Random-Texturing of Phosphorus-Doped Layers for Multi-Crystalline Si Solar Cells by Plasmaless Dry Etching

We investigated a texturing process for crystalline Si solar cells by dry etching with chlorine trifluoride (ClF3) gas without plasma excitation. Recently our research group demonstrated improved electrical characteristics of single-crystalline Si solar cells textured by dry etching of the phosphorus-doped layers. In this report, we attempted to improve the electrical properties of multi-crystalline Si solar cells by modifying the experimental procedure and optimizing the process conditions. The reflectance of the treated surfaces was around 10% at 600 nm without an anti-reflection film. We demonstrated the characteristics of multi-crystalline solar cells by random-texturing by plasmaless etching. This is the first report to prove the validity of plasmaless dry texturing for multi-crystalline Si solar cells.