Novel additive for alkaline texturing of mono-crystalline silicon

Isopropyl alcohol(IPA) is widely used as additive to enhance surface structure and reduce the reflectivity of silicon wafers in alkaline texturing process of mono-crystalline silicon solar cells currently. However, due to its low boiling point and high volatilization, some negative effects are brought into large scale production especially in stability, cost and environment. In this paper, Dipropylene glycol(DPG) which has relative high boiling point was tried to substitute IPA as texturing solution additive. The influences of concentration of DPG and NaOH on etching rate, surface morphology and reflectance spectrum were investigated. It is obviously observed that the silicon is prevented from etching reaction by the existence of DPG. The best weight reflectance of 13.6% is obtained on mono-crystalline silicon surface by an optimized solution of 1 wt% NaOH and 1 wt% DPG at 80 degrees C for 20 minutes. Finally, the influencing mechanism of DPG was also discussed in detail.