Surface Texturing of Silicon Wafers by Two-step Ag-assisted Etching Process with New NSR Solution

Abstract: Solar cells made of monocrystalline silicon can convert more solar energy into electrical energy if the cells can absorb greater amounts of light. Recently, it has been observed that metal-assisted catalyzed etching (MACE) is a good technology for manufacturing micro and nanostructures on silicon substrates. In this work, we use silver as a catalyst in a two-step metal-assisted etching process followed by a rebuilding nanostructure (NSR). We study the effect of changing the parameters of the second step in the MACE process (concentrations of etching solution materials, temperature, and reaction time), where black silicon was obtained with a reduced reflection of 3% without the NSR process. We tested the effect of two types of alkaline solutions in the NSR process on the surface structure of silicon. After performing an NSR operation with sodium hydroxide solution, the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) image shows a surface with upright pyramidal structures intertwined with deep cavities, and with a reflectance of 10.74%. However, after performing the NSR process with a solution of sodium silicate, the FESEM image shows a rough surface with non-overlapping pores of small cross-sections, achieving a reflectance of 8.65% within the wavelength range of 550-850nm. Keywords: Texturing, Monocrystalline silicon, Ag-assistance chemical etching, Black silicon, Reflectance.