Data for Corona charge in SiO2: kinetics and surface passivation for high efficiency silicon solar cells

This data presents a method by which capacitance-voltage measurements can be used in conjunction with Kelvin-probe measurements to calculate the location of charge within a dielectric layer. A first order kinetic model for the transport of corona deposited charge on a SiO2 films is proposed. The rate limiting step for corona charge migration into oxide films has been observed to be the injection of charge from the surface (air-SiO2 interface). Corona charge lies preferentially at the air-SiO2 and SiO2-Si interfaces, and its injection into SiO2 has been characterized as having an activation energy of ~ 50 meV. In this work, corona charge has produced SVR < 2.7 cm/s and J01 < 12 fA/cm2 which is within the requirements of high efficiency silicon solar cells. These results contribute to the understanding of corona charge in SiO2 with a view to its potential application as an external method of passivation for highly efficient silicon solar cells.