Black silicon

Black silicon is a semiconductor material, a surface modification of silicon with very low reflectivity and correspondingly high absorption of visible (and infrared) light.

The modification was discovered in the 1980s as an unwanted side effect of reactive ion etching (RIE).[1][2] Other methods for forming a similar structure include electrochemical etching, stain etching, metal-assisted chemical etching, and laser treatment.[3]

Black silicon has become a major asset to the solar photovoltaic industry as it enables greater light to electricity conversion efficiency[4] of standard crystalline silicon solar cells, which significantly reduces their costs.[5]

  1. ^ Jansen, H; Boer, M de; Legtenberg, R; Elwenspoek, M (1995). "The black silicon method: a universal method for determining the parameter setting of a fluorine-based reactive ion etcher in deep silicon trench etching with profile control". Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. 5 (2): 115–120. Bibcode:1995JMiMi...5..115J. doi:10.1088/0960-1317/5/2/015. S2CID 250922747.
  2. ^ Black Silicon[permanent dead link‍] as a functional layer of the micro-system technology
  3. ^ Ayvazyan, Gagik (2024). Black Silicon: Formation, Properties, and Application. Synthesis Lectures on Materials and Optics. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-48687-6. ISBN 978-3-031-48686-9.
  4. ^ Alcubilla, Ramon; Garín, Moises; Calle, Eric; Ortega, Pablo; Gastrow, Guillaume von; Repo, Päivikki; Savin, Hele (2015). "Black silicon solar cells with interdigitated back-contacts achieve 22.1% efficiency". Nature Nanotechnology. 10 (7): 624–628. Bibcode:2015NatNa..10..624S. doi:10.1038/nnano.2015.89. hdl:2117/81173. ISSN 1748-3395. PMID 25984832.
  5. ^ Pearce, Joshua; Savin, Hele; Pasanen, Toni; Laine, Hannu; Modanese, Chiara; Modanese, Chiara; Laine, Hannu S.; Pasanen, Toni P.; Savin, Hele (2018). "Economic Advantages of Dry-Etched Black Silicon in Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (PERC) Photovoltaic Manufacturing". Energies. 11 (9): 2337. doi:10.3390/en11092337.