Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
57 words
A method of texturizing the surface of a crystalline semiconductor material, which method comprises, irradiating the crystalline semiconductor surface to be texturized uniformly with ionizing radiation from a radiation source to form damage tracks therein, and subjecting the area damaged by the ionizing radiation to an etching fluid for anisotropically etching the same for the texturization thereof.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
57 words
A method of texturizing the surface of a crystalline semiconductor material, which method comprises, irradiating the crystalline semiconductor surface to be texturized uniformly with ionizing radiation from a radiation source to form damage tracks therein, and subjecting the area damaged by the ionizing radiation to an etching fluid for anisotropically etching the same for the texturization thereof.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 wherein the texturized surface comprises polyhedra, said method including, controlling the size and density of polyhedra formed by controlling the amount of ionizing radiation irradiating the surface to be texturized.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 including terminating said etching immediately after said damage tracks are largely removed by said etching process.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 wherein the texturized surface comprises polyhedra having a maximum height substantially equal to the maximum depth of damage tracks formed by said ionizing radiation.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 4 including, controlling the radiation dose at the surface to be texturized for controlling the size and density of said polyhedra.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 wherein the material surface to be texturized comprises the (100) orientation surface of a crystalline semiconductor wafer, said etching step exposing (111) planes for the production of tetrahedra at the wafer surface.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 6 wherein said material to be surface texturized comprises silicon.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 7 which includes, fabricating a solar cell from said wafer which cell includes the texturized surface in a junction for incident light to reduce light reflectivity thereat.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 which includes, fabricating an electrode for use as a multipoint field emission source which electrode includes the texturized surface as a multi-point source.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 wherein said material comprises a crystalline wafer, and said radiation source comprises a radioactive source having a surface area at least as large as the crystalline wafer surface to be texturized.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 10 which includes, placing said radioactive source in substantially direct contact with said wafer while maintaining said wafer and source relatively stationary during the production of damage tracks therein.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 including, relatively moving the radiation source and material while irradiating the same for improved uniformity of distribution of the damage tracks over the surface to be texturized.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
61 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 which includes establishing said radiation source by, developing a uniformly exposed photographic film to provide a uniform distribution of silver particles therein, and treating said film with a solution containing a radioisotope for bonding the isotope to the silver particles to provide a uniform distribution of the isotope over the film.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 13 wherein the solution contains Polonium-210.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 which includes establishing said radiation source by adhering encapsulated radioactive particles to the surface of a plane substrate, said particles being uniformly distributed over the substrate surface.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of surface texturization as defined in claim 1 wherein said radiation source comprises an alpha-particle source for irradiating said crystalline semiconductor source to be texturized with alpha particles.