A student loads a silicon wafer into the reactive ion etcher to create a series of through wafer vias. Following etching the wafer, through several more process steps including diffusion and metallization with the goal of creating a solar cell with all metallization on the back side of the wafer, increases its efficiency. This application is one of the projects that takes advantage of the through wafer interconnect processes developed by Boise State University for 3-D packaging.