Characterization of random reactive ion etched-textured silicon solar cells

Hemispherical reflectance and internal quantum efficiency (IQE) measurements have been employed to evaluate the response of Si nanostructured surfaces formed by using reactive ion etching (RIE) random texturing techniques. Random RIE-textured surfaces typically exhibit broadband anti-reflection behavior with solar-weighted-reflectance (SWR) of /spl ap/3% over 300-1200-nm spectral range. RIE-texturing has been demonstrated over large areas (/spl sim/180 cm/sup 2/) of both single and multicrystalline Si substrates. Due to the surface contamination and plasma-induced damage, as formed RIE-textured solar cells do not provide enhanced short-circuit current. However, improved surface cleaning combined with controlled wet-chemical damage removal etches provide a significant improvement in the short-circuit current. For such textures, the internal quantum efficiencies are comparable to the random, wet-chemically-textured solar cells. In both the UV and near-IR wavelength regions, the RIE-textured subwavelength surfaces exhibit superior performance in comparison with the wet-chemically-textured surfaces. Due to their large area, low-reflection capability, random, RIE-texturing techniques are expected to find widespread commercial applicability in low-cost, large-area multicrystalline Si solar cells.