rinsed in di water for about 2 minutes then at step 116 an rca 1 clean is performed using a mixture of nh4oh h2o2 h2o 1 1 5 temperature 70 80 c time 10 minutes the wafers are then rinsed in di water for about 2 minutes at step 120 the wafers are immersed in diluted hf hcl immersion mixed 2 hf 2 hcl for about 2 minutes and then at step 122 are rinsed in di water for about 2 minutes the wafers are then dried in hot n2 for about 10 15 minutes according to one specific embodiment once the wafers are dry they are transferred to a deposition system such as a chemical vapor deposition cvd or plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition pecvd and a thin layer of intrinsic amorphous or micro crystalline silicon i si is deposited on the texturized surface this step passivates the surface of the wafers the i si layer can be e g 50 200 micron thick this passivation step also increases the minority carriers lifetime in the wafers since combination sites on the surface are eliminated by the i si layer it should be understood that processes and techniques described herein are not inherently related to any particular apparatus and may be implemented by any suitable combination of.