Investigation of titanium-nitride layers for solar-cell contacts

Reactively sputtered titanium-nitride layers have been incorporated as diffusion barriers in a titanium-silver metallization scheme on silicon. Backscattering analysis (2-MeV He/+/, RBS) indicates that the integrity of the system is basically preserved during annealing at 600 C for 10 min. Electrical properties were determined for titanium-nitride layers prepared under different deposition conditions. Resistivity and Hall mobility appear to depend on the oxygen contamination of the deposited material. For the lowest oxygen concentration (less than 5 at %) a resistivity of 170 microohms/cm has been found.