Metal assisted catalyzed etched (MACE) black Si: optics and device physics

Abstract

Metal-assisted catalyzed etching (MACE) of silicon (Si) is a controllable, room-temperature wet-chemical technique that uses a thin layer of metal to etch the surface of Si, leaving behind various nano- and micro-scale surface features, including nanowires (NWs), that can be tuned to achieve various useful engineering goals, in particular with respect to Si solar cells. In this review, we introduce the science and technology of MACE from the literature, and provide an in-depth analysis of MACE to enhance Si solar cells, including the outlook for commercial applications of this technology.

Metal assisted chemical etching of silicon in the gas phase: a nanofabrication platform for X-ray optics

“…The method is an interesting and promising cost effective technology for producing high aspect ratio nanostructures by surpassing the limits of other gas phase etching techniques in the nanoscale, such as reactive ion etching. [10][11][12] Several research fields, such as photonics, 13,14 microfluidics, 15 bioengineering, 16 thermoelectric materials, 17 batteries, 18,19 solar cells, 20,21 sensors and MEMS 22 can take advantage of using MacEtch in the gas phase as nano-and micro-fabrication techniques. Here, we highlight our work by focusing on the fabrication of X-ray diffractive optical elements.…”

Economic Advantages of Dry-Etched Black Silicon in Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (PERC) Photovoltaic Manufacturing

“…As the b-Si approach can be used on various structural forms of bulk silicon (single, poly, or multicrystalline) and to thin Si films (amorphous or microcrystalline) [30], there is a potential opportunity for Si-based PV manufacturers to make high efficiency (>20%) PERC solar cells using less expensive multicrystalline (mc) Si materials in combination with diamond wire-sawing. Different technologies are available to etch black Si surfaces, and a few have already demonstrated their economic viability (e.g., metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) [31][32][33] has already been adopted for the industrial production of b-Si for PV applications [34,35]). In addition, b-Si has demonstrated efficiencies over 22% using a dry etching manufacturing process and interdigitated back contacts (IBC) [36], and a promising 18.1% efficiency on laser-doped selective emitter solar cells [37].…”

Realization of an Antireflection Nanopore Array for Black Si Solar Energy Utilization

“…Different from traditional antireflection coatings, black Si has a broadband antireflection at a far wider acceptance angle than single or multilayer antireflection films [9]. High efficiencies have been recently demonstrated by black Si solar cells, which provided improved antireflection and light trapping functionality compared with the traditional Si [10]. The resulting lower reflection and improved light trapping can improve short circuit currents [11], with the addition of higher fill factors and voltages than traditional cells, which increase solar cell efficiencies and enable the use of low grade Si raw materials, thus reducing the manufacturing cost [12].…”