SBIR Phase I: Ultrahigh Throughput Black Solar Wafer NanoManufacturing for Photovoltaic Energy Application

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目计划开发和提供一种高通量、低成本的纳米制造技术，用于在单晶硅和多晶硅太阳能晶片的整个表面上制造高密度、高均匀性的全方位抗反射纳米结构。目前，太阳能电池表面的光反射是光能转换过程中的一大损失，因此，更好的太阳能晶片在大范围的入射光波长和角度上几乎没有光学反射，将有助于显著提高太阳能电池器件的性能，并潜在地降低太阳能电池的电力成本。本项目开发的太阳能硅片表面这种独特的加工方法所形成的硅纳米结构将具有优异的减反射和捕光性能。在本项目中，太阳能产业兼容的零反射纳米制造方法？全黑？太阳能晶片将被开发出来，潜在的加工物理机制将得到更好的理解和控制。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为太阳能行业提供改进的产品和制造技术，并将纳米技术发明从大学实验室带入高性能太阳能电池工业生产的商业应用。提出的纳米制造技术是一种大规模的批量纳米制造工艺，可以大规模地以工业标准的高生产率同时生产大量具有纳米结构表面的太阳能晶片，并很容易转化为美国目前的太阳能电池制造行业。采用本项目开发的先进的纳米制造技术可以生产出成本更低、性能更高的太阳能电池板，使美国的光伏能源成本更负担得起、更具竞争力。该项目将纳米技术和可再生能源相结合，通过将新的工业生产技术发明从实验室转化为工厂，还将有可能在美国创造新的制造业就业机会。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes to develop and deliver a high-throughput low-cost nanomanufacturing technology for making high-density high-uniformity omnidirectional-antireflection nanostructures on the entire surface of single crystalline and multicrystalline silicon solar wafers. Currently the optical reflection from solar cell surface is accounted for a significant loss in the photoelectric energy conversion process and thus better solar wafers with nearly zero optical reflection across a broad range of incident light wavelengths and angles will help to considerably improve the performance of solar cell devices and potentially bring down the solar electricity cost. The silicon nanostructures created by this unique processing method on solar wafer surface developed in this project will have superior antireflection and light trapping property. In this project the solar industry compatible nanomanufacturing method for zero-reflection ?Omni Black? solar wafers will be developed and the underlying processing physical mechanism will be better understood and controlled. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to provide improved product and manufacturing technology for the solar industry and bring nanotechnology inventions from university laboratory to the commercial applications in industrial productions of high-performance solar cells. The proposed nanomanufacturing technology is a large-scale batch nanofabrication process, can be scaled up to simultaneous productions of a large quantity of solar wafers with nanostructured surface at industrial standard high production rate, and may be readily translated into current solar cell manufacturing industry in U.S. Cheaper and yet high-performance solar panels can be produced with the adoption of the advanced nanoscale manufacturing technology to be developed in this project, which makes the photovoltaic energy cost in U.S. more affordable and competitive. The efforts combining nanotechnology and renewable energy in this project will also be able to potentially create new manufacturing jobs in U.S. by translating new industrial production technology inventions from laboratory to factory.