Understanding of Molecular Contribution of Quinhydrone/Methanol Organic Passivation for Improved Minority Carrier Lifetime on Nanostructured Silicon Surface

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Choi et.al. reported a BQ and HQ mixture which was used as silicon surface passivation layer to increase the minority life time in silicon. The method is not new and the result is ok. Many groups have already done the similar works. To increase the chance to be considered for publishing in Applied Sciences, the author should improve the writing skill in English. It is hard to follow this manuscript. Questions 1) Please use NMR/EPR to identify molecules in Figure 4 2) Add pure HQ HR-AFM in Figure 3? HQ did not work (Figure 2) because of aggregation or other reasons? 3) Why more HQ in the mixture increases the aggregation on the surface? It looks like HQ is easier to form uniform layers than BQ (Show pure HQ HR-AFM please, see question 2)

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I really thank you for your valuable comments to improve my manuscript. Our responses to your comments are provided in attached files.

 

Thank you,

 

Sincerely

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

In this manuscript, Choi investigated the BQ and HQ molecular passivation contribution for Si surface. The uniformity and coverage of the passivation layer were studied with HR-AFM and TUNA. Moreover, the minority carrier lifetime and SPV of Si surface before and after passivation were also measured. The author found that HQ alone cannot provide passivation, but the corporation of HQ and BQ with an optimal mixture ratio offers a highly accelerated passivation reaction than pure BQ. The reason was well revealed and discussed. The work has high novelty and impact, sufficient data and good writing, so I suggest publication in Applied Science. However, there are still some points that need to be further clarified before publication:

1. Which type of defects or traps exited on Si surface, and how SQ passivate the surface of Si should be introduced and discussed in the manuscript.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I really thank you for your valuable comments to improve my manuscript. Our responses to your comments are provided in attached file

 

Thank you

 

Sincerely

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I have no other opinions for revising except the format of the references (uppercase, lowercase, and italicization)