What is etching process in solar cell processing?

Etching is a process which removes material from a solid (e.g., semiconductor or metal). The etching process can be physical and/or chemical, wet or dry, and isotropic or anisotropic. All these etch process variations can be used during solar cell processing.

Why is Etch A chemically unselective process?

be chemically unselective – depends only on the surface binding energy and the masses of the targets and projectiles, be very sensitive to the angle of incidence of the ion and therefore anisotropic in nature, and the only etch process able to remove involatile products from the surface.

Which etch technology has a high etch rate?

high etch rate. There are two other types of etch technologies, ion-enhanced energy driven (also known as reactive ion-etching) and ion-enhanced inhibitor. The first combines the properties of physical and chemical etching by using a chemically reactive plasma. Common applications are edge isolation and surface texturing.

What is a typical etch rate?

The typical etch rates are 2-4 µm/min at 6-10 °C. Due to the different grain orientations within the same multicrystalline silicon wafer, acidic etching is used to texture this type of material. Acidic solutions are also used to perform defect etching (e.g. Sopori etching ).

What is physical etching?

Physical etching or sputtering is a dry process where the material is removed due to ion bombardment. The ion bombardment is delivered by a plasma. This process is known to : be chemically unselective – depends only on the surface binding energy and the masses of the targets and projectiles,

What is the etching process?

Each etching process consisted of two steps: (1) first etching carried out using a nitric acid (HNO 3) and hydrofluoric acid (HF) mixture and potassium hydroxide (KOH), (2) second etching carried out using phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4) and a HNO 3 and HF mixture.