Random and Uniform Reactive Ion Etching Texturing of Si

The performance of a solar cell is critically dependent on absorption of incident photons and their conversion into electrical current. This report describes research efforts that have been directed toward the use of nanoscale surface texturing techniques to enhance light absorption in Si. This effort has been divided into two approaches. The first is to use plasma-etching to produce random texturization on multicrystalline Si cells for terrestrial use, since multicrystalline Si cannot be economically textured in any other way. The second approach is to use interference lithography and plasma-etching to produce gettering structures on Si cells for use in space, so that long-wavelength light can be absorbed close to the junction and make the cells more resistant to cosmic radiation damage.