Black Silicon Photovoltaics

Abstract

The name "black silicon" refers to all randomly structured silicon interfaces with lateral feature sizes in the submicron range and aspect ratios (structure height/lateral feature size) larger than one. There are a variety of possibilities to achieve a black silicon structure at the silicon interface. From a historical point of view the development is a result of integrated circuit technologies, especially the structuring of silicon by plasma and dry etching processes. Reactive ion etching (RIE) processes seem to be promising candidates for the structuring of solar cells. The structure evolution of black silicon under repeated pulsed laser irradiation can be understood as an interference effect. The light trapping properties of the investigated black silicon structures depend strongly on the feature size of the structures. As a result of the excellent light trapping, high short-circuit currents are a common property of almost all cell concepts

Avoiding blistering in Al2O3 deposited on planar and black Si

“…bSi suffers from higher surface recombination given the increased surface area and the subsurface damage originated by the texturing process (the latter when fabricated by reactive ion etch -RIE) [24], leading to losses in terms of open circuit voltage and fill factor. However, the gap between efficiency of bSi based cells and that of conventionally textured cells under same fabrication conditions is progressively closing [16], and the best passivation of bSi has been achieved so far by ALD coating with Al2O3 [25].…”

1.5 - Optical modeling of Ge-on-Si focal plane arrays with diffractive light coupling

“…According to Füchsel et al [9], all randomly arranged nanostructures with an aspect ratio larger than 1 can be named lack silicon . In this study, we designate b-Si as structures of stochastic, needle-like cones fabricated by a reactive ion etching process [8].…”

Black GaAs: Gold-Assisted Chemical Etching for Light Trapping and Photon Recycling

“…In the last decades several antireflective coatings, scattering layers and photon recycling structures have been developed to enhance photovoltaic performances in devices based on inorganic semiconductors, [1][2][3] donor-acceptor organic [4] and hybrid [5,6] systems, perovskites [7], and for light transmitting panels based on luminescent solar concentrators [8]. Photon absorption can also be enhanced using scattering and light trapping surfaces [9][10][11][12] or photonic crystals [13][14][15] that aim to increase the light optical path, to confine light in the active layer, or to recycle emitted photons [16].…”