Electroplating of aluminum (Al) on silicon (Si) substrates has been demonstrated in an above-room-temperature ionic liquid for the metallization of wafer-Si solar cells. The electrolyte was prepared by mixing anhydrous aluminum chloride and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroaluminate. The plating was carried out by means of galvanostatic electrolysis. The structural and compositional properties of the Al deposits were characterized, and the sheet resistance of the deposits revealed the effects of pre-bake conditions, deposition temperature, and post-deposition annealing conditions. It was found that dense, adherent Al deposits with resistivity in the high 10^-6 Ω-cm range can be reproducibly obtained directly on Si substrates.

Based on the density functional theory, the band structure and optical absorption of the isovalent sulfur-doped hematite alpha-Fe2O3 are studied systematically. The results show that the band gap of alpha-Fe2O3-xSx decreases monotonically with increasing the sulfur concentration, resulting in an obvious increase of the optical absorption edge in the visible range. Most intriguingly, unlike the pure alpha-Fe2O3 material, the alpha-Fe2O3-xSx with x approximate to 0.17 (S concentration of similar to 5.6%) exhibits a direct band gap of an ideal value (similar to 1.45 eV), together with high optical absorption (similar to 10(5) cm(-1)) and lower carriers effective masses. These results indicate that alpha-Fe2O3-xSx, with a proper concentration of sulfur, may serve as a promising candidate for low-cost solar-cell materials.

Chemical vapor deposition-based sulfur passivation using hydrogen sulfide is carried out on both n-type and p-type Si(100) wafers. Al contacts are fabricated on sulfur-passivated Si(100) wafers and the resultant Schottky barriers are characterized with current–voltage (I–V), capacitance–voltage (C–V) and activation-energy methods. Al/S-passivated n-type Si(100) junctions exhibit ohmic behavior with a barrier height of <0.078 eV by the I–V method and significantly lower than 0.08 eV by the activation-energy method. For Al/S-passivated p-type Si(100) junctions, the barrier height is ~0.77 eV by I–V and activation-energy methods and 1.14 eV by the C–V method. The discrepancy between C–V and other methods is explained by image force-induced barrier lowering and edge-leakage current. The I–V behavior of an Al/S-passivated p-type Si(100) junction remains largely unchanged after 300 °C annealing in air. It is also discovered that heating the S-passivated Si(100) wafer before Al deposition significantly improves the thermal stability of an Al/S-passivated n-type Si(100) junction to 500 °C.