Stacks consisting of an ultrathin SiO₂ coated with atomic-layer deposited (ALD) zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) have been shown to yield state-of-the-art passivation of n-type crystalline silicon surfaces. The distinguishing aspect of this novel passivation stack is the very conductive nature of the passivating ZnO layer. In this work, it is demonstrated that such a stack can provide additional functionalities relevant for silicon solar cells. Specifically, it is shown that the conductive and transparent stacks can passivate textured and n⁺-diffused silicon surfaces and that they can form an Ohmic contact to n⁺ -diffused surfaces with a low contact resistivity, provided the ZnO is Al-doped. The Al₂O₃ capping layer has previously been shown to be crucial in the passivation mechanism by preventing the effusion of hydrogen during annealing. Here, it is demonstrated to enable a significant improvement in both the transparency and lateral conductivity of the ZnO upon annealing as well, up to a level typically only attainable by In-based transparent conductive oxides. It is furthermore shown that the passivation of the stacks is thermally stable up to 500–600 ^oC, depending on the preparation method for the interfacial SiO₂. Together, these properties make the presented stack an interesting building block for crystalline silicon solar cells, with possibilities for integration as passivating front contact in Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC)-like solar cells, e.g. as bottom cell top contact in silicon-perovskite tandem cells, as well as a conductive hydrogenation source for poly-Si passivating contacts.

由涂有原子层沉积 (ALD) 氧化锌 (ZnO) 和氧化铝 (Al ₂ O ₃ )的超薄 SiO ₂组成的叠层已被证明可以对n型晶体硅表面进行最先进的钝化. 这种新型钝化叠层的显着特点是钝化 ZnO 层非常导电。在这项工作中，证明了这种堆叠可以提供与硅太阳能电池相关的附加功能。具体而言，表明导电和透明堆叠可以钝化纹理化和n ⁺扩散的硅表面，并且它们可以形成与n ⁺的欧姆接触 - 具有低接触电阻率的扩散表面，前提是 ZnO 是 Al 掺杂的。Al ₂ O ₃覆盖层先前已被证明在钝化机制中通过防止退火过程中氢的渗出而起到关键作用。在这里，已经证明在退火时能够显着提高 ZnO 的透明度和横向电导率，达到通常只能通过 In 基透明导电氧化物才能达到的水平。进一步表明，堆的钝化在高达 500-600 ^o C 的温度下是热稳定的，这取决于界面 SiO ₂的制备方法. 总之，这些特性使所提出的堆栈成为晶体硅太阳能电池的有趣构建块，有可能集成为钝化发射极和后电池 (PERC) 类太阳能电池中的钝化前接触，例如作为硅钙钛矿中的底部电池顶部接触串联电池，以及用于多晶硅钝化触点的导电氢化源。