When it comes to turning raw quartz into solar cells, it goes through many processes. One of the processes is the turning of silicon wafers into solar cells. The process is lengthy and is the final step in the making of a solar cell. Let’s take a look at how a silicon wafer supplier can turn silicon wafers into solar cells.
The silicon wafers start the process by being pre-checked for any impurities or damage. They are then split and cleaned with industrial soap as part of the pretreatment. This removes any metal residues, liquids or other production remains from the surface that would otherwise impact the wafer’s efficiency.
After the wafer is pretreated and textured it undergoes an acid cleaning. This removes any post-texturing particles that remained. Both hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride are used during the acid clean.
Diffusion happens when the dopant is added to the silicon wafer to make it more electrically conductive. There are two types of diffusion: solid state diffusion and emitter diffusion.
The objective of the etching process is to remove the electrical path around the wafer edge by disk stacking the cells on top of each other and then exposing them to a plasma etching chamber.
After the etching, particle residues potential remain on the wafer and the wafer edges. The wafers then undergo a second washing to remove any of those remains.
In this process, the now ready-to-assemble solar cells are tested under simulated sunlight conditions and then classified and sorted according to their efficiencies.
At Wafer World, we offer high-quality silicon wafers. Contact us today to learn more or to place an order.
