Point-contacting by Localised Dielectric Breakdown: A robust approach to contacting silicon for solar applications

We report on the development of a previously demonstrated contacting scheme for Al contacts through a-Si to p-type silicon Point-contacting by Localised Dielectric Breakdown (PLDB) in a number of different metal-insulator-semiconductor structures. It is shown that PLDB works for different metals and dielectrics as well as for n-type Si. Investigations into the PLDB technique have revealed that dielectric breakdown initiates the processing leading to Joule heating creating the low resistance contact, rather than a metal induced crystallisation from the gate/dielectric interface.