A fractal-like texture of multicrystalline silicon for enhancing optical performance

Appropriate texturing is one major topic for multicrystalline silicon wafers to improve the cost effectiveness. In this paper, a new fractal-like texture being applied to multicrystalline wafers is introduced. The focus of this paper is the study of the light-trapping ability of the novel fractal-like texture for multicrystalline silicon solar cell. With a simple model of the fractal-like texture, the conditions needed to achieve lower reflectance are discussed first. It is shown how the effect of the micro structure of multicrystalline silicon with the fractal-like characteristics. Finally, in our present work, the finite element method(FEM) is used to simulate the propagation of electromagnetic field in the structure of multicrystalline silicon. We obtain an average reflectivity of 3% in the wavelength range 300–800 nm on the surface of multicrystalline silicon wafer, which has the fractal-like structure feature. (paper)