Texturization and rounded process of silicon wafers for heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer solar cells

doi:10.1007/s12200-013-0386-y

Front Optoelec

2014, Vol. 7

Issue (1) : 46-52 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-013-0386-y

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Texturization and rounded process of silicon wafers for heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer solar cells

Kunpeng MA^1,2, Xiangbin ZENG^1,2(

), Qingsong LEI^1,3, Junming XUE³, Yanzeng WANG³, Chenguang ZHAO³

1. School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; 2. Shenzhen Institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518000, China; 3. Hisunpv Technology Co., Ltd, Hebei 053000, China

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Abstract

Heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer (HIT) solar cells are sensitive to interface state density. Traditional texture process for silicon solar cells is not suitable for HIT one. Thus, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), isopropanol (IPA) and mixed additive were tentatively introduced for the texturization of HIT solar cells in this study. Then, a mixture including nitric acid (HNO₃), hydrofluoric acid (HF) and glacial acetic acid (CH₃COOH) was employed to round pyramid structure. The morphology of textured surface and the influence of etching time on surface reflectance were studied, and the relationship between etching time and surface reflectance, vertex angle of pyramid structure was analyzed. It was found that the mixture consisting of 1.1 wt% NaOH, 3 vol% IPA and 0.3 vol% additives with etching time of 22.5 min is the best for HIT solar cells under the condition of 80°C. Uniform pyramid structure was observed and the base width of pyramid was about 2–4 μm. The average surface reflectance was 11.68%. Finally the effect of different processes on the performance of HIT solar cells was investigated. It was shown that these texturization and rounding techniques used in this study can increase short circuit current (J_sc), but they have little influence on fill factor (FF) and open circuit voltage (V_oc) of HIT solar cells.

Keywords texturization reflectance pyramid heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer (HIT) solar cells

Corresponding Author(s): ZENG Xiangbin,Email:eexbzeng@163.com

Issue Date: 05 March 2014

Cite this article:

Kunpeng MA,Xiangbin ZENG,Qingsong LEI, et al. Texturization and rounded process of silicon wafers for heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer solar cells[J]. Front Optoelec, 2014, 7(1): 46-52.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/10.1007/s12200-013-0386-y
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/Y2014/V7/I1/46

Fig.1 Effects of etching time on the uniformity of reflectance across a wafer by five-point measurement

Fig.2 Reflectance spectra of polished, as-cut and textured wafers

Fig.3 SEM micrographs of silicon wafer with 22.5 min etching. (a) × 2000; (b) × 6000

Fig.4 Average reflectance of textured wafers at different etching times

Fig.5 SEM profiles of textured wafers for different etching times. (a) 0 s; (b) 2 s; (c) 40 s; (d) 60 s

Fig.6 Mass-transfer influenced etching

Fig.7 - curves of solar cells on polished wafer, and textured wafers with or without rounded process

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