Chemically microsurface-sphericizing on diamond wire-sawn multi-crystalline silicon wafers by metal-assisted chemical etching and rounding etching. (15th May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Jinbing; Zhou, Lang; Zhou, Xiaoying; Zhang, Fayun; Liu, Yulong; He, Liang; Sun, Jie
• Is Part Of: Solar energy. Volume 220(2021)
• Page Start: 1032
• Page End: 1039
• Publication Date: 2021-05-15
• Subjects: Multi-crystalline silicon wafer -- Diamond wire saw -- Chemically texturing -- Microsurface-Sphericizing; Solar energy -- Periodicals; Solar engines -- Periodicals; 621.47
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2021.01.064
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-092X

Abstract

Highlights: The microsurface-sphericizing textures were realized on the diamond wire sawn (DWS) multi-crystalline (mc) wafers by the combination of metal-assisted chemical etching and rounding etching process. The microsurface-sphericizing texture was helpful in reducing surface recombination and improving the electrode filling, thereby improving the electrical performance of the cells and modules. The values of the open circuit voltage (Voc), the filling factor (FF) and the cell-to-module (CTM) loss of the cells and modules were improved with the microsurface-sphericizing process. Abstract: The combination processes of metal-assisted chemical etching (AgNO3 + HF + H2 O2 ) and rounding etching (HNO3 + HF + H2 O) were used for the texturization of diamond wire sawn (DWS) multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers. The evolution of texture structure on the DWS mc-Si wafers was investigated in detail. The chemically microsurface-sphericizing (CMS) textures, which were nearly smooth spherical structure with a size of approximately 2–3 μm, were fabricated successfully on the DWS mc-Si wafers with the combination processes. Compared with the conventional metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) textures, the CMS textures were improved on surface recombination and the filling of electrode, thereby boosting the electrical performance of the solar cells and the cell-to-module (CTM) loss at the module end. These CMS textures resulted in an increase in the output power of the photovoltaic module by 0.047 W per cell. The fabrication of these CMS textures may be easily scaled up in the photovoltaic production line.