Infrared study of the concentration of H introduced into Si by the postdeposition annealing of a SiNx coating

The postdeposition annealing of a SiNx antireflection coating is commonly used to introduce hydrogen into a multicrystalline Si solar cell to passivate defects in the Si bulk. A quantitative comparison has been made of the concentrations of H that are introduced into a Si model system from SiNx coatings with high and low density that have been characterized by infrared spectroscopy. Experiments have also been performed in which the processing of the SiNx/Si interface was modified to compare how the preparation of the interface and properties of the SiNx film itself affect the concentration of H that is introduced into the Si bulk.