A Si Nanowire Photovoltaic Device Prepared by Selective Electroless Etching

Author

Tsai, T.Y. ; Chang, S.J. ; Hsueh, T.J. ; Hsu, C.L. ; Weng, W.Y. ; Shieh, J.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Nat. Cheng Kung Univ., Tainan, Taiwan

Volume

11

Issue

6

fYear

2012

Firstpage

1148

Lastpage

1150

Abstract

This study reports the preparation of Si nanowires (SiNWs) by selective electroless etching and fabrication of photovoltaic (PV) cells. It was found that the SiNWs with 3 μm average length and 100 nm average diameter were formed only in the areas not covered by the Cr electrodes. It was also found that average reflectance in the 400-1000 nm wavelength range reduced from 35% to around 2% with the SiNWs. Furthermore, it was found that we could enhance the short-circuit current density of the PV cells from 11.5 to 21.8 mA/cm² and enhance conversion efficiency of the PV cells from 4.62% to 8.15% using the selective electroless etching.

Keywords

current density; elemental semiconductors; etching; infrared spectra; nanofabrication; nanowires; semiconductor growth; short-circuit currents; silicon; solar cells; ultraviolet spectra; visible spectra; PV cells; Si; conversion efficiency; nanowire photovoltaic device; photovoltaic cells; reflectance; selective electroless etching; short-circuit current density; wavelength 400 nm to 1000 nm; Electrodes; Etching; Photovoltaic systems; Reflectivity; Silicon; Capping layer; Si nanowires; photovoltaic; selective electroless etching;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nanotechnology, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-125X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNANO.2012.2214399

Filename

6294450