Laser Texturization to Decrease Reflectance of Polycrystalline Silicon Wafers

In the present work, laser ablation as a method for texturization of a polycrystalline silicon surface is studied. This involves creating a roughened surface in order to decrease reflection from the surface of a wafer. A special etching procedure was applied to remove the laser-damaged layer. The textured surface was observed using a field emission scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope. The surface reflectance was also measured and the results show that chemical etching needs to be applied after laser processing in order to achieve reduced reflection from a lowdefect surface.