Polycrystalline silicon solar cells with a mechanically formed texturization

Polycrystalline (Wacker SILSO) silicon has been mechanically textured using a conventional dicing saw and beveled blades for V‐groove formation. The minimum optical reflectivity achievable is limited by the blade tip radius and surface roughness after damage etching. Solar cells were prepared using a conventional diffusion and screen printed metallization. Grooved cells without an additional antireflection coating (jsc=31.8 mA/cm2, Voc=536 mV, FF=69%, η=11.8%) showed a 20% increase in jsc and a 1.1% absolute efficiency improvement as compared to a nongrooved reference cell with an antireflexion coating (jsc=26.4 mA/cm2, Voc=547 mV, FF=74.1%, η=10.7%). In grooved cells the efficiency is found to be limited mainly by the fill factor due to a nonoptimized front grid design.