Introducing pinhole magnification by selective etching: application to poly-Si on ultra-thin silicon oxide films

Carrier selective junctions formed by polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) on ultra-thin silicon oxide films are currently in the spotlight of silicon photovoltaics. We develop a simple method using selective etching and conventional optical microscopy to determine the pinhole density in interfacial oxide films of poly-Si on oxide (POLO)-junctions with excellent electrical properties. We characterize the selective etching of poly-Si versus ultra-thin silicon oxide. We use test structures with deliberately patterned openings and 3 nm thin oxide films to check the feasibility of magnification by undercutting the interfacial oxide. With the successful proof of our concept we introduce a new method to access the density of nanometer-size pinholes in POLO-junctions with excellent passivation properties.