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Handbook of Photovoltaic Silicon pp 1–48Cite as

Wafer Cleaning, Etching, and Texturization

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Abstract

Wafer preparation for silicon PV includes wet chemical cleaning, etching, and texturization steps. Aqueous solutions containing either acids or strong bases resulting in very different etch rates. Underlying chemistry are used for all three applications. Typical cleaning mixtures such as RCA-SC1 and RCA-SC2, SPM and dHF, are introduced with their respective properties, as well as acidic etching systems like hydrofluoric acid/nitric acid (HF/HNO3) and alkaline mixtures such as potassium hydroxide/isopropanol (KOH/IPA). While the latter is used for texturing monocrystalline wafers due to the anisotropic etching behavior, the former HF-containing systems are generally used for isotropically texturing multicrystalline silicon wafers. Fundamental chemical, physical, thermodynamic, and kinetic aspects of these systems are presented and discussed. In all cases, it has to be pointed out that a complete understanding of the reaction mechanisms causing the observed properties is still missing to a large extent. Therefore, many aspects of silicon cleaning, etching, and texturization have only been optimized empirically. Further studies are necessary to provide a basis for future improvements, which are not only focused on scientific aspects but also on environmental and economic issues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany

    André Stapf, Christoph Gondek, Edwin Kroke & Gerhard Roewer

Authors
  1. André Stapf
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  2. Christoph Gondek
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  3. Edwin Kroke
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  4. Gerhard Roewer
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Correspondence to André Stapf .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Deren Yang

Section Editor information

  1. Fraunhofer Institute for Semiconductor Technology, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Freiberg, Deutschland, Germany

    Hans Joachim Möller

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Stapf, A., Gondek, C., Kroke, E., Roewer, G. (2019). Wafer Cleaning, Etching, and Texturization. In: Yang, D. (eds) Handbook of Photovoltaic Silicon. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-52735-1_17-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-52735-1_17-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-52735-1

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  1. Latest

    Wafer Cleaning, Etching, and Texturization
    Published:
    01 October 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-52735-1_17-2

  2. Original

    Wafer Cleaning, Etching, and Texturization
    Published:
    21 February 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-52735-1_17-1

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