Industrial crystalline silicon solar cells with plasma etching process

The effect of varying plasma etching process time on alkaline textured mono-crystalline silicon has been investigated and applied for industrial process. Reduced surface reflectance is observed for longer plasma etching process time, with the tradeoff having lower effective carrier lifetime induced by plasma damage. The degradation is further caused by the mismatch of the surface morphology and ionic contamination. We explain this impact through the lifetime measurement after ARC process and demonstrate the potential gain of plasma etching from the comparison between the simulation and the fabricated cell of conventional Al-BSF structure in industrial production line.