Solar Energy 147 (2017) 228–231

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Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Effect of surface texturing processes on the performance of crystalline

silicon solar cell
Khaldun A. Salman
Solar Energy Researches Department, Al-Nahrain Nanorenewable Energy Researches Center, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Two texturing methods using porous silicon (PS) and pyramids were performed to investigate the effect
Received 28 August 2016 of them on the performance of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell. Surface morphology and structural
Accepted 6 December 2016 properties of samples have been studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic forces
microscopy (AFM). Optical reflectance was obtained using optical reflectometer. I-V characterization of
fabricated solar cells was investigated. The results showed the highest conversion efficiency of 13.23%
Keywords: for PS layer compared with 11.36% and 3.70% efficiencies for the solar cells devices with pyramids tex-
Texturing processes
turing and as-grown Si, respectively. PS texturing exhibited an excellent reduction in the reflection of
Porous silicon
Pyramids
incident light compared with pyramids texturing process, with a good light-trapping of wide wavelength
Performance spectrum, which could produce high efficiency solar cells.
Efficiency Ó 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Solar cell

1. Introduction thick. Moreover, the c-Si (1 0 0) in textured substrates instead of

the usual (1 1 1) of flat substrates can also have significant influ-
The suitable tools for enhancing the conversion efficiency of ence in interface passivation. Actually, special attention to wet-
crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells is the surface texturing pro- chemical pre-treatments is required to assure a low interface
cesses which used to reduce light reflection and leads to changes defect density on textured substrates (Angermann, 2008). Si tex-
in the optical transitions. c-Si solar cells currently lack efficiency turization is an important topic of modern science and technology,
due to electrical and optical losses, such as reflection, shadowing, particularly appealing in photovoltaics (PV) (Moreno et al., 2010;
non-absorbed radiation, and recombination (Ackermann et al., Huynh et al., 2002; Law et al., 2005). Random pyramid arrays with
2002). Porous silicon (PS) is a nanostructured material that has a reduced reflectivity of 10% can be readily obtained via anisotropic
been much attracted to enhance the optical properties of c-Si. etching of c-Si in alkaline solutions (Seidel et al., 1990), which is
The formation of PS layers on c-Si wafers using electrochemical widely used in c-Si solar cell manufacturing (Singh et al., 2001;
etching (ECE) were exhibits photoluminescent and electrolumines- Campbell and Green, 1987; Vazsonyi et al., 1999). c-Si wafer ran-
cent properties similar to those properties of a semiconductors dom texturing is usually achieved in commercial solar cells by an
with a direct energy gap (Canham, 1990). The PS is becomes an anisotropic etching of the c-Si network. Although dry etching tech-
attractive material in the field of solar cells due to the broadening niques are currently under investigation, wet etching by an alka-
band gap, wide optical transmission range (700–1000 nm), wide line solution is the standard process for industrial solar cell
absorption spectrum, surface roughening and a good anti- texturing. In fact, wet chemical etching is also routinely used in
reflection coating (ARC) (Koshida and Koyama, 1992). The main c-Si cell processing to remove sawing damage. The most widely
performance improving factor of PS layer is the rough surface used anisotropic etching is a low concentration potassium hydrox-
and lower effective refractive index compared with c-Si which ide (KOH) solution in water with the addition of isopropyl alcohol
can decrease the reflection losses of the sunlight radiation (IPA) (Muñoz et al., 2009).
(Vitanov et al., 1997). This work investigated the increase of the efficiency in the c-Si
Many researchers have started their research in c-Si solar cells solar cell using two methods of texturing designing (PS and pyra-
using c-Si substrates. However, the situation differs significantly mids). The objective of this work was to study the performance
on textured substrates where pyramids a few microns high, have of c-Si solar cells with different texturing processes. The author
to be covered by conformal thin films only some tens of nanometer suggests using texturing processes with PS layer to increase the
light conversion efficiency of solar cells.
E-mail address: khaldunphysics@gmail.com

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2016.12.010
0038-092X/Ó 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
 K.A. Salman / Solar Energy 147 (2017) 228–231 229

2. Experimental

N-type c-Si wafer, h1 0 0i orientation, 0.75 X cm resistivity and

283 lm thickness has been used as a substrate for surface textur-
ing using PS and pyramids methods. Before the texturization pro-
cess, c-Si wafers were cleaned in a H2SO4:H2O2 (2:1) solution.
For PS performing, the wafer was placed in electrolyte solution
(HF: ethanol, 1:5) with current density of 40 mA/cm2 and 25 min.
etching time using photoelectrochemical (PECE) cell, which is
made of Teflon and has a circular aperture at the bottom that
Fig. 2. Solar cells based-on PS and pyramids texturing samples.
was sealed by the c-Si sample. The cell has a two-electrode system
connected to the c-Si sample as the anode and platinum (Pt) as the
cathode (Fig. 1) (Salman et al., 2011a,b).
The fabricated devices were examined by using current-voltage
The synthesis was carried out at RT and the samples were
(I-V) characterization. Optical reflectance was characterized using
rinsed in ethanol and dried in air after etching process. In this case,
optical reflectometer (Filmetrics F20). Surface morphology and
the illumination was positioned over the c-Si n-type samples for
structural properties of samples were characterized using scanning
the maximum possible illumination and to generate the required
electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic forces microscopy (AFM).
holes for dissolution (Bisi et al., 2000; Salman et al., 2011a,b).
The pyramidal texturisation of c-Si wafers after c-Si dioxidion
made square patterned windows which were exposed to UV 3. Results and discussions
source. Through the open window in oxide, c-Si was symmetrically
etched in 48% KOH concentration at a temperature about 80 °C to Fig. 3 demonstrates the SEM image of the PS layer formed on
synthesis the pyramids texturing. After the etching process, the the n-type c-Si (1 0 0) sample. Many nano-sized pores were evi-
samples was rinsed in distil water and dried in nitrogen source dently randomly distributed on the Si surface. A highest density
until they become hydrophobic. of pores and porosity was observed.
The following procedures were used to fabricate the solar cells: Much more homogeneous distribution of pores could be
The etched samples of PS and pyramids texturing were coated with showed on this sample in comparison to other samples, which
photoresist, and then, a masks were placed directly above the sam- were prepared with different electrolyte composition (Omar
ples and exposed to UV radiation for 30 s to form a patterned coat- et al., 2008). This distribution could be attributed to the ethanol
ing. P-type doping was achieved using the spin coating method by which acts as an active surface agent, removes hydrogen bubbles
placing boron liquid on the center of the samples, followed by spin during etching, reduces surface tension, and therefore the layers
coating at RT at a speed of 1100 rpm for 8 s. Then the layer was have higher porosity (Jakubowicz, 2007).
placed in a furnace at 80 °C for 10 min. to remove moisture. Dopant Fig. 4 shows the topography of pyramid texturing for n-type c-
diffusion was carried out using a tube furnace at 800 °C for 50 min. Si (1 0 0), it had seem that many nano-pyramids were evidently
under flowing (4 L min1) nitrogen gas. A p-n junction was fabri- randomly distributed on the surface of the n-type c-Si (1 0 0). A
cated and placed in a solution of NH4F:H2O in a weight ratio of lowest density of pyramids and porosity was observed in compar-
3:7 then mixed with HF in a mole ratio of 1:7 to remove the oxida- ing with the PS sample. Also, the distribution is not statistical for
tion layer. Silver (Ag) evaporation was used on the front (n-type) pyramid heights. This histogram distribution is a key parameter
side of the sample to form a metallisation grid pattern and alu- in the information about the number of pyramids, and the textur-
minum (Al) evaporation was used on the back (p-type) side to form ing process which has created different size pyramid in non-
a reflector contact. Annealing was carried out at 250 °C for 30 min textured regions.
to insure optimal contact. The schematic diagram of the designed Fig. 5 shows the AFM images of the PS layer and pyramids tex-
solar cell based-on PS and pyramids texturing samples are shown turing compared to the as-grown Si (1 0 0). The images reveals the
in Fig. 2. high value of root mean square of PS layer (330.64 nm) compared
with low values of root mean square (2.65 nm) and (110.30 nm) of
the as-grown Si and pyramids texturing, respectively. This is an
advantage for using the PS layer as an anti-reflection coating
(ARC) in solar cells because the PS layer reduces light reflection
and leads to enhances in the optical transitions (increasing light
absorption in the VIS region of the solar spectrum) and lead to light

Fig. 1. The electrochemical etching set-up. Fig. 3. SEM image of PS layer.

230 K.A. Salman / Solar Energy 147 (2017) 228–231

Fig. 4. SEM image of pyramids texturing prepared by KOH etching.

bounces back and forth within the surface of the solar cell many
times and then enhancing the photo conversion efficiency. Fig. 6. The reflectance spectra of (a) as-grown Si, (b) PS layer and (c) pyramids
The increasing in the roughness expected to increase the light texturing.
scattering in PS layer, then reduce the reflectivity in the PS layer,
which will lead to increase the efficiency of the solar cell.
Isc Voc FF
Fig. 6 shows the various reflections spectra for the PS layer and g¼ ð4Þ
Pin
pyramids texturing compared to the as-grown Si (1 0 0). It is very
clear to show the reduction of reflection spectra curve of PS layer Fig. 7 shows the increase in the efficiency of the solar cell with
in the wavelength range of 350–1050 nm, compared with that of PS layer compared with the efficiency with pyramids texturing and
the as-grown Si sample and pyramids texturing. The reduction of as-grown Si solar cells. The behavior of the I-V characteristic of the
light reflection lead to increase the light-trapping and then solar cell with PS layer was compared with the behavior of I-V
enhancing the photo conversion efficiency. characteristics of solar cells devices with as-grown Si and pyramids
The open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Isc), maxi- texturing. 100 mW/cm2 illumination were used for all characteri-
mum voltage (Vm) and the maximum current (Im) are the promi- zation for the solar cells devices. Isc was increased to 28.81 mA in
nent parameters, which used to determined I-V characteristics the solar cell device with PS layer compared with 27.70 mA and
and investigate the efficiency of the solar cell. The conversion effi- 14.55 mA for pyramids texturing and as-grown Si solar cells,
ciency (g) of the solar cell is the ratio of the maximum power (Pm) respectively.
to the incident solar power Pin (Axelevitch and Golan, 2013; Liu Voc was increased to 0.57 mV in the solar cell device with PS
et al., 2014; Salman, 2012). layer compared with 0.53 mV and 0.37 mV for pyramids texturing
and as-grown Si solar cells, respectively.
Pm Im Vm
g¼ ¼ ð1Þ The increasing in the Voc without significant loss in the Isc for PS
Pin Pin
solar cell device led to an increase in conversion efficiency to
The degree of which Vm matches with Voc, as well as the degree 13.23% compared with the conversion efficiency for the pyramids
to which Im matches with Isc can be described by the fill factor (FF) texturing and as-grown Si solar cells, as shown in Table 1. This
(Eq. (2)) (Liu et al., 2014; Salman, 2012), as shown in Fig. 7. increasing can be attributed to the properties of PS layer, which
enhance and increase the conversion efficiency of solar cell.
Im Vm
FF ¼ ð2Þ The performance of solar cells devices were enhanced and con-
Isc Voc
sequently increasing the light conversion efficiency by trapping
When Pm ¼ Im Vm incident radiation, which led to increases in the (Isc) and (Voc).
Pm These increasing were used with other (Im) and (Vm) values to cal-
Then : FF ¼ ð3Þ culate the FF using Eq. (2). The conversion efficiency of the solar
Isc Voc
cells were calculated by Eqs. (1) or (4). Furthermore, the solar cell
Thus, Eq. (1) can be rewritten as: device with the PS layer performed better than the solar cells
devices fabricated by pyramids texturing and as-grown Si samples.

Fig. 5. AFM images of (a) as-grown Si, (b) PS layer and (c) pyramids texturing.
 K.A. Salman / Solar Energy 147 (2017) 228–231 231

Fig. 7. I-V characteristics measurements of solar cells with of (a) as-grown Si, (b) PS layer and (c) pyramids texturing.

Table 1
I-V measurements for calculation the g and FF of the solar cells devices of the as-grown Si, PS layer and pyramids texturing sample.

Solar cells Vm (V) Im (mA) Voc (V) Isc (mA) FF (%) g (%)
As-grown Si 0.29 12.77 0.37 14.55 68.87 3.70
With the p-PS layer 0.51 25.95 0.57 28.81 80.59 13.23
With the pyramids texturing 0.49 23.20 0.53 27.70 77.43 11.36

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