Low surface damage dry etched black silicon

Plakhotnyuk, Maksym; Gaudig, Maria; Davidsen, Rasmus Schmidt; Lindhard, Jonas Michael; Hirsch, Jens; Lausch, Dominik; Schmidt, Michael; Stamate, Eugen; Hansen, Ole

doi:10.1063/1.4993425

Cited by 28 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In order to capitalize on the superior optical properties of b‐Si, surface recombination must therefore be reduced to levels similar to those measured on competing texturing technologies. Recently, b‐Si surfaces characterized by lower recombination rates have been fabricated by decreasing the capacitively coupled power (CCP) during plasma processing, leading to a lower kinetic energy of ions and thus reduced surface damage, as confirmed by high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy characterization of individual nanostructures . However, that process still required a certain amount of CCP and etching time ≥10 min to reach the desired antireflective properties, which is not convenient in view of process scalability.…”

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confidence: 76%

Black Silicon With Ultra‐Low Surface Recombination Velocity Fabricated by Inductively Coupled Power Plasma

Iandolo

Nery

Davidsen

et al. 2018

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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Black silicon is a naturally antireflective Si surface with great potential for high‐efficiency solar cells. In particular, black silicon surfaces can be obtained using reactive ion etch in a maskless, single‐step process regardless of crystallinity and with minimal material loss. Surface damage from the etching process, however, result in surfaces with high recombination velocity, thus limiting solar cell efficiency. We have developed a method to texture Si surfaces using non‐cryogenic reactive ion etch with a plasma sustained exclusively by inductively coupled power, thereby minimizing surface damage. We achieved a target reflectance of 3% or lower in the wavelength range 300–1000 nm after an etch time of 2 min. Surfaces coated with Al2O3 deposited by atomic layer deposition showed recombination velocity as low as 6.9 cm s−1 on p‐type Czochralski wafers, almost the same values as measured on planar reference surfaces (6.8 cm s−1). This corresponds to an implied open circuit voltage as high as 757 mV for a cell with thickness of 180 μm and base resistivity of 4 Ω cm. These results indicate that our method for texturing of Si surfaces is suitable for fabrication of high‐efficiency single junction Si solar cells.

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confidence: 76%

Black Silicon With Ultra‐Low Surface Recombination Velocity Fabricated by Inductively Coupled Power Plasma

Iandolo

Nery

Davidsen

et al. 2018

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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“…Interestingly, Mews et al reported a higher Jsc loss in the visible and a lower loss in the IR as compared to our results, which may be connected to difference in the characteristic shape and size of bSi. In our case, the loss in the IR is due to poor light trapping of the bSi caused by the relatively small characteristic size and by the shape of the nanostructures, as discussed in [11]. While texturing both sides of the cell might ameliorate this issue, further work on the RIE is needed to produce structures with more appropriate shape and even lower additional surface damage.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Towards solar cells with black silicon texturing passivated by a-Si:H

Iandolo

Plakhotnyuk

Davidsen

et al. 2018

2018 IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC) (A Joint Conference of 45th IEEE PVSC, 28th PVSEC &Amp

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We introduce surfaces of black silicon (bSi) fabricated by reactive ion etch (RIE) and passivated by hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). We demonstrate minority effective lifetime over 1.5 ms for the best bSi surfaces, corresponding to over 700 mV of implied open circuit voltage, values higher than on reference surfaces prepared by KOH etching. Fabrication of solar cells resulted in promising efficiency of 16.1 % for bSi as compared to 18.5 % for KOH references. Quantum efficiency measurements revealed that the bSi cells lose approximately 0.5 mA cm-2 of current density in the visible and of 0.8-1 mA cm-2 in the infrared (IR) region. Current work is ongoing to further reduce surface damage during RIE to maximize the open circuit voltage and to optimize the deposition of a-Si:H on our bSi in order to reduce the loss in current density.

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“…2 . Firstly, random etching of the native oxide (ions and oxygen) roughens the surface because of the forming of micro-mask [ 26 , 28 ]. Then the lateral etching of microstructures on the substrate surface is inhibited by controlling the composition of etching gas and using the passivation of some products during etching [ 26 ], and the nanostructures on the substrate surface are obtained, namely the final black GaAs surface, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication and Characterization of Black GaAs Nanoarrays via ICP Etching

Zhao

et al. 2021

Nanoscale Res Lett

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GaAs nanostructures have attracted more and more attention due to its excellent properties such as increasing photon absorption. The fabrication process on GaAs substrate was rarely reported, and most of the preparation processes are complex. Here, we report a black GaAs fabrication process using a simple inductively coupled plasma etching process, with no extra lithography process. The fabricated sample has a low reflectance value, close to zero. Besides, the black GaAs also displayed hydrophobic property, with a water contact angle of 125°. This kind of black GaAs etching process could be added to the fabrication workflow of photodetectors and solar cell devices to further improve their characteristics.

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Low surface damage dry etched black silicon

Cited by 28 publications

References 28 publications

Black Silicon With Ultra‐Low Surface Recombination Velocity Fabricated by Inductively Coupled Power Plasma

Black Silicon With Ultra‐Low Surface Recombination Velocity Fabricated by Inductively Coupled Power Plasma

Towards solar cells with black silicon texturing passivated by a-Si:H

Fabrication and Characterization of Black GaAs Nanoarrays via ICP Etching

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