Black silicon for solar cell applications

Kröll, Matthias; Otto, Martin; Käsebier, Thomas; Füchsel, Kevin; Wehrspohn, Ralf B.; Kley, Ernst‐Bernhard; Tünnermann, Andreas; Pertsch, Thomas

doi:10.1117/12.922380

Cited by 39 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…11,17,19,[43][44][45][46] In addition, also pure optical applications like silicon lenses or windows for the IR and light absorbers 47 can greatly benefit from the exceptionally good antireflection effect induced by the needle-like Black Silicon nanostructure. Among the multitude of fabrication methods for Black Silicon, ICP-RIE seems to be the most reasonable choice for most of the named applications because of its very good repeatability and reliability, the excellent chemical and structural intactness of the produced structures, 20,48 and its applicability to all forms of silicon, irrespective of the degree of structural order.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The structural and optical properties of black silicon by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching

Steglich

Käsebier

Zilk

et al. 2014

Journal of Applied Physics

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112

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Black Silicon nanostructures are fabricated by Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching (ICP-RIE) in a gas mixture of SF6 and O2 at non-cryogenic temperatures. The structure evolution and the dependency of final structure geometry on the main processing parameters gas composition and working pressure are investigated and explained comprehensively. The optical properties of the produced Black Silicon structures, a distinct antireflection and light trapping effect, are resolved by optical spectroscopy and conclusively illustrated by optical simulations of accurate models of the real nanostructures. By that the structure sidewall roughness is found to be critical for an elevated reflectance of Black Silicon resulting from non-optimized etching processes. By analysis of a multitude of structures fabricated under different conditions, approximate limits for the range of feasible nanostructure geometries are derived. Finally, the technological applicability of Black Silicon fabrication by ICP-RIE is discussed

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The structural and optical properties of black silicon by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching

Steglich

Käsebier

Zilk

et al. 2014

Journal of Applied Physics

Self Cite

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…

35 words): An overview and comparison of different fabrication methods of black silicon is presented. light trapping [9]. in photovoltaic (PV) crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells [1][2], watersplitting by photo-electrochemical-catalysis (PEC) [3], phododiods [4], terahertz emitters[5], highly sensitive optical[6] and chemical detection devices [7], amongst many others.

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confidence: 99%

Black silicon photovoltaics

Otto

Algasinger

Branz

et al. 2014

Light, Energy and the Environment

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35 words): An overview and comparison of different fabrication methods of black silicon is presented. Guidelines to optimize relevant parameters such as spatial frequencies and surface defect densities for optoelectronic applications such as photovoltaics will be given. Summary:The potential of silicon surfaces structured in the micro-and nanometer regime are widely known, e.g. in photovoltaic (PV) crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells [1][2], watersplitting by photo-electrochemical-catalysis (PEC) [3], phododiods [4], terahertz emitters[5], highly sensitive optical[6] and chemical detection devices [7], amongst many others. Black silicon offers extraordinary and broadband antireflection properties [8]. Additionally, strong randomizing light-trapping is achieved for weakly absorbed photons close to the band edge of c-Si, i.e. light trapping [9]. The enlarged area for 3-D structured p/n-junctions might be advantageous for charge carrier separation. But due to the strongly enlarged surface and a usually high surface defect density black silicon nanostructures exhibit rather low electronic surface quality leading to strong surface recombination. This drawback limits the performance of potential devices [10], [11]. Therefore, effective surface passivation is essential for nanostructured silicon and investigations to find a well suited passivation scheme are going on ever since b-Si has been used for electro-optical devices. In this work, different black silicon fabrication methods are compared. Investigated are the resulting morphologies, as well as optical and electronic properties. Different groups working on black silicon have cooperated for this study. As benchmark parameters, we used the optical absorption and the minority carrier lifetime after the passivation of the samples with thermal-atomic layer deposited Al2O3 [12]. The differences of the obtained black silicon samples fabricated by different proceesses, such as plasma etching, chemical etching or laser processing, are discussed. Based on our findings, we will give guidelines to optimize the relevant physical parameters, e.g. the spatial frequencies and the surface defect densities for optoelectronic applications. PTu2C.2.pdf

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“…For thicker films the front surface reflectance increases monotonically as the nanoscale features are filled-in and become less defined. The thicker Al 2 O 3 films also result in reduced absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region (from 900 -1200 nm), which is likely due to both the increase in reflection losses from the front surface and a reduction in scattering from the silicon nano-structures as the Al 2 O 3 layer fills the textured features [16]. Figure 5 plots the absorption as a function of wavelength for silicon samples with the three textures -isotexture, random pyramids, and black silicon -and a planar control.…”

Section: Optical Analysismentioning

confidence: 98%

Reactive ion etched black silicon texturing: A comparative study

Allen

Bullock

Cuevas

et al. 2014

2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC)

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We report on significant progress towards the application of reactive ion etched (RIE) black silicon (b-Si) as an alternative to the most commonly applied front-side textures utilized in the crystalline silicon photovoltaics industry -random pyramids and isotexture. The as-etched b-Si surface displays approximately 1% front side reflectance weighted across the solar spectrum, outperforming both random pyramids (2.83%) and isotexture (6.06%) with optimized anti-reflection coatings. The b-Si front surface reflectance reduces to below 0.4% after the application of an Al 2 O 3 surface passivation layer. At low injection levels, recombination of charge carriers at the b-Si surface poses no limitation on the minority carrier lifetimes of bulk-limited Cz and multicrystalline samples. At higher injection, or with higher quality substrates, additional recombination at the b-Si surface, characterized by a surface J os of 20 fA.cm -2 , may play a more significant role. This study provides a rigorous empirical justification for recent advances in b-Si textured solar cells and indicates pathways for further efficiency gains.

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Black silicon for solar cell applications

Cited by 39 publications

References 18 publications

The structural and optical properties of black silicon by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching

The structural and optical properties of black silicon by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching

Black silicon photovoltaics

Reactive ion etched black silicon texturing: A comparative study

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