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Gorshkov VN, Stretovych MO, Semeniuk VF, Kruglenko MP, Semeniuk NI, Styopkin VI, Gabovich AM, Boiger GK. Hierarchical Structuring of Black Silicon Wafers by Ion-Flow-Stimulated Roughening Transition: Fundamentals and Applications for Photovoltaics. Nanomaterials (Basel) 2023; 13:2715. [PMID: 37836356 PMCID: PMC10574651 DOI: 10.3390/nano13192715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
Ion-flow-stimulated roughening transition is a phenomenon that may prove useful in the hierarchical structuring of nanostructures. In this work, we have investigated theoretically and experimentally the surface texturing of single-crystal and multi-crystalline silicon wafers irradiated using ion-beam flows. In contrast to previous studies, ions had relatively low energies, whereas flow densities were high enough to induce a quasi-liquid state in the upper silicon layers. The resulting surface modifications reduced the wafer light reflectance to values characteristic of black silicon, widely used in solar energetics. Features of nanostructures on different faces of silicon single crystals were studied numerically based on the mesoscopic Monte Carlo model. We established that the formation of nano-pyramids, ridges, and twisting dune-like structures is due to the stimulated roughening transition effect. The aforementioned variety of modified surface morphologies arises due to the fact that the effects of stimulated surface diffusion of atoms and re-deposition of free atoms on the wafer surface from the near-surface region are manifested to different degrees on different Si faces. It is these two factors that determine the selection of the allowable "trajectories" (evolution paths) of the thermodynamic system along which its Helmholtz free energy, F, decreases, concomitant with an increase in the surface area of the wafer and the corresponding changes in its internal energy, U (dU>0), and entropy, S (dS>0), so that dF=dU - TdS<0, where T is the absolute temperature. The basic theoretical concepts developed were confirmed in experimental studies, the results of which showed that our method could produce, abundantly, black silicon wafers in an environmentally friendly manner compared to traditional chemical etching.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vyacheslav N. Gorshkov
- Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, National Technical University of Ukraine, Prospect Beresteiskyi, 37, 03056 Kyiv, Ukraine;
- G.V. Kurdyumov Institute for Metal Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 36 Academician Vernadsky Boulevard, 03142 Kyiv, Ukraine
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK
| | - Mykola O. Stretovych
- Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, National Technical University of Ukraine, Prospect Beresteiskyi, 37, 03056 Kyiv, Ukraine;
| | - Valerii F. Semeniuk
- Institute of Physics of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Nauka Avenue, 46, 03028 Kyiv, Ukraine; (V.F.S.); (M.P.K.); (V.I.S.); (A.M.G.)
- GreSem Innovation LLC, Vyzvolyteliv Avenue, 13, 02660 Kyiv, Ukraine;
| | - Mikhail P. Kruglenko
- Institute of Physics of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Nauka Avenue, 46, 03028 Kyiv, Ukraine; (V.F.S.); (M.P.K.); (V.I.S.); (A.M.G.)
- GreSem Innovation LLC, Vyzvolyteliv Avenue, 13, 02660 Kyiv, Ukraine;
| | | | - Victor I. Styopkin
- Institute of Physics of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Nauka Avenue, 46, 03028 Kyiv, Ukraine; (V.F.S.); (M.P.K.); (V.I.S.); (A.M.G.)
| | - Alexander M. Gabovich
- Institute of Physics of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Nauka Avenue, 46, 03028 Kyiv, Ukraine; (V.F.S.); (M.P.K.); (V.I.S.); (A.M.G.)
| | - Gernot K. Boiger
- ICP Institute of Computational Physics, ZHAW Zürich University of Applied Sciences, Wildbachstrasse 21, CH-8401 Winterthur, Switzerland
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