Effect of Pre-Cleaning on Texturization of c-Si Wafers in a KOH/IPA Mixture

Experiments were performed to investigate the effect of pre-cleaning on surface texturization of mono-crystalline silicon in an KOH/IPA solution. Without appropriate pre-cleaning, surface contamination can cause the formation of pyramids with smaller sizes than those at the non-contaminated areas, leading to inhomogeneous texture features and reflectance non-uniformity on the wafer surface. Depending on the supplier, the surface quality and contamination level of wafers may vary and the pre-cleaning condition may need to be tailored to achieve consistent and desired texturization results.