Pre-texturing thermal treatment for saw-damage-removal-free wet texturing of monocrystalline silicon wafers

The etching of Si wafers significantly influences the efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Texturing can effectively decrease front surface reflection and improve device performance. Saw damage removal (SDR) is necessary to yields uniform random pyramidal surfaces without the appearance of saw marks, it entails significant consumption of chemical solutions and complicated cleaning steps. Herein, an alternative process of pre-texturing thermal treatment was carried out at 800 °C for 10 min, followed by anisotropic texturing, and a uniform pyramidal surface over a large area of the textured surface was obtained without saw marks. Compared with that of as-cut mono-Si wafers (30.7%), the weighted average reflectance of the samples textured with or without thermal treatment decreased to 11.2% and 11.9%, respectively, and further to 3% and 3.4%, respectively, when anti-reflection coatings were applied. In addition, saw marks on the wafer surface were used as gettering sites during thermal treatment, and the bulk lifetime was more than doubled from 42.6 µs before the treatment to 93.8 µs after. The simple, SDR-free method presented herein for enhancing the textural uniformity of Si wafers and, hence, solar cell performance, can be employed on an industrial scale without necessitating additional investment in equipment.