@inproceedings{9ff68a38903b496d9d567de524f40d4d,
title = "Reactive ion etched black silicon texturing: A comparative study",
abstract = "We report on significant progress towards the application of reactive ion etched (RIE) black silicon (b-Si) as an alternative to the most commonly applied front-side textures utilized in the crystalline silicon photovoltaics industry - random pyramids and isotexture. The as-etched b-Si surface displays approximately 1\% front side reflectance weighted across the solar spectrum, outperforming both random pyramids (2.83\%) and isotexture (6.06\%) with optimized anti-reflection coatings. The b-Si front surface reflectance reduces to below 0.4\% after the application of an Al2O3 surface passivation layer. At low injection levels, recombination of charge carriers at the b-Si surface poses no limitation on the minority carrier lifetimes of bulk-limited Cz and multicrystalline samples. At higher injection, or with higher quality substrates, additional recombination at the b-Si surface, characterized by a surface Jos of 20 fA.cm-2, may play a more significant role. This study provides a rigorous empirical justification for recent advances in b-Si textured solar cells and indicates pathways for further efficiency gains.",
keywords = "black silicon, isotexture, pyramids, surface passivation, texturing",
author = "Thomas Allen and James Bullock and Andres Cuevas and Simeon Baker-Finch and Fouad Karouta",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 IEEE.; 40th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2014 ; Conference date: 08-06-2014 Through 13-06-2014",
year = "2014",
month = oct,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1109/PVSC.2014.6924983",
language = "English",
series = "2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2014",
publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",
pages = "562--566",
booktitle = "2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2014",
address = "United States",
}