POROUS SILICON FABRICATION TECHNIQUE FOR LARGE-AREA DEVICES

An improved technique applied for fabrication of porous silicon layers on silicon wafers is proposed. The main principle is the vacuum pulli ng and holding of the sample instead of mechanical pressing or using o f special acid-proof wax. Large silicon wafers can be etched in this e lectrochemical cell. Porous silicon coating was ''deposited'' on as-pr epared solar cells. This procedure improved the cell's performance ver y significantly: we have obtained similar to 30% increase in efficienc y on cells with no antireflection coating. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.