Effect of texturing process involving saw-damage etching on crystalline silicon solar cells

Abstract

For high efficiency silicon solar cells, surface texturing is used to increase the short circuit current by reducing the surface reflection loss. Surface texturing is an anisotropic wet chemical etching process commonly used to form random pyramids. We investigated how the process is affected by surface conditions. We also compared the texturing behavior and cell performances of as-cut, polished and saw-damage etched wafers. Textured samples with different processing times were analyzed to detect pyramids and determine weighted reflectances. After the texturing process, conventional screen-printed solar cells were fabricated to observe the cell performance. The pseudo I-V curves and quantum efficiency for the samples were analyzed. Performance of samples with different surface conditions makes no difference. Thus, the processing-cost of solar cells can be reduced by omitting the saw-damage etching process. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.