NOVELTY - A composition comprises a fluoride containing acidic aqueous solution; and an inorganic reduction-oxidation system containing element(s) from titanium, cobalt, vanadium, chromium, nickel, strontium, copper, cerium, yttrium, zirconium, niobium, ruthenium, rhodium, iron, barium, lead, palladium, iodine, bromine, aluminum, antimony, beryllium, bismuth, hafnium, tantalum, tungsten, lanthanum, iridium, osmium, arsenic, tin, silver, or magnesium. The composition is free of silicon.    USE - Composition for room temperature wet chemical growth of an oxide-based layer on a substrate used in making solar cells and electronic device. The substrate includes c-Si, mc-Si, poly-Si, micro-Si, or amorphous silicon, ribbon silicon of crystalline configurations, III-V, I-III-VI, and II-VI compound semiconductors, gallium arsenide, copper-indium-selenide, or cadmium telluride, carbon substrates, graphite substrates, carbon fibers, or carbon nanotubes. (all claimed)    ADVANTAGE - The composition can fabricate high-efficiency, low-cost, crystalline silicon solar cells and solar modules.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for:    (1) a method for preparing a doped semiconductor layer comprising providing a semiconductor substrate having a doped layer; and exposing the doped layer to a room temperature wet chemical growth solution to concomitantly etch the doped layer and grow an oxide layer from the doped layer, where the balance of etch and growth is selected to provide an oxide layer having preselected properties;    (2) a method for processing an electronic device comprising providing a silicon substrate having an emitter layer; and exposing the emitter layer to a room temperature wet chemical growth solution to concomitantly etch the emitter layer and grow a silicon oxide (SiOx) layer from the emitter layer where a portion of the emitter layer is removed;    (3) a method of processing a substrate having emitter layer comprising providing a silicon substrate having an emitter surrounding the substrate; and exposing the side edges and one face of the substrate in a single step to a room temperature wet chemical growth solution to concomitantly etch away the emitter layer and grow an SiOx layer from the emitter layer to obtain a device having an intact emitter face, a junction isolation layer and a passivated face;    (4) a method for processing a solar cell comprising applying the composition to solar cells that contain front and rear contacts on a doped layer to etch back the doped layer from the non-metalized surfaces, resulting in the formation of a silicon oxide-based antireflection coating on the non-metalized surfaces of the solar cell, a selective emitter, and junction-removal from the edges;    (5) a method for making bifacial solar cells comprising providing a lightly doped starting p-type or n-type single crystal (c-Si) or multicrystalline-Si (mc-Si) wafers forming n++ and p++ heavy doped layers on either side of the wafer; removing residual oxide glass; printing the back and front grid lines and fire; exposing the substrate to the composition to react with the front and back sides to create the antireflection coating and selective emitter while etching away unwanted diffused layers present on the edges of the substrate; and    (6) a system for creating diffusions on silicon substrates that comprises a superior chamber wall that sits on an inferior chamber wall to create a diffusion chamber that contains heating elements, an upper and a lower mask that clamp over the edge portions of a substrate, and nozzles for spraying a diffusion source that may be located on the superior chamber wall and/or the inferior chamber wall.