F Rie-textured Silicon Solar Cells

A maskless plasma textu~ring technique using Reactive Ion Etching for silicon solar cells results in a very low reflectance of 5.4 % before and 3.9 % after SiN deposition. A detailed study of surface recombination and emitter properties was made, then solar cells were fabricated using the DOSS solar cell process. Different plasmadamage removal treatments are tested to optimize low lifetime solar cell efficiencies. Highest efficiencies are observed for little or no plasma-damage removal etching on mc-Si. Increased & due to the RIE texture proved superior to a single layer anti-reflection coating. This indicates that RIE texturing is a promising texturing technique, especially applicable on lower lifetime (multicrystalline) silicon. The use of non-toxic, non-corrosive SFS makes this process attractive for mass production. Increasing solar cell efficiency while maintaining a low production cost is the rimary objective of solar power research. The use of low cost materials such as silicon ribbon and multi-crystalline silicon, mc-Si, provides a cheaper means of producing crystalline silicon solar cells. In terms of cell efficiency, though, mc-Si suffers from lower charge carrier lifetimes compared to single-crystalline Si. In addition, the surface is not. easy to texture. In order to increase cell efficiency, texturing is a major factor: It allows for a lower overall reflection tlhat leads to higher short cirFig. 1. SEM picture of RUE-textured silicon. Otttcr------7--y 300 500 700 90