Large-Scale Fabrication of Ordered Silicon Nanotip Arrays Used for Gas Ionization in Ion Mobility Spectrometers

Gesemann, Benjamin; Wehrspohn, Ralf B.; Hackner, Angelika; Müller, Gerhard

doi:10.1109/tnano.2010.2053046

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…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. 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.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

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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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black silicon photovoltaics

Otto

Algasinger

Branz

et al. 2014

Light, Energy and the Environment

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“…Micro-and nanostructured silicon surfaces are widely known for their applications in silicon devices, predominantly in photovoltaics, [1][2][3][4] but also for water splitting by photoelectrochemical catalysis, [5][6][7][8] photodiodes, [ 9 ] terahertz emitters, [ 10 ] highly sensitive optical [ 11 ] and chemical detection devices, [ 12 ] and microelectromechanical systems. [ 13 ] A particular class of nanostructured silicon is black silicon (b-Si), defi ned by their extraordinarily low refl ectance over an extremely broad spectral range and for quasi-omnidirectional incidence of light.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Black-nanostructured silicon surfaces, that are suitable for solar cell applications, have been produced by various methods as shown in Figure 1 and discussed in detail in section 2. [ 7,12,23,24,[41][42][43] Table 1 summarizes some of the important recent works on b-Si solar cells. [ 7,12,23,24,[41][42][43] Table 1 summarizes some of the important recent works on b-Si solar cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black Silicon Photovoltaics

Otto

Algasinger

Branz

et al. 2014

Advanced Optical Materials

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LT) can be achieved for weakly absorbed photons with energies close to the absorption edge of silicon. [ 15 ] These properties of b-Si are particularly useful for photovoltaic applications.The limiting effi ciency of a solar cell is given by the detailed balance of absorption and radiative recombination [ 16 ] and by nonradiative processes like Auger-and impurity recombination. [17][18][19] b-Si can help to approach those limits in two ways. On the one hand b-Si improves the coupling of light into the solar cell and the absorption of near band edge photons. This in turn increases the short circuit current and on a logarithmic scale also the open circuit voltage. On the other hand, due to excellent light-trapping properties b-Si might also allow reducing the solar cell thickness substantially below 100 µm while sustaining a high light absorption. This reduces nonradiative bulk recombination losses that scale linearly with the solar cell thickness [ 17,18 ] and hence, increases the open-circuit voltage. Of course, reducing the solar cell thickness also increases the cost effi ciency. Decreasing the amount of required silicon feedstock is a major industry concern as can be seen by the growing interest in kerf-free crystalline silicon solar cell technologies. [20][21][22] Unfortunately, besides bulk effects, surface recombination imposes a very critical limit to the solar This article presents an overview of the fabrication methods of black silicon, their resulting morphologies, and a quantitative comparison of their optoelectronic properties. To perform this quantitative comparison, different groups working on black silicon solar cells have cooperated for this study. The optical absorption and the minority carrier lifetime are used as benchmark parameters. The differences in the fabrication processes plasma etching, chemical etching, or laser processing are discussed and compared with numerical models. Guidelines to optimize the relevant physical parameters, such as the correlation length, optimal height of the nanostructures, and the surface defect densities for optoelectronic applications are given.

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“…Various shapes (including nanocones 2 , nanowires 3 , microwires 4 and porous silicon 5 ) have been used to achieve excellent light management effects. Because of its many superior properties, b-Si has potential for a range of applications, such as self-cleaning surfaces 6 , microelectromechanical systems 7 , ion mobility spectrometers 8 , terahertz emitters 9 , drug analysis 10 , photodetectors 11 and antibacterial surfaces 12 .…”

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Black silicon solar cells with interdigitated back-contacts achieve 22.1% efficiency

et al. 2015

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The nanostructuring of silicon surfaces—known as black silicon—is a promising approach to eliminate front-surface reflection in photovoltaic devices without the need for a conventional antireflection coating. This might lead to both an increase in efficiency and a reduction in the manufacturing costs of solar cells. However, all previous attempts to integrate black silicon into solar cells have resulted in cell efficiencies well below 20% due to the increased charge carrier recombination at the nanostructured surface. Here, we show that a conformal alumina film can solve the issue of surface recombination in black silicon solar cells by providing excellent chemical and electrical passivation. We demonstrate that efficiencies above 22% can be reached, even in thick interdigitated back-contacted cells, where carrier transport is very\ud sensitive to front surface passivation. This means that the surface recombination issue has truly been solved and black silicon solar cells have real potential for industrial production. Furthermore, we show that the use of black silicon can result in a 3% increase in daily energy production when compared with a reference cell with the same efficiency, due to its better angular acceptance.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

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Large-Scale Fabrication of Ordered Silicon Nanotip Arrays Used for Gas Ionization in Ion Mobility Spectrometers

Cited by 22 publications

References 7 publications

Black silicon photovoltaics

Black silicon photovoltaics

Black Silicon Photovoltaics

Black silicon solar cells with interdigitated back-contacts achieve 22.1% efficiency

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