Textured silicon: A selective absorber for solar thermal conversion
We have used reactive sputter etching to texture the surface of Si wafers. The texturing was in the form of pillars whose diameters and spacing were small compared with the useful solar wavelengths and whose heights were comparable with or larger than these wavelengths. The normal and hemispherical reflectances of textured wafers were measured. The solar absorptance was found to be 0.99 for wavelengths below 1.0 ..mu..m. Because of the sharp drop in absorptance for photon energies less than the energy gap, the overall solar absorptance was about 0.85. The calculated thermal emittance was about 0.25 and was primarily due to multiphoton absorption processes normally observed in thick Si crystals. Much smaller values of thermal emittance would be obtained from thin textured films.
- Research Organization:
- RCA Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
- OSTI ID:
- 5886107
- Journal Information:
- Appl. Phys. Lett.; (United States), Vol. 35:10
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SILICON
TEXTURE
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
ABSORPTION
DATA
EMISSIVITY
ENERGY GAP
ETCHING
FILMS
SPUTTERING
SURFACES
WAVELENGTHS
CONVERSION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY CONVERSION
INFORMATION
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SEMIMETALS
SURFACE FINISHING
SURFACE PROPERTIES
140900* - Solar Thermal Utilization