DOI: https://doi.org/10.61435/ijred.2025.60805

The implementation of ozone cleaning on two-step texturization of p-type silicon wafer

1Advanced Solar Cell Fabrication Laboratory, Solar Energy Research Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

2Malaysian Meteorological Department, Jalan Sultan, 46667 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Received: 7 Nov 2024; Revised: 6 Jan 2025; Accepted: 25 Jan 2025; Available online: 7 Feb 2025; Published: 1 Mar 2025.
Editor(s): H Hadiyanto
Open Access Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

This study investigates the ozone treatment process that can be utilized across various fabrication stages to enhance the performance of silicon solar cells. The effectiveness of this treatment on p-type silicon surfaces was examined through the application of ozone dissolved in deionized water (DIO3) and the ultraviolet-ozone (UVO3) cleaning process prior to the two-step texturization procedure. The two-step texturization procedure applied in this work eliminates the use of silicon nitride (SiN) as an anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer for the elimination of toxic gases and leads to the environment-friendly fabrication of solar cells. An alternative to RCA, DIO3 and UVO3 represent promising chemical options for cleaning applications to eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals. It was discovered that the surface with the DIO3 treatment for 10 minutes resulted in a significantly enhanced surface quality on the p-type silicon wafer. In the DIO₃ cleaning, ozone is dissolved in deionized water  to create a highly oxidative solution capable of removing organic contaminants and particles effectively. In contrast, the UVO₃ treatment harnesses ultraviolet light to synthesize ozone directly on the wafer's surface, promoting the degradation of organic residues into volatile compounds, including CO₂ and H₂O. According to field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) micrographs and UV-visible spectrometer (UV-Vis) measurements, the textured wafer with DIO3 treatment improves the surface morphology and decreases the front surface reflection. As a result, the 10 minutes DIO3 treatments were reported optimal; the range size and height of the pyramid formed were 1.9–2.0 µm and 0.8–1.5 µm, offering a lower reflectivity value of below 12%, respectively. Results from the Atomic Force Microscope  (AFM) also confirm that the increase in average surface roughness from 203.65 nm to 300.27 nm was expected to improve light absorption. Moreover, this methodology leads to a considerable reduction in surface damage and is applicable to the silicon texturization process utilized in solar cell manufacturing.

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Keywords: DIO3 treatment; two-step texturization; p-type wafer; surface morphology; reflectance
Funding: Geran Universiti Penyelidikan (GUP-2020-073); Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)

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Section: Int Conference on Sustainable Renewable and Energy Efficiency 2024
Language : EN
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