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Wet chemically prepared silicon nanowire arrays on low‐cost substrates for photovoltaic applications
Author(s) -
Jia Guobin,
Höger Ingmar,
Gawlik Annett,
Dellith Jan,
Bailey Louise R.,
Ulyashin Alexander,
Falk Fritz
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201200531
Subject(s) - wafer , materials science , nanowire , etching (microfabrication) , silicon , substrate (aquarium) , isotropic etching , solar cell , photovoltaic system , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , carrier lifetime , layer (electronics) , electrical engineering , oceanography , engineering , geology
Silicon nanowire (SiNW) based solar cells are a promising candidate for third generation solar cells with high efficiency, which will further reduce the cost of the PV modules, making it competitive with conventional energy sources. In this paper the wet chemical etching process for generating silicon nanowires is investigated on different low‐cost substrate materials. These nanowires are useful for a radial pn‐junction solar cell with core–shell configuration, which allows for using absorber materials with low‐carrier lifetime. In this work, wet chemical nanowire etching is applied to edge‐defined film‐fed growth (EFG) mc‐Si wafers, mc‐Si wafers made from metallurgical grade Si, multicrystalline (mc‐Si) thin films deposited on glass, and thin crystallized films deposited on mc‐Si wafers produced from metallurgical grade Si. A proof of concept for using low‐cost materials in PV is demonstrated for SiNWs prepared on mc‐Si wafer produced from highly doped MG‐Si.