Effect of Microstructures With Different Depth-to-Width Ratios on Surface Reflectance and Si Solar Cell Performance

Abstract

Metal-catalyzed chemical etching (MCCE) is an effective method for making texture surface on diamond wire saw (DWS) cut mc-Si wafer. In this work, microstructures with different depth-to-width ratios were obtained by MCCE on the surface of DWS cut mc-Si wafers. Simultaneously, the influence of etching time and the concentration of AgNO3 on etching depth, surface reflectance performance, and effect of reaming on the solar cell performance were studied. In total, 12 microstructures with different depth-to-width ratios ranging from 0.63 to 5.31 were prepared. The etching rate increased with the increase in concentration of AgNO3 and etching time. Moreover, the depth-to-width ratio significantly affected the reflectivity of silicon wafers. The relationship between them can be expressed by the fitting exponential function: y = 12.41 × x −0.733. The reflectivity obtained in the experiment ranged from 3.71% to 18.15%. After reaming, the performance of the mc-Si solar cells has been significantly improved, and η could reach up to 18.53%.