摘要： This work explores the possibility of using ultrathin silicon nitride (SiNx) films with high positive fixed charge in a SiNx/poly-Si passivating contact. The factors including (i) film thickness, (ii) annealing condition (time, temp and ambient) and (iii) surface pre-treatment were optimized to boost the passivation performance of ultrathin LPCVD SiNx films. Our preliminary experiments reveal excellent surface passivation and low recombination current density, Jo (45 fA.cm-2) by ~1.5 nm thick LPCVD SiNx films when subjected to an air ambient anneal at 800?C for 30 mins. This is due to the formation of high positive fixed charge density (1.5 ?10 12 cm-2). Air ambient annealed (465 μs) samples also have a higher lifetime when compared to the forming gas annealed (208 μs) samples. These passivating SiNx films were further integrated into SiNx/n+poly-Si contacts and characterized for Jo,contact and tunneling resistance, ?contact. The best SiNx/n+poly-Si passivated contact in this study has Jo, contact = 5.9 fA.cm-2, ?contact = 0.525 Ω.cm2 and an efficiency potential > 22.75%. According to our knowledge, it is the first report confirming the formation of passivated contacts with SiNx as the dielectric tunnel layer.