title: Liquid-phase-deposited silicon oxide film as a mask for single-sided texturing of monocrystalline Si wafers.
abstract: A silicon oxide film doped with fluorine was grown on a (100)-oriented Si wafer through liquid-phase deposition (LPD) as a protective mask of the wafer's rear side in order to chemically texture the wafer's unprotected front side in a basic etching bath, which is a new process in solar-cell manufacturing. The growth rate of the LPD-SiO2 film increased monotonically with an increase of the deposition temperature up to 60 °C for a given precursor solution. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) indicates that a pyramidal surface texture forms on the front side in the chemical texturing bath, whereas the underlying Si surface on the rear side remains intact. As a result, the average reflectivity for incident light over 450-850 nm is decreased to 11.1% on the front side, and a 5.8 μm thick Si surface on the rear side is saved per wafer. The all-wet process involved in this single-sided texturing is promising for the mass production of thinner and higher-efficiency Si-based solar cells because of its simplicity and lower cost.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University , Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Bo-Xuan
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Su-Fan
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Wen-Bin
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Cai