Effect of aluminum thickness and etching time of aluminum induced texturing process on soda lime glass substrates for thin solar cell applications

Abstract

In this study, aluminum induced texturing (AIT) technique is used to increase light absorption in thin film by way of increasing the portion of the diffuse transmitted light (haze). For this purpose, various AIT process parameters such as starting aluminum thicknesses, annealing temperature and time, etching time, etchant's concentrations, and temperature of etching are known to affect the final texture. We have investigated the effect of aluminum thickness and etching time on AIT process while keeping the other parameters fixed. Our results show that by changing initial aluminum thickness and etching time, it is possible to control surface morphology of glass substrate and the resulting optical diffuse transmittance. In addition, diffuse transmittance is increased over the visible range of solar spectra and total absorption by a‐Si:H is increased. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Optimization and Characterization of Aluminum Induced Texture Using Radio Frequency Power

“…Thin film solar cell has many advantages [2][3][4] as active thin layers that decrease material usage, improve the rate of production and reduce the carrier collection length and bulk recombination [5][6][7]. Different glass texturing methods have been used in recent years to improve the efficiency of thin film PV application such as chemical etching with hydrofluoric acid [8], liquid surface coating (solgel) containing SiO2 spheres [9], hot embossing [10], aluminum induced texture [11,12,13], plasma etching or reactive ion etching with or without natural lithography [14,15]. In order to enhance the performance of thin film silicon solar cell, it is strategic to use textured glass by aluminum induced texture process [16,17].…”

Aluminum induced texturing of sandy and prism glasses: Combination of micro/nano texture with macro texture

“…1 Introduction Light management in thin film solar cells is important in order to increase the optical path of light in highly defective absorber layers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. In this manner, it can be particularly used in further reducing the absorber thicknesses in rare material (i.e., Cd, Te, Ga, etc.)…”