Is black silicon technology a polycrystalline dying struggle or a big killer for single crystals?

Abstract 1. Introduction The improvement of the efficiency of polycrystalline cells is limited by the reduction of surface reflectivity. Conventional polycrystals mainly use acid velvet to form worm-like potholes; while single crystals are made of alkali velvet to form a suede of pyramid structure. Compared to single crystal cells, conventional polycrystalline cells have high surface reflectance...
1 Introduction
The increase in efficiency of polycrystalline cells is limited by the reduction in surface reflectance. Conventional polycrystals mainly use acid velvet to form worm-like potholes; while single crystals are made of alkali velvet to form a suede of pyramid structure. The surface reflectance of conventional polycrystalline cells is 3% to 5% (absolute) higher than that of single crystal cells. Reducing surface reflectance is the key to increasing the efficiency of polycrystalline cells. In terms of cost, monocrystalline silicon wafers benefit from the promotion of diamond wire cutting process, and the cost is greatly reduced. The promotion of polycrystalline silicon wafer wire cutting is subject to the matching of battery softening process. Specifically, the diamond wire cutting polycrystalline silicon wafer is made by conventional method. After the velvet process, the reflectivity is higher and there are obvious appearance defects such as line marks, which seriously reduces the battery efficiency. The wet black silicon technology developed by Artes perfectly solves the above problems, which not only improves battery efficiency but also reduces battery cost, and is the only way for polycrystalline batteries to continue to improve.
The techniques used to prepare black silicon are: 1 laser etching; 2 gas phase etching; 3 reactive ion etching (RIE); 4 metal catalytic chemical etching (Metal Catalyzed Chemical Etching, MCCE). Currently, the black silicon technology with mass production possibilities is mainly RIE. However, RIE black silicon has not yet entered mass production on a large scale due to the need for expensive vacuum equipment and poor process uniformity. After three years of independent research and development, Artes has overcome many technical difficulties. In December 2014, it successfully promoted wet black silicon technology to the production line, achieving a 0.4% (absolute value) battery efficiency gain, becoming the first in the industry. A solar cell company that realizes industrialization by technology. As shown in Figure 1, this technology greatly speeds up the efficiency of polycrystalline cells, making the mass production efficiency of polycrystalline cells expected to reach 19% by the end of 2016. The wet black silicon developed by Artes is better than RIE, has good reflectivity uniformity, and is easy to upgrade the production line. With the gradual maturity of this technology, Artes' wet black silicon technology is bound to replace the existing conventional polycrystalline velvet, which provides the driving force for the timely introduction of diamond-cut silicon wafers and the cost reduction and efficiency of polycrystalline batteries.
Figure 1 Trends in mainstream polycrystalline efficiency in the industry
2. Overview of industrialized black silicon battery technology
As early as 2004, Japan's Kyocera introduced the RIE polycrystalline texturing technology. In 2008, equipment manufacturers represented by Korean companies began to promote RIE technology in China. Some first-line battery manufacturers have also conducted small-scale evaluations of the technology. Due to the high process cost and unsatisfactory component power yield, the technology has not been successfully promoted. In the past two years, based on the expectations of silicon wafer manufacturers for the introduction of diamond wire cutting technology and the rapid development of battery and component technology, RIE black silicon technology has gradually entered the field of vision of the industry. At the same time, domestic RIE equipment has also promoted the development of this technology. However, the comprehensive cost performance of RIE equipment has always restricted the large-scale promotion of this technology.
Another black silicon technology that can be industrialized on a large scale is the wet black silicon technology. As early as 2006, the German Stutzmann group proposed the concept of metal catalyzed chemical corrosion and conducted preliminary research in the laboratory; until 2009, Dr. Branz of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) proposed a full liquid phase. The black silicon preparation method has further advanced the wet black silicon technology toward the industrialization direction. However, they have not been able to solve the black silicon surface passivation problem, making the wet black silicon technology stay in the laboratory stage. The basic principle of the wet black silicon technology is shown in Figure 2. The noble metal particles such as Au and Ag are randomly attached to the surface of the silicon wafer. In the reaction, the metal particles act as the cathode and the silicon acts as the anode, and at the same time, the microelectrochemical reaction channel is formed on the silicon surface. The silicon substrate is rapidly etched under the metal particles to form a nanostructure.
Figure 2 Schematic diagram of metal catalytic chemical corrosion
The above two industrialized black silicon technologies are compared as follows.
Compared with conventional polycrystalline cells, wet black silicon cells differ in the process of texturing, which is also compatible with existing conventional battery processes due to the same wet chemical etching process. The RIE black silicon is etched by conventional RIE to form nano-sue, and finally the residue on the surface of the silicon wafer and the damaged layer caused by ion bombardment are removed by chemical etching. At least two processes have been added than conventional polycrystalline battery processes.

3, Artes wet black silicon battery technology progress
Artes started black silicon technology research in 2009 and selected wet black silicon technology as the first choice for black silicon technology. It has been committed to the development of industrialized wet black silicon technology.
The most difficult technical difficulties in the industrialization of wet black silicon technology are: First, through the optimization of nano-micro structure and the matching of subsequent processes, to resolve the contradiction between the effect of reducing the surface and the surface passivation problem brought about by the second; Stable process and cost control to increase net income. How to design the right equipment to ensure that the process can run stably around the clock is a problem that must be faced by industrialization.
The wet black silicon technology developed by Artes can realize different types of nano suede. These suede surfaces include: nano-positive pyramids, nano-inverted pyramids, nano-pillars, nano-pits, etc., as shown in FIG. The optical and electrical properties are different for different types of nanostructures. The optical characteristics are mainly different angles and paths of optical multiple reflection after encapsulation, resulting in different optical gains at the component end; electrical characteristics are mainly different in the size and surface area of ​​different nanostructures, resulting in different surface passivation, which in turn affects the final battery. Electrical performance. The advantage of wet black silicon is that it can regulate different types of nano-structures, and maximize the power of wet black silicon components through optical and electrical matching.
Figure 3 Different types of wet black silicon nano-sue structure
At the end of 2012, Artes achieved breakthroughs in the efficiency of wet black silicon technology in the laboratory, and subsequently solved many technical problems through unremitting efforts in the process of industrialization. In December 2014, the technology was successfully extended to In the production line, the industrialization of wet black silicon technology was realized for the first time in the world, and the average efficiency of the battery was increased to 0.4%. Table 1 shows typical electrical performance data for Artes industrialized wet black silicon cells (all of which are absolute gains compared to conventional battery reference groups). Controlling the battery process to ensure efficiency and stability of critical electrical performance parameters is critical to the conversion of black silicon cell efficiency into component CTM.
Wet black silicon technology increases photocurrent by increasing the short-wave response of the battery. Figure 4 is a graph showing the quantum efficiency and reflectance curves of a typical wet black silicon cell versus a conventional polycrystalline cell.
Figure 4 External quantum efficiency and reflectance curve of wet black silicon cells and conventional polycrystalline cells
With the maturity of wet black silicon technology, Artes has extended this technology to multiple production sites. This technology has become the standard technology for the new capacity of Artes polycrystalline batteries.

4, the conclusion
In summary, the black silicon technology paves the way for the large-scale promotion of diamond wire cutting in the field of polycrystalline chips. Black silicon technology can also integrate other silicon wafer and battery industrialization technologies to fundamentally improve the conversion efficiency of polycrystalline cells and reduce the cost of photovoltaic modules. Black silicon technology is bound to replace conventional polycrystalline fleece, becoming the standard technology for future polycrystalline battery processes. So is black silicon technology a polycrystalline dying struggle or a polycrystalline single crystal killer?

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