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Texture size control by mixing glass microparticles with alkaline solution for crystalline silicon solar cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2018

Cong Thanh Nguyen Open the ORCID record for Cong Thanh Nguyen [Opens in a new window] ,
Koichi Koyama ,
Huynh Thi Cam Tu ,
Keisuke Ohdaira  and
Hideki Matsumura
Cong Thanh Nguyen*
Affiliation:
Center for Nano Materials and Technology (CNMT), Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
Koichi Koyama
Affiliation:
Center for Nano Materials and Technology (CNMT), Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
Huynh Thi Cam Tu
Affiliation:
Center for Nano Materials and Technology (CNMT), Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
Keisuke Ohdaira
Affiliation:
Center for Nano Materials and Technology (CNMT), Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
Hideki Matsumura*
Affiliation:
Center for Nano Materials and Technology (CNMT), Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
*
a)Address all correspondence to these authors. e-mail: nguyen.cong.thanh@jaist.ac.jp
b)e-mail: h-matsu@jaist.ac.jp
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Abstract

In this paper, we show a novel method to obtain small size textures usable in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. SiO2-based glass microparticles are mixed with a conventional KOH-based alkaline solution for making the textures. Using this mixing method, the texture size can be drastically reduced from 10 to ≤2 µm (0.3–2 µm). In addition, the process time and c-Si loss during the texture formation are reduced from 25 to 2 min and from 20 to 2 µm, respectively. Thus, the process is applicable to c-Si with thickness down to 50 µm. High-quality passivation showing the effective minority carrier lifetimes (τeff) larger than several ms and effective antireflection coating are possible on the new textures. The process is named “microparticle-assisted texturing (MPAT) process”, and its features are also demonstrated.

Keywords

Sicrystallinetexture
Type
Invited Feature Paper
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 33 , Issue 11 , 13 June 2018 , pp. 1515 - 1522
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

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Footnotes

c)

Present address: ULVAC, Inc. (ULVAC), Chigasaki, Kanagawa 253-8543, Japan.

This paper has been selected as an Invited Feature Paper.

References

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