Bessel‐Beam Direct Write of the Etch Mask in a Nano‐Film of Alumina for High‐Efficiency Si Solar Cells
Large surface area applications such as high efficiency >26% solar cells require surface patterning with 1–10 μm periodic patterns at high fidelity over areas (before up scaling to ) to perform at, or exceed, the Lambertian (ray optics) limit of light trapping. Herein, a pathway is shown to high‐resolution sub‐1 μm etch mask patterning by ablation using direct femtosecond laser writing performed at room conditions (without the need for a vacuum‐based lithography approach). A Bessel beam is used to alleviate the required high surface tracking tolerance for ablation of 0.3–0.8 μm diameter holes in 40 nm alumina –mask at high writing speed, 7.5 cm s −1 ; a patterning rate 1 cm 2 per 20 min. Plasma etching protocol was optimized for a zero‐mesa formation of photonic‐crystal‐trapping structures and smooth surfaces at the nanoscale level. The maximum of minority carrier recombination time of 2.9 ms was achieved after the standard wafer passivation etch; resistivity of the wafer was 3.5 Ω cm. Scaling up in area and throughput of the demonstrated approach is outlined.
Authors
- Sajeev John
- Orestas Ulčinas
- Soon Hock Ng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9164-3399)
- Vytautas Sabonis
- Gediminas Seniutinas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3842-6261)
- Robby Peibst (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8769-9392)
- Saulius Juodkazis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3542-3874)
- Nguyen Hoai An Le (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4627-4978)
- Mindaugas Mikutis
- Udo Römer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9290-321X)
- Dominyka Stonytė (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3784-9520)
- Michael Rienäcker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8517-2271)
- Tomas A. Katkus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5496-046X)
- Justas Baltrukonis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0832-5363)
- Jan Krügener (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7095-9768)
- Yoshiaki Nishijima (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0650-4536)
- Zahra Khajehsaeidimahabadi
- Haoran Mu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6561-6293)
Institutions
- Leibniz University Hannover (DE)
- Tokyo Institute of Technology (JP)
- Vilnius University (LT)
- Yokohama National University (JP)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Institut für Solarenergieforschung (DE)
- Swinburne University of Technology (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Engineering Materials
- Published
- 2024-08-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202400711
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Silicon and Solar Cell Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.04
Funders
- Australian National Fabrication Facility
- Swinburne University of Technology
- Australian Research Council