Zirconium oxide surface passivation of crystalline silicon
1 silicon nitride (SiN x), 2,3 amorphous silicon (a-Si),4 and aluminium oxide (Al 2O 3). 5,6 Recently, a range of transi-tion or post-transition metal oxides have also been demon-strated to provide high quality passivation of silicon surfaces, including titanium oxide,7,8 hafnium oxide,9–12 gal-lium oxide,13 and tantalum oxide.14,15 Zirconium