Silicon nitride (SiN) from plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition is widely used in PV industry as an antireflection coating. In addition the large amount of hydrogen (of up to 25 at%) (J. Appl. Phys. 49 (1978) 2473) incorporated in the SiN layer can be driven into the solar cell during the contact firing step, leading to an excellent bulk passivation as demonstrated by several research institutes during the last decade (Proceedings of the 12th EC PVSEC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1994, p. 1018). Despite these advantages sometimes a problem occurs during the firing of the SiN layer, called blistering. Supposing that the blistering effect can be influenced by the surface preparation we performed a short ammonia plasma activation step prior to the SiN deposition. This step results in no damage of the surface which is shown in the form of solar cell results and lifetime measurements. On the contrary a positive effect on lowly doped emitters is possible. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.