Abstract: A method of texturing a glass surface is disclosed, the method comprising the steps of coating the glass surface with a material film, stimulating a reaction at the interface between the glass and the material film resulting in the formation of reaction products at the interface, and removing the material film and the reaction products from the glass surface. In a preferred embodiment, an aluminium film around 500 nm thick aluminosilicate is coated onto the glass and the stimulation is by heating. The aluminium reacts with the silica at temperatures between 500° C. and 630° C. to form reaction products that are then removed, along with the film, by etching with phosphoric acid. A further etch using HF/HNO3 may also be employed. The method is particularly useful in etching glass substrates intended for use in photovoltaic devices.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of forming a polycrystalline semiconductor film on a supporting substrate of foreign material. The method involves depositing a metal film onto the substrate, forming a film of metal oxide and/or hydroxide on a substrate of the metal, and forming a layer of an amorphous semiconductor material over a surface of the metal oxide and/or hydroxide film. The entire sample is then heated to a temperature at which the semiconductor layer is absorbed into the metal layer and deposited as a polycrystalline layer onto the target surface by metal-induced crystallization. The metal is left as an overlayer covering the deposited polycrystalline layer, with semiconductor inclusions in the metal layer. The polycrystalline semiconductor film and the overlayer are generated by porous interfacial metal oxide nd/or hydroxide film.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for continuous treatment of objects in a processing unit, where the objects are moved along a conveyor track passing through the processing unit by a first linear-action conveyor device performing a back-and-forward movement and where the objects are supplied to/removed from the conveyor track by a transfer device.