Light-induced enhancement of the minority carrier lifetime in boron-doped Czochralski silicon passivated by doped silicon nitride

This study reports a doubling of the effective minority carrier lifetime under light soaking conditions, observed in a boron-doped p-type Czochralski grown silicon wafer passivated by a phosphorus-doped silicon nitride thin film. The analysis of capacitance-voltage curves revealed that the fixed charge in this phosphorus-doped silicon nitride film was negative, which was unlike the well-known positive fixed charges observed in traditional undoped silicon nitride. The analysis results revealed that the enhancement phenomenon of minority carrier lifetime was caused by the abrupt increase in the density of negative fixed charge (from 7.2 x 10(11) to 1.2 x 10(12) cm(-2)) after light soaking. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.