SURFACE REFLECTIVITY STUDY DURING INDUSTRIAL MONOCRYSTALLINE

SILICON SOLAR CELL FABRICATION PROCESS

Firoz Khan1, M. Kar2, Mohit Dhawan3, Sneha Bajaj3 and P. K. Basu3,4
1
Electronic Materials Div., 2Thin Film Div.
National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi-110012
3
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Lingaya’s University, Faridabad
4
Corresponding author, E-mail: prabir_basu64@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT orientation and resistivity 0.5-3.0 Ω-cm from

Reduction of optical losses in single crystal silicon solar
cells by a combination of surface texturing and
antireflection coating is one of the important issues of
modern silicon photovoltaic. The validation of
minimization of reflection loss is normally ascertained
by front surface reflectivity measurements. In our paper
an synchronized study of the variation of reflectivity
after each major process steps in the usable wavelength
range (300 nm – 1200 nm) of solar spectrum is
presented. Our study provides an important input for
further enhancement of cell efficiency during the cell
fabrication steps to maintain its 15% efficiency level.
1. INTRODUCTION
In any cell fabrication plant it is very much
necessary to fabricate high efficiency solar cells (>15%)
to survive internationally and thus process monitoring
plays a lead role enhancing the photourrent. Reduction
of reflection loss in <100> single crystalline silicon
wafers is an important step to fabricate high efficiency
solar cell. The reflectivity can be measured by using
Spectrophotometer. The reflection loss has to be
minimum so that cell can collect maximum photons
necessary to produce photogenerated carriers. Step by
step monitoring of reflectivity will definitely provide
important informations about surface reflectivity and the
study of the reflectivity variation finally leads to
establish final high efficiency (>15%) cell recipe by
taking corrective measures based on this. This present
paper depicts a reflectivity variation of emitter surface
of large area monocrystalline silicon solar cell in a
production line of photovoltaic industry.
METKEM, India. The The saw damage removal
process was done for 5'' pseudo square monocrystalline
silicon wafers by using newly developed NaOH-NaOCl
solution (1:1 ratio) at ≈ 80ºC [1,2]. The damage removal
process immediately followed by normal texturization
process using conventional hot alcoholic NaOH
solution.at temperature >82°C [3]. Phosphorous
diffusion was carried out on the textured wafers in
diffusion furnace at 875°C using phosphorous
oxychloride (POCl3). After diffusion, the
phosphosilicate glass (PSG) layer was removed in dilute
hydrofluoric acid (HF) solution and then the diffused
wafers underwent low temperature oxidation (LTO) for
the growth of a thin passivating layer of silicon dioxide
(SiO2). The oxidized wafers were then edge etched in
acid etching process (using HF, nitric and acetic acids in
3: 5: 3 ratio) for the separation of front and back
diffused junctions. The titanium oxide (TiO2) was
deposited as anti-reflection (AR) coating by
atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition and
the back and front side were screen printed with silver-
aluminium (Ag-Al, DUPONT PV202) / aluminium
Texurization
Phosphorous Diffusion
PSG removal
Low Temperature Oxidation
Edge Etching
TiO2 Deposition

2. EXPERIMENTAL Front & Back metal Printing

2.1 Cell fabrication Co-firing/Sintering

For the fabrication of our solar cells we took boron- Fig.1: Process Flowchart of Solar cell
doped p-type monocrystalline silicon wafers of area 125
(DUPONT PV333) and silver pastes (DUPONT
× 125 mm2 (pseudo square, area 148.6 cm2), <100>
PV145) respectively. Finally, after baking of individual
pastes the printed wafers were fired in belt furnace
(RTC Corporation, USA make) to have a proper ohmic
contact at both ends. The solar cells were fabricated
using all these steps as shown in Fig.1. The different
processes involved are described in brief.
2.1.1. Texturization
The saw damaged surface of the raw wafer was treated
with a solution of NaOH and NaOCl (1: 1) at a
temperature of 80-82oC followed by rinsing with DI
water as per the following reaction:
2OCl − + H 2O → HOCl + OCl − + OH −
Formation of small pyramids by preferential etching
along <100> plane was done using 2% NaOH and 20%
IPA (wet etchant) to increase the path length of light
through the cell.
2.1.2. Phosphorous Diffusion:
For formation of the junction, Phosphorous diffusion
was carried out using liquid POCl3 source. The diffusion
was carried out in two steps:
(a). Predeposition:
In this step, a fixed number of phosphorous atoms
were deposited on the silicon wafer as POCl3 breaks up
in presence of oxygen as follows:
4 POCl3 + 3O2 → 2 P2O5 + 6Cl2
(b). Drive in:
The impurity source was then turned off and the
amounts of impurities already deposited during step (a)
were allowed to diffuse into the silicon wafer and the
chemical reaction is given by:
2 P2O5 + 5Si → 4 P + 5SiO2
2.1.3. PSG Removal:
The above process also results in production of a glassy
layer on the silicon wafer i.e. a mixture of phosphorous
glass and silica (P2O5 and SiO2) called Phosphosilica
glass (PSG). It was later removed so that no additional
dopants enter the silicon. The PSG was etched out using
5% HF solution.
2.1.4. Low Temperature Oxidation:
The oxidation rate for this case is a strong function of
temperature. Oxidation of the wafer in dry ambient at
temperature less than 8000C was done so that an oxide
layer with a higher refractive index of 1.45 was attained.
As a result the TiO2 layer is optically matched properly
to the wafer in terms of refractive index for
antireflecting purpose.
2.1.5. Edge Etching:
The phosphorous impurities diffused on the edges of the
wafer need to be removed to prevent shunting in the
wafer and to minimize the leakage current. A stack of
wafers were edge-etched together using HF, Nitric and
Acetic acid solution.
2.1.6. ARC Deposition:
Titanium dioxide was deposited on the emitter surface
for further reduction of the reflectivity of the cell.
2.1.7. Back and Front Metal Contact Formation:
Using screen printing technique, contacts were formed
on the back surface of wafer with the required metal
paste Al & (Ag + Al) using SS screens for back
contacts. The wafer was then baked in a conveyer belt
furnace over 150oC. Front Ag contact was formed using
front contact screen. The screen with the finger and bus
bars has regions through which Ag metal paste was
passed using a rubber squeezee making impressions on
selective regions.
2.1.8. Co Firing / Sintering:
The wafers were fired in a sintering furnace above
760oC to make the contacts firm and durable and also to
improve their ohmicity,.
2.2 Characterization
The diffused reflectance of the wafers after
different process steps are measured on a sample size of
×
1” 1” by Spectrophotometer in the wavelength range
of 300 to 1200 nm. Before the study they are cleaned
ultrasonically in isopropyl alcohol followed by rinsing cofiring, i.e., sintering, for a final cell with proper front
in DI water and then they are finally dried. silver fingers the reflectivity enhances to ≈9-10% over
500 nm to 1000 nm range. The illuminated electrical
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION parameters of a fabricated cell is shown in Table-I
The saw damage removal process was done for 5'' measured under AM1.5 spectrum with 1 SUN intensity
pseudo square monocrystalline silicon wafers by using of illumination.
newly developed NaOH-NaOCl solution (1:1 ratio) at ≈
80ºC. The damage removal process immediately Table-I: Electrical parameters of our solar cell
followed by normal texturization process using
conventional hot alcoholic NaOH solution. After Open Short Fill Maximum Efficiency
texturization the SEM characterization and reflectivity circuit circuit factor power (η), %
voltage current (FF) delivered
measurements were carried out for the wafers. Solar
(Voc), V (Isc), A (Pmax), W
cells were then fabricated simultaneously by using these
textured wafers as per our normal industrial 0.612 4.93 0.760 2.293 15.3
manufacturing process involving POCl3 diffusion, PSG
removal, LTO, edge etching, ARC deposition and
metallization. After each step reflectivity was measured 0 .4

to observe the variation of it throughout the ususble

wavelength range of the solar spectrum. This is shown 0 .3

in Fig.2. For the raw silicon wafer the reflectivity is

≈25-30% over the usable wavelength range (450 nm to 0 .2

C u rren t (A )
1000 nm). This is only expected as silicon has a high
value of refractive index. For the reduction of reflection 0 .1

loss silicon surface is textured and after texturing the

reflectivity is ≈8-9%. After phosphorous emitter 0

diffusion and oxidation the reflectivity reduces to a -0 .8 -0 .4 0 0 .4

V o lta g e (V )
further is ≈3-6%. The colour of the silicon wafer after -0 .1

LTO becomes black and this is the reason for a

minimum reflectivity over a wide wavelength of 300 nm Fig.3: DIV characteristics of the solar cell
6 0 The dark V-I (DIV) characteristics of a cell is shown in
R a w w a fe r (a s c u t) Fig.3. The ideal DIV characteristic here confirms our
A f t e r te x t u r iz a tio n
A
A
f t e r te x + d if f +
f t e r te x + d if f +
o x
o x + A R C
cell fabrication recipe and the fabrication environment.
C o m p le te c e ll

4 0 4. CONCLUSION
R e fle c tiv it y (% )

In our paper a sequential reflectivity study of the emitter

2 0
0
2 00 4 0 0 6 0 0
W a v e le n g th (n m )
Fig.2: Reflectivity variation of wafer after
different process stages
to 1100 nm. However, after antireflecting coating of
titanium dioxide the reflectivity becomes the lowest, but
the wavelength range here is 500 nm to 1000 nm. This
is because to have an antireflecting property some
particular wavelength has to be chosen to decide for
querter wavelength coating alongwith proper optically
matchable refractive index of ARC material. After final
surface of large area industrially fabricated cell is
presented. Here reflectivty has measured starting from
raw wafer to the final cell. The better LIV and DIV
characteristics of our cell indicate proper fabrication
conditions. The study also reveals that after sintering the
reflectivity enhances due to the change in phase in TiO2,
8 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 as well as due to metal fingers. This is a challenging
task for future research on improvement in cell
efficiency.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors would like to thank Prof. G.V.K.Sinha,
Chairman, and Dr. P. Gadde, Lingaya’s University,
Faridabad, India, for continuous stimulation and support
for the present research work. P.K.Basu wants to thank
Udhaya Energy Photovoltaics Pvt. Ltd, Coimbatore,
India for their help for the preparation of the samples.
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