Effects of different laser modified surface morphologies and post-texturing cleanings on c-Si solar cell performance

Behrad Radfar, Fırat Es and Raşit Turan

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 145, issue C, 2707-2714

Abstract: Performance of crystalline Silicon solar cells depends on numerous factors. One key factor is a surface structure which can restrict electrical and optical properties due to recombination of generated carriers and reflection of incident light. Surface texturing reduces reflection from a flat surface which increases absorption of light. Anisotropic alkaline etchants are commonly used for texturing mono-crystalline Silicon wafers which produce pyramid structures on the surface. Because of randomly oriented crystallographic grains, this method is not feasible for multi-crystalline Silicon wafers. Here, an alternative texturing process using a laser system is proposed. Laser beam creates vertical and horizontal grooves on the surface in which the intersections are for a light trapping purpose. Laser parameters are determined experimentally to have the lowest reflection. Next, chemical post-texture cleaning is performed to remove laser-induced damages and other residues. Finally, samples went through general solar cell fabrication steps. For characterizations, weighted reflection is measured and correlated with Scanning Electron Microscopy images of a textured surface to evaluate the performance of texturing and post-texture cleaning. To examine fabricated solar cells' performance, I–V curve and External Quantum Efficiency are measured. Results indicate that proposed processes lead to an improved efficiency compared to reference samples.

Keywords: Solar cell; Surface modification; Laser texturing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:145:y:2020:i:c:p:2707-2714

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.08.031

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