COMBINED EFFECT OF MECHANICAL GROOVING AND STAIN-ETCHED SURFACE ON OPTICAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF CRYSTALLINE SILICON SUBSTRATES

Abstract

This paper investigates the combined effect of mechanical grooving and porous silicon (PS) on the front surface reflectance and the electronic properties of crystalline silicon substrates. Mechanical surface texturization leads to reduce the cell reflectance, enhance the light trapping and augment the carrier collection probability. PS was introduced as an efficient antireflective coating (ARC) onto the front surface of crystalline silicon solar cell. Micro-periodic V-shaped grooves were made by means of a micro-groove machining process prior to junction formation. Subsequently, wafers were subjected to an isotropic potassium hydroxide ( KOH ) etching so that the V-shape would be turned to a U-shape. We found that the successive treatment of silicon surfaces with stain-etching, grooving then alkaline etching enhances the absorption of the textured surface, and decreases the reflectance from 35% to 7% in the 300–1200 nm wavelength range. We obtained a significant increase in the overall light path that generates the building up of the light trapping inside the substrate. We found an improvement in the illuminated I–V characteristics and an increase in the minority carrier lifetime τeff. Such a simple method was adopted to effectively reinforce the overall device performance of crystalline silicon-based solar cells.