Investigated performance improvement of the micro-pressure sandblast-treated multi-crystalline Si wafer sliced using diamond wire sawing. (February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Ting-Chun; Lee, Hsin-Ying; Lee, Ching-Ting; Cheng, Yu-Chin; Chen, Hung-Wei
• Is Part Of: Solar energy. Volume 161(2018)
• Page Start: 220
• Page End: 225
• Publication Date: 2018-02
• Subjects: Diamond wire sawing -- Multi-crystalline silicon -- Solar cells -- X-Y axis micro-pressure sandblast treatment; Solar energy -- Periodicals; Solar engines -- Periodicals; 621.47
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2017.12.059
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-092X

Abstract

Highlights: Micro-pressure sandblast treatment removed saw marks on DWS-sliced mc-Si wafers. Textured surface of the acidic-textured DWS-sliced mc-Si wafers was also observed. The performance of sandblast treated DWS-sliced mc-Si solar cells was improved. Abstract: In this work, the textured surface of the multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers sliced by the diamond wire sawing (DWS) technique was formed using the X-Y axis micro-pressure sandblast treatment and the acidic texturing process. From the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, the X-Y axis micro-pressure sandblast treated DWS-sliced mc-Si wafers could effectively remove the saw marks caused by the fixed diamond abrasives. Furthermore, the textured surface of the acidic-textured DWS-sliced mc-Si wafers was also observed in the SEM images. Besides, using the X-Y axis micro-pressure sandblast treatment, the average reflectivity of the DWS-sliced mc-Si wafers was reduced from 28.94% to 22.28%. Consequently, the short-circuit current of 8.70 A and the power conversion efficiency of 17.92% for the DWS-sliced mc-Si solar cells with micro-pressure sandblast treatment were respectively better than 8.59 A and 17.35% in comparison with the DWS-sliced mc-Si solar cells without micro-pressure sandblast treatment.