COMBINED ETCH AND PASSIVATION OF SILICON SOLAR CELLS

摘要

A process for passivating and etching a texture on a surface of a substrate, the process comprising the steps of inserting a substrate in a reactor chamber; heating the reactor chamber and substrate; etching the substrate with an fluoride-containing etchant gas inside the chamber; and oxidising the etched surface of the substrate prior to exposing the fluorinated substrate to air or any other reactive atmosphere; wherein oxidisation of the etched surface of the substrate generates a strongly passivated and stable surface texture.