Maskless fabrication of large scale Si nanohole array via laser annealed metal nanoparticles catalytic etching for photovoltaic application

Abstract

In this paper, laser annealing is used to produce metal (Ag) nanoparticles as etching catalyst on a silicon surface, which enables controllable fabrication of large-scale nanohole array surface texturing without using a mask. Semispherical Ag nanoparticles with variable size and distribution are achievable by manipulating the laser annealing parameters and metal film thickness, and the underlying physics is clarified. The nanoholes array in silicon can then be realized by selective etching of silicon under Ag pattern. The optical characteristics suggest that the surface reflection can be significantly suppressed owing to the nanohole texturing, which is promising for thin film photovoltaic applications.