Novel fabrication of Si thin film for solar cell applications

We demonstrate a novel method to fabricate crystalline silicon thin film for solar cell applications. It can reduce material cost and energy consumption. Here, we adopt a multi-step metal-assisted chemical etching procedure by using silver as catalyst to form silicon thin film. Through engineering the etching direction, this method provides possibility to fabricate transferable silicon thin film. Moreover, the substrate can be reused for further thin film fabrication.