The present paper discusses the plausible physical processes dominant during plasma texturization of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers, deposition of silicon nitride (SiNx) antireflection (AR) coating and firing of contacts through it. During plasma texturization, it is observed that by using low RF power density and loading wafers on the ground electrode, the texturization process is dominated by chemical etching. The resulting surface of the wafer shows low-reflectivity ( <10% in wavelength range 350-800 nm) and low-defect density leading to improved minority carrier lifetime. It is postulated that plasma-etched nanoscale structures accelerate the migration of hydrogen released during firing of contacts. As a result of these physical processes, an improvement up to similar to 2.4% in absolute efficiency of large area (similar to 149 cm(2)) multicrystalline silicon solar cells has been achieved. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.