectric stacks （Al2O3/SiO2, Al2O3, and SiO2） are fabricated and compared with each other. The I-V measurements show that the Al2O3/SiO2 stack has a high breakdown field （≥12 MV/cm） comparable to SiO2, and a relatively low gate leakage current of 1 × 10-7 A/cm2 at an electric field of 4 MV/cm comparable to Al2O3. The 1-MHz high frequency C-V measurements exhibit that the Al2O3/SiO2 stack has a smaller positive flat-band voltage shift and hysteresis voltage, indicating a less effective charge and slow-trap density near the interface.     

Silicon surface passivation by atomic‐layer‐deposited Al2O3 facilitated in situ by the combination of H2O and O3 as reactants

We investigate the effect of O₃ and H₂O oxidant pre‐pulse prior to Al₂O₃ atomic layer deposition for Si surface passivation. Interfacial oxide SiO_x formed by the O₃ pre‐pulse is more beneficial than that by H₂O to a high level of surface passivation. The passivation of thinner H₂O–Al₂O₃ films is more improved by this O₃ pre‐pulse. O₃ pre‐pulse for 10 nm H₂O–Al₂O₃ reduces saturation current density in boron emitter to 18 fA cm^–2 by a factor of 1.7. Capacitance–voltage measurements reveal this interfacial oxide plays a role of decreasing interface trap density without detrimental effect to negative charge density of Al₂O₃. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Surface reactions in atomic layer deposition of HfO2, ZrO2 and Al2O3 on hydroxylated and sulfur-passivated GaAs(1 0 0) surfaces: A comparative study by density functional theory

The surface reactions in atomic layer deposition (ALD) of HfO₂, ZrO₂ and Al₂O₃ on hydroxylated and sulfur-passivated GaAs surfaces are compared by using density functional theory. The HfCl₄ and ZrCl₄ half-reactions show large similarities in energetics and geometrical structure. However, both of them show large discrepancies with the Al(CH₃)₃ (TMA) half-reaction. Calculations find that it is more energetically favorable for the Al₂O₃ deposition than the HfO₂ and ZrO₂ deposition at the initial ALD stage. In addition, calculations find that although the GaAs passivation with sulfur helps to improve the interfacial properties, it is both kinetically and thermodynamically less favorable.     

Enhancement of photoluminescence intensity from Si nanodots using Al2O3 surface passivation layer grown by atomic layer deposition

Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) from Si nanodots with Al₂O₃ surface passivation layers was studied. The Si nanodots were grown by low pressure chemical vapor deposition and the Al₂O₃ thin films were prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD), respectively. The BOE (Buffer-Oxide-Etch) treatment resulted in the damaged surface of Si nanodots and thus caused dramatic reduction in the PL intensity. Significant enhancement of the PL intensity from Si nanodots after the deposition of Al₂O₃ thin films was observed over a wide temperature range, indicating the remarkable surface passivation effect to suppress the non-radiative recombination at the surface of Si nanodots. The results demonstrated that the Al₂O₃ surface passivation layers grown by ALD are effectually applicable to nanostructured silicon devices.     

Al2O3钝化及其在晶硅太阳电池中的应用

介绍了Al₂O₃的材料性质及其原子层沉积制备方法, 详细阐述了该材料的钝化机制(化学钝化和场效应钝化), 并从薄膜厚度、热稳定性及叠层钝化等角度阐释其优化方案. 概述了Al₂O₃钝化在晶体硅太阳电池中的应用, 主要包括钝化发射极及背面局部扩散电池和钝化发射极及背表面电池. 最后, 对Al₂O₃钝化工艺的未来研究方向和大规模的工业应用进行了展望.     

Rotational magnetic anisotropy in polycrystalline FePt films fabricated by solid-state synthesis

Physics of the Solid State - It is shown that annealing 550°C of the Fe/Pt bilayer films fabricated by layer-by-layer deposition onto polycrystalline Al2O3 substrates in an atomic ratio of Fe:...     

A study on Al2O3 passivation in GaN MOS-HEMT by pulsed stress

This paper studies systematically the drain current collapse in AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor high electron mobility transistors （MOS-HEMTs） by applying pulsed stress to the device. Low-temperature layer of Al2O3 ultrathin film used as both gate dielectric and surface passivation layer was deposited by atomic layer deposition （ALD）. For HEMT, gate turn-on pulses induced large current collapse. However, for MOS-HEMT, no significant current collapse was found in the gate turn-on pulsing mode with different pulse widths, indicating the good passivation effect of ALD Al2O3. A small increase in Id in the drain pulsing mode is due to the relieving of self-heating effect. The comparison of synchronously dynamic pulsed Id - Vds characteristics of HEMT and MOS-HEMT further demonstrated the good passivation effect of ALD Al2O3.     

Investigation of interface characteristics of Al2O3/Si under various O2 plasma exposure times during the deposition of Al2O3 by PA-ALD

Plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (PA-ALD) is more suitable than thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) for mass production because of its faster growth rate. However, controlling surface damage caused by plasma during the PA-ALD process is a key issue. In this study, the passivation characteristics of Al₂O₃ layers deposited by PA-ALD were investigated with various O₂ plasma exposure times. The growth per cycle (GPC) during Al₂O₃ deposition was saturated at approximately 1.4?Å/cycle after an O₂ plasma exposure time of 1.5?s, and a refractive index of Al₂O₃ in the range of 1.65–1.67 was obtained. As the O₂ plasma exposure time increased in the Al₂O₃ deposition process, the passivation properties tended to deteriorate, and as the radio frequency (RF) power increased, the passivation uniformity and the thermal stability of the Al₂O₃ layer deteriorated. To study the Al₂O₃/Si interface characteristics, the capacitance-voltage (C-V) and the conductance-voltage (G-V) were measured using a mercury probe, and the fixed charge density (Q_f) and the interface trap density (D_it) were then extracted. The Q_f of the Al₂O₃ layer deposited on a Si wafer by PA-ALD was almost unaffected, but the D_it increased with O₂ plasma exposure time. In conclusion, as the O₂ plasma exposure time increased during Al₂O₃ layer deposition by PA-ALD, the Al₂O₃/Si interface characteristics deteriorated because of plasma surface damage.