Patent ID: 8623688

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a solar cell from a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, the semiconductor substrate having a front surface and a back surface, the method comprising: texturing the front surface to create a textured front surface and texturing the back surface to create a textured back surface; with texture features, such as pyramidal shapes, on the respective surface with valleys in between the texture features; performing etching for partly smoothening the textured back surface and optionally partly smoothening the textured front surface; said partly smoothening comprising either a broadening or a rounding of the valleys; creating by diffusion of a dopant of the first conductivity type a back surface field layer of the first conductivity type in the back surface, and a first conductivity-type doped layer in the textured front surface; removing the first conductivity-type doped layer from the textured front surface by an etching process adapted for retaining texture of the textured front surface; and creating a layer of a second conductivity type on the textured front surface by diffusion of a dopant of the second conductivity type into the textured front surface.