Fabrication of antireflective nanostructures for crystalline silicon solar cells by reactive ion etching

Abstract In this study we have fabricated large-area (15 × 15 cm 2 ) subwavelength antireflection structure on poly-Si substrates to reduce their solar reflectivity. A reactive ion etching system was used to fabricate nanostructures on the poly-silicon surface. Reactive gases, composed of chlorine (Cl 2 ), sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 ) and oxygen (O 2 ), were activated to fabricate nanoscale pyramids by RF plasma. The poly-Si substrates were etched in various gas compositions for 6–10 min to form nano-pyramids. The sizes of pyramids were about 200–300 nm in heights and about 100 nm in width. Besides the nanoscale features, the high pyramid density on the poly-Si surface is another important factor to reduce the reflectivity. Low-reflectivity surface was fabricated with reflectivity significantly reduced down to