TITLE:
Challenges in Processing Diamond Wire Cut and Black Silicon Wafers in Large-Scale Manufacturing of High Efficiency Solar Cells
AUTHORS:
Kishan Shetty, Yudhbir Kaushal, Nagesh Chikkan, D. S. Murthy, Chandra Mauli Kumar
KEYWORDS:
Diamond Wire Cut, Black Silicon, Slurry Wafers, Amorphous Silicon, Additives, Etching and Texturization
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.8 No.2,
February
27,
2020
ABSTRACT: Texturing of diamond wire
cut wafers using a standard wafer etch process chemistry has always been a challenge in solar cell
manufacturing industry. This is due to the change in surface morphology of
diamond wire cut wafers and the abundant presence of amorphous silicon content,
which are introduced from wafer manufacturing industry during sawing of
multi-crystalline wafers using ultra-thin diamond wires. The industry standard
texturing process for multi-crystalline wafers cannot deliver a homogeneous
etched silicon surface, thereby requiring an additive compound, which acts like
a surfactant in the acidic etch bath to enhance the texturing quality on
diamond wire cut wafers. Black silicon wafers on the other hand require
completely a different process chemistry and are normally textured using a metal
catalyst assisted etching technique or by plasma reactive ion etching
technique. In this paper, various challenges associated with cell processing
steps using diamond wire cut and black silicon wafers along with cell
electrical results using each of these wafer types are discussed.