Efficient black silicon photovoltaic devices with enhanced blue response

Oh, Jihun; Branz, Howard M.; Yuan, Hao-Chih

Efficient black silicon photovoltaic devices with enhanced blue response

Patent · 15 February 2022

OSTI ID:1892619

Oh, Jihun; Branz, Howard M.; Yuan, Hao-Chih

A photovoltaic (PV) device with improved blue response. The PV device includes a silicon substrate with an emitter layer on a light receiving side. The emitter layer has a low opant level such that it has sheet resistance of 90 to 170 ohm/sq. Anti-reflection in the PV device is provided solely by a nano-structured or black silicon surface on the light-receiving surface, through which the emitter is formed by diffusion. The nano structures of the black silicon are formed in a manner that does not result in gold or another high-recombination metal being left in the black silicon such as with metal-assisted etching using silver. The black silicon is further processed to widen these pores so as to provide larger nanostructures with lateral dimensions in the range of 65 to 150 nanometers so as to reduce surface area and also to etch away a highly doped portion of the emitter.

View Patent

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

DOE Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Assignee:: Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC (Golden, CO)

Patent Number(s):: 11,251,318

Application Number:: 14/002,950

OSTI ID:: 1892619

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (31)

Black silicon layer formation for application in solar cells Yoo, J. S.; Parm, I. O.; Gangopadhyay, U. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 90, Issue 18-19, p. 3085-3093 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2006.06.015	journal	November 2006
Multicrystalline silicon solar cells with porous silicon emitter Bilyalov, R. R.; Lüdemann, R.; Wettling, W. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 60, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0248(99)00102-6	journal	February 2000
Chemical etching of Si by Ag nanocatalysts in HF‐H ₂ O ₂ : application to multicrystalline Si solar cell texturisation Bastide, Stéphane; Quang, Nam Le; Monna, Rémi physica status solidi c, Vol. 6, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssc.200881016	journal	June 2009
Porous silicon in solar cells: A review and a description of its application as an AR coating Menna, P.; Di Francia, G.; La Ferrara, V. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 37, Issue 1, p. 13-24 https://doi.org/10.1016/0927-0248(94)00193-6	journal	April 1995
Texturization of multicrystalline silicon wafers for solar cells by chemical treatment using metallic catalyst Tsujino, K.; Matsumura, M.; Nishimoto, Y. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 90, Issue 1, p. 100-110 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2005.02.019	journal	January 2006
Black multi-crystalline silicon solar cells Koynov, Svetoslav; Brandt, Martin S.; Stutzmann, Martin physica status solidi (RRL) – Rapid Research Letters, Vol. 1, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.200600064	journal	March 2007
Extremely Superhydrophobic Surfaces with Micro- and Nanostructures Fabricated by Copper Catalytic Etching Lee, Jung-Pil; Choi, Sinho; Park, Soojin Langmuir, Vol. 27, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1021/la1045354	journal	January 2011
Silicon Surface Roughening Mechanisms in Ammonia Hydrogen Peroxide Mixtures Knotter, D. Martin; de Gendt, Stefan; Mertens, Paul W. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 147, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.1393261	journal	January 2000
Nano-sized Taper Structure Formed by Wet Process Using Catalysis of Gold Nanoparticle Nishioka, Kensuke; Horita, Susumu MRS Proceedings, Vol. 1059 https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-1059-KK09-07	journal	January 2007
Nanostructured black silicon and the optical reflectance of graded-density surfaces Branz, Howard M.; Yost, Vernon E.; Ward, Scott Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 94, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3152244	journal	June 2009
>16% thin-film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70-cm ² area with 30-µm active layer, porous silicon back reflector, and Cu-based top-contact metallization : Silicon solar cells, silicon reflector, metallization Kuzma-Filipek, Izabela; Dross, Frederic; Baert, Kris Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 20, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.1146	journal	September 2011
Wide-Angle Antireflection Effect of Subwavelength Structures for Solar Cells Sai, Hitoshi; Fujii, Homare; Arafune, Koji Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 46, Issue 6A https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.46.3333	journal	June 2007
Superhydrophobic and Low Light Reflectivity Silicon Surfaces Fabricated by Hierarchical Etching Xiu, Yonghao; Zhang, Shu; Yelundur, Vijay Langmuir, Vol. 24, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1021/la801206m	journal	September 2008
Optical reflectance and transmission of a textured surface Stephens, Richard B.; Cody, George D. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 45, Issue 1, p. 19-29 https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-6090(77)90197-3	journal	August 1977
Antireflection subwavelength structure of silicon surface formed by wet process using catalysis of single nano-sized gold particle Nishioka, Kensuke; Horita, Susumu; Ohdaira, Keisuke Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 92, Issue 8, p. 919-922 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2008.02.017	journal	August 2008
Fabrication of Single-Crystalline Silicon Nanowires by Scratching a Silicon Surface with Catalytic Metal Particles Peng, K. Q.; Hu, J. J.; Yan, Y. J. Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 16, Issue 3, p. 387-394 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.200500392	journal	February 2006
Design and characterization of a robust photoelectrochemical device to generate hydrogen using solar water splitting Kelly, Nelson A.; Gibson, Thomas L. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 31, Issue 12, p. 1658-1673 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2005.12.014	journal	September 2006
Photoelectrochemical Behavior of n-Type Porous-Si Electrodes Koshida, Nobuyoshi; Koyama, Hideki; Kiuchi, Yuji Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 25, Issue Part 1, No. 7 https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.25.1069	journal	July 1986
Metal-assisted chemical etching in HF/H2O2 produces porous silicon Li, X.; Bohn, P. W. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 77, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1319191	journal	October 2000
Metal-assisted chemical etching of silicon in HF–H₂O₂ Chartier, C.; Bastide, S.; Lévy-Clément, C. Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 53, Issue 17, p. 5509-5516 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2008.03.009	journal	July 2008
Antireflective porous-silicon coatings for multicrystalline solar cells: the effects of chemical etching and rapid thermal processing Martín-Palma, R. J.; Vázquez, L.; Martínez-Duart, J. M. Semiconductor Science and Technology, Vol. 16, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/0268-1242/16/8/303	journal	June 2001
Multi-scale surface texture to improve blue response of nanoporous black silicon solar cells Toor, Fatima; Branz, Howard M.; Page, Matthew R. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3636105	journal	September 2011
Efficient black silicon solar cell with a density-graded nanoporous surface: Optical properties, performance limitations, and design rules Yuan, Hao-Chih; Yost, Vernon E.; Page, Matthew R. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3231438	journal	September 2009
Metal-assisted electrochemical etching of silicon Huang, Z. P.; Geyer, N.; Liu, L. F. Nanotechnology, Vol. 21, Issue 46 https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/21/46/465301	journal	October 2010
Patterning of various silicon structures via polymer lithography and catalytic chemical etching Lee, Jung-Pil; Bang, Byoung Man; Choi, Sinho Nanotechnology, Vol. 22, Issue 27 https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/22/27/275305	journal	May 2011
Efficient SERS substrates made by electroless silver deposition into patterned silicon structures Liu, Feng-Ming; Green, Mino Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol. 14, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1039/b400488b	journal	January 2004
10 μm minority-carrier diffusion lengths in Si wires synthesized by Cu-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid growth Putnam, Morgan C.; Turner-Evans, Daniel B.; Kelzenberg, Michael D. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 16, 163116 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3247969	journal	October 2009
Structural and optical features of nanoporous silicon prepared by electrochemical anodic etching Kim, D. -A; Im, S. -I; Whang, C. M. Applied Surface Science, Vol. 230, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2004.01.074	journal	May 2004
Fabrication of large area subwavelength antireflection structures on Si using trilayer resist nanoimprint lithography and liftoff Yu, Zhaoning; Gao, He; Wu, Wei Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures, Vol. 21, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.1619958	journal	January 2003
Black nonreflecting silicon surfaces for solar cells Koynov, Svetoslav; Brandt, Martin S.; Stutzmann, Martin Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 88, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2204573	journal	May 2006
Hydrogen generation from photoelectrochemical water splitting based on nanomaterials Li, Y.; Zhang, J. Z. Laser & Photonics Reviews, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.200910025	journal	September 2009

Similar Records

Self-assembled multifunctional nanostructures for surface passivation and photon management in silicon photovoltaics

Journal Article · 2021 · Nanophotonics (Online) · OSTI ID:1838176

Fabrication of nanostructured silicon surface using selective chemical etching

Journal Article · 2017 · Technical Physics · OSTI ID:22784052

Nanoparticle-based etching of silicon surfaces

Patent · 2011 · OSTI ID:1034302

Efficient black silicon photovoltaic devices with enhanced blue response

Citation Formats

References (31)

Similar Records

Related Subjects