Plasma-Texturing Processes and a-Si:H Surface Passivation on c-Si Wafers for Photovoltaic Applications

In this work, we report the formation of pyramidlike structures on crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates using plasma-texturing processes, and also, we present optimized process conditions for the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon in order to passivate low cost CZ c-Si wafers. A relatively high effective lifetime of minority carriers was measured on nontextured wafers. Our results demonstrate that plasma-texturing processes can produce similar results or even better than wet-texturing processes. Finally, combined plasma texturing and passivation at low temperature is a promising approach for the fabrication of low cost heterojunction solar cells in CZ c-Si substrates.