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A doping technique for p‐type poly‐Si/SiOx passivating contacts using a spin‐on method for different mixtures of Ga and B glass solutions is presented. Effects of solution mixing ratios on the contact performance (implied open circuit voltage iVoc, contact resistivity ρc) are investigated. For all as‐annealed samples at different drive‐in temperatures, increasing the percentage of Ga in the solution shows a decrement in iVoc (from ∼680 to ∼610 mV) and increment in ρc (from ∼3 to ∼800 mΩ cm2). After a hydrogenation treatment by depositing a SiNx/AlOx stack followed by forming gas annealing, all samples show improved iVoc (∼700 mV with Ga‐B co‐doped, and ∼720 mV with all Ga). Interestingly, when co‐doping Ga with B, even a small amount of B in the mixing solution shows negative effects on the surface passivation. Active and total dopant profiles obtained by electrical capacitance voltage and secondary‐ion mass spectrometry measurements, respectively, reveal a relatively low percentage of electrically‐active Ga and B in the poly‐Si and Si layers. These results help understand the different features of the two dopants: a low ρc with B, a good passivation with Ga, their degree of activation inside the poly‐Si and Si layers, and the annealing effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, posttreatment techniques of phosphorus‐doped poly‐Si/SiOx passivating contacts, including forming gas annealing (FGA), atomic layer deposition (ALD) of hydrogenated aluminum oxide (AlOx:H), and plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiNx:H), are investigated and compared in terms of their application to silicon solar cells. A simple FGA posttreatment produces a significant increase in the implied open circuit voltage (iVoc) and the effective minority‐carrier lifetime (τeff) of high‐resistivity crystalline Si (c‐Si) samples, whereas low‐resistivity samples show a minimal change. Treatment by means of AlOx:H and/or SiNx:H followed by postdeposition FGA results in a universal increase in τeff and iVoc for all substrate resistivities (as high as 12.5 ms and 728 mV for 100 Ω cm and 5.4 ms and 727 mV for 2 Ω cm n‐type c‐Si substrates). In addition, both the FGA and AlOx:H + FGA techniques can inject sufficient hydrogen into the samples to passivate defects at the SiOx/c‐Si and poly‐Si/SiOx interfaces. However, this hydrogen concentration is insufficient to neutralize both the nonradiative defects inside the poly‐Si films and dangling bonds associated with the amorphous Si phase present in them. The hydrogen injected by the SiNx:H + FGA technique can passivate both the interfaces and the defects and dangling bonds within the poly‐Si film. These results are confirmed by low‐temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and dynamic secondary‐ion mass spectrometry measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]