Understanding the optics of industrial black silicon

Payne, D.N.; Fung, Tsun Hang; Khan, Muhammad Umair; Cruz‐Campa, Jose Luis; McIntosh, Keith R.; Abbott, Malcolm

doi:10.1063/1.5049297

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…It should be noted that the volume calculation from AFM scans is very sensitive to the background signal and background subtraction methods. In order to minimize substrate background "waviness," often observed for diamond wire sawn silicon wafers [35], a chemical polishing step was employed prior to creating the MCCE B-Si textures. For RIE samples, wafers with a "mirror-finish" polish were used.…”

Section: B Texture Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Enhanced Phosphorus Doping of Nanotextured Black Silicon

Scardera

Wang

Khan

et al. 2021

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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The integration of nanotextured black silicon (B-Si) into solar cells is often complicated by its enhanced phosphorus doping effect, which is typically attributed to increased surface area. In this article, we show that B-Si's surface-to-volume ratio, or specific surface area (SSA), which is directly related to surface reactivity, is a better indicator of reduced sheet resistance. We investigate six B-Si conditions with varying dimensions based on two morphology types prepared using metal-catalyzed chemical etching and reactive-ion etching. We demonstrate that for a POCl 3 diffusion, B-Si sheet resistance decreases with increasing SSA, regardless of surface area. 2-D dopant contrast imaging of different textures with similar surface areas also indicates that the extent of doping is enhanced with increasing SSA. 3-D diffusion simulations of nanocones show that both the extent of radial doping within a texture feature and the metallurgical junction depth in the underlying substrate increase with increasing SSA. We suggest SSA should be considered more readily when studying B-Si and its integration into solar cells. Index Terms-Black silicon, phosphorus doping, silicon nanotexture, surface area, surface-to-volume ratio. I. INTRODUCTIONN ANOTEXTURED silicon often falls under the collective label of black silicon (B-Si) which typically describes surfaces with low reflectance across a wide wavelength range (ultraviolet to near-infrared) and which appear black to the eye. B-Si can be prepared using a myriad of techniques and covers a wide range of surface morphologies and feature dimensions (from nano to micron-scale), including nanoporous layers [1],

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Section: B Texture Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Enhanced Phosphorus Doping of Nanotextured Black Silicon

Scardera

Wang

Khan

et al. 2021

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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“…Black silicon wafers had been a material of interest for photovoltaic devices for more than two decades now due to its unique surface morphology, enhanced optical and electronic properties [1] [2]. The micro structured surface made possible by silicon processing techniques like Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), Metal Catalyst Chemical Etching (MCCE), laser irradiation etc., enables improved light absorptance in visible and infrared wavelengths of light spectrum [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emitter Quality Optimization Using Lightly Doped Phosphorus Diffusion and Thermal Oxide Anneal for Cell Efficiency Improvement in Multi-Crystalline Black Silicon Solar Cells

Shetty¹,

Kaushal²,

Chikkaiah³

et al. 2022

JPEE

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and incident angle. With this development done in mc-Si wafers in recent past, it is still a daunting task to surpass cell efficiencies beyond 19.0% using this wafer source. Hence for cell manufacturing lines which use mc-Si wafers, there is always a constant need to improve the cell manufacturing processes to reduce the impact of poor intrinsic quality of mc-Si wafers and improve the final product performance without adding any significant cost factor.

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“…Some critical surface statistics will be reported for both the AFM 3D model and the PFIB 3D model which will aid the development of a fast approximation method for BSi optical simulation. [21,29] In addition, morphological parameters critical in the BSi electrical performance will also be compared across the AFM 3D model and the PFIB 3D model such as enhanced area factor and specific surface area. [30] The results of this work may also be applicable to modeling other material fundamental properties, such as surface arearelated electrochemical reactivity, the pre-and/or post thinfilm interaction during device manufacturing, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results of this work may also be applicable to modeling other material fundamental properties, such as surface area‐related electrochemical reactivity, the pre‐ and/or post thin‐film interaction during device manufacturing, etc. It can be further developed to predict the completed BSi device performance, such as fast optical simulation [ 11,29,31 ] or current–voltage simulation [ 32 ] of completed BSi device with the addition of surface deposition layers and encapsulation layers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plasma Focused Ion Beam Tomography for Accurate Characterization of Black Silicon Validated by Full Wave Optical Simulation

Zhang

Veeken

Wang

et al. 2022

Adv Materials Technologies

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photodiodes, photodetectors, and photovoltaic (PV) devices. A particular branch of silicon material is black silicon (BSi), the surface of which is specially processed to create a micro-/nanoscale texture. [1,2] As such, the optical performance of BSi is superior to the unprocessed silicon wafer with a planar surface, with extremely high optical absorption and low reflectance over a broad spectral range. However, due to the complex nature of the BSi surface structure, adapting the academic level BSi into a commercial device is challenging. For example, BSi with an extremely high aspect ratio will present challenges for making acceptable screen-printed contacts as used in silicon solar cells. [3] Furthermore, the increased surface area can result in inferior surface passivation. [4][5][6] Therefore, the state-of-the-art commercialized BSi devices are typically compromised to a less aggressive surface structure with nonoptimal optical properties. [7,8] Semiconductor device fabrication involves multistep physical and chemical manufacturing process sequences. [9] Each of the variables involved in multistep processing could potentially bring uncertainties during manufacturing. As such, modeling and simulation are well-accepted concepts in the semiconductor industry. They provide guidelines for the optimal parameters for actual device fabrication and help researchers to rapidly understand Black silicon (BSi) is a branch of silicon material whose surface is specially processed to a micro/nanoscale structure, which can achieve ultra-low reflectance or ultra-high electrochemical reactivity. The diversity and complex surface structures of BSi make it challenging to commercialize BSi devices. Modeling and simulation are commonly used in the semiconductor industry to help in better understanding the material properties, predict the device performance, and provide guidelines for fabrication parameters' optimization. The biggest challenge for BSi device modeling and simulation is obtaining accurate input surface morphological data. In this work, the 3D models of challenging BSi textures are compared as obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and plasma focused ion beam (PFIB) tomography techniques. In previous work, the PFIB tomography workflow toward the application of surface topography is optimized. In this work, the 3D models obtained from both AFM and PFIB are comprehensively compared, by using the surface models as inputs for finite-difference time-domain-based optical simulation. The results provide strong evidence that PFIB tomography is a better choice for characterizing highly roughened surface such as BSi and provides surface 3D models with better reliability and consistency.

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Understanding the optics of industrial black silicon

Cited by 13 publications

References 6 publications

On the Enhanced Phosphorus Doping of Nanotextured Black Silicon

On the Enhanced Phosphorus Doping of Nanotextured Black Silicon

Emitter Quality Optimization Using Lightly Doped Phosphorus Diffusion and Thermal Oxide Anneal for Cell Efficiency Improvement in Multi-Crystalline Black Silicon Solar Cells

Plasma Focused Ion Beam Tomography for Accurate Characterization of Black Silicon Validated by Full Wave Optical Simulation

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