Effects of textured morphology on the short circuit current of single crystalline silicon solar cells: Evaluation of alkaline wet-texture processes

Soonwoo Kwon, Jongheop Yi, Sewang Yoon, Joon Sung Lee, Donghwan Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    37 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The effect of different surface morphologies obtained by anisotropic etching on the light trapping and short circuit current of single crystalline silicon solar cells was investigated. The anisotropic texturing of a (1 0 0) silicon surface was performed using potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution and/or tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solution including isopropyl alcohol (IPA) additive or tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) additive. Texturing in TMAH solution formed smaller pyramids on the textured surface compared with texturing in KOH solution. Although the textured samples showed similar reflectances (except in the case of the TBA additive), they showed different short circuit currents. Texturing in KOH/TMAH solution led to a 9.6% increase in short circuit current compared with texturing in KOH/IPA solution, a typical etchant in commercial processes. Based on these results, the reflectivity has no simple proportionality relationship to the short circuit current, and the short circuit current of silicon solar cells should be the criterion used in evaluating texturing effects on reducing reflectance and forming a sound junction with high collection efficiency.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1310-1314
    Number of pages5
    JournalCurrent Applied Physics
    Volume9
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2009 Nov

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright:
    Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

    Keywords

    • Anisotropic etch
    • Solar cell
    • Surface texturing
    • TBA
    • TMAH

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Materials Science
    • General Physics and Astronomy

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