Solar cells with porous silicon as antireflection layer

The possibility of using porous silicon layers as antireflection coating instead of the antireflection coatings in common silicon solar cells was investigated. A technology for the manufacture of porous silicon antireflection layers on the emitter of n+ - p junctions with the already deposited contacts grid was developed. The careful investigation of the photovoltaic and optical characteristics of solar cells with porous silicon antireflection coating compared with the performances of solar cells using a well known ZnS antireflection coating is presented. It is shown that the formation of the porous layer under optimum technological regimes leads to decrease of reflection and improvement of the main photovoltaic parameters - short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage. A means of determining the porous silicon layer thickness through capacitance measurements is suggested.