EFFECT OF NOVEL SUB-MICRON STRUCTURE FABRICATED ONTO CRYSTALLINE SILICON ON OPTICAL PROPERITES AND MINORITY CARRIER LIFETIME

Abstract

To obtain high efficiency in crystalline silicon thin film solar cells, it is necessary to obtain novel light trapping structure, which has not only high light scattering effect and small etching margin but also has low surface recombination. Our previous calculation results revealed that silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with submicron diameters have large light scattering effect. In this study, to verify the simulation results, SiNWs with submicron diameters were successfully fabricated by metal assisted chemical etching (MACE) method with silica particles as etching masks. Optical properties and minority carrier lifetime of the obtained structures were measured, and these results suggest that SiNWs with submicron diameters are effective for both of light trapping and suppression of surface recombination.