Formation of a Honeycomb Texture for Silicon-Based Solar Cells Using a Mask-Less Process

The honeycomb structure could reduce the reflection of a crystalline silicon solar cell, which usually generated by mask process and etching process. In this Letter, a 3 μm silicon thin film with the honeycomb surface was successfully fabricated by mask-less process. The silicon thin films were deposited on the honeycomb pattern sapphire substrate (PSS) and the metal paste was printed on the silicon thin films. After thermal annealing treatment, the silicon layer together with the metal paste will be peeled off from the sapphire substrate because of the large differences of thermal expansion coefficient between the silicon-metal layer and a sapphire substrate. The honeycomb structure can be obtained easily by transferring the patterns from the well-designed PSSs to the obtained silicon layer.