Excellent electrical-passivation of p-type Si (p-Si) in Si solar cells has been achieved by post-deposition rapid annealing of aluminum oxide (AlOx) films prepared by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) using trimethyl aluminum (TMA) and O-2. Extremely small surface recombination velocity of below 0.1 cm/s has been obtained at post-deposition annealing temperatures in the range of 350-400 degrees C for an annealing time of 2 min. The reduction of surface recombination velocity has been attributed to band bending induced by a fixed negative charge density of 5 x 1011 charges/cm(2) and an additional small interface trapping density of around 1010 cm(-2) eV(-1). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.