• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07d
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• pp.1340-1342
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• 1998

The diamond-like carbon(DLC) film, as an antireflection layer, is coated on a commerically used Ge window. DLC films are deposited by using an rf(13.56 MHz) plasma CVD. The optimal value of thickness and refractive index of DLC layer has been determined from the computer simulation. IR-transmittances of DLC-coated Ge windows are estimated by measuring FTIR spectra in the wavelength range of$ 2.5{\sim}25{\mu}m$. By coating the DLC film on one side of the Ge window, the transmittance measured at a wavelength of $10{\mu}m$ is about 60 %, while that of the bare Ge is lower than 50 %. Also, a higher transmittance up to about 90 % is obtained by coating the DLC film on both sides of the window. It may be suggested that the further improvement of the IR-transmittance can be achieved by more precisely controlling the thickness and the refractive index of DLC layer and also by adopting various muliti-layer antireflection structures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.365-365
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• 2010

In this paper, silicon nitride thin films with different silane and ammonia gas ratios were deposited and characterized for the antireflection and passivation layer of high efficiency single crystalline silicon solar cells. As the flow rate of the ammonia gas increased, the refractive index decreased and the band gap increased. Consequently, the transmittance increased due to the higher band gap and the decrease of the defect states which existed for the 1.68 and 1.80 eV in the SiNx films. The reduction in the carrier lifetime of the SiNx films deposited by using a higher $NH_3/SiH_4$ flow ratio was caused by the increase of the interface traps and the defect states in/on the interface between the SiNx and the silicon wafer. The silicon and nitrogen rich films are not suitable for generating both higher carrier lifetimes and transmittance. These results indicate that the band gap and the defect states of the SiNx films should be carefully controlled in order to obtain the maximum efficiency for c-Si solar cells.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2008

We introduce a new fabrication process for antireflective structured surfaces. A 4-inch silicon wafer was dipped in a suspension of 300-nm-diameter silica particles dispersed in a toluene solution. When the wafer was drawn out of the suspension, a hexagonally packed monolayer structure of particles self-assembled on almost the complete wafer surface. Due to the simple process, this could be applied to micro- and nano-patterning. The self-assembled silica particles worked as a mask for the subsequent reactive ion etching. An array of nanometer-sized pits could be fabricated since the regions that correspond to the small gaps between particles were selectively etched off. As etching progressed, the pits became deeper and combined with neighboring pits due to side-etching to produce an array of cone-like structures. We investigated the effect of etching conditions on antireflection properties, and the optimum shape was a nano-cone with height and spacing of 500 nm and 300 nm, respectively. This nano-structured surface was prepared on a $30\;{\times}\;10-mm$ area. The reflectivity of the surface was reduced 97% for wavelengths in the range 400-700 nm.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1825-1828
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• 2008

A simple method for the fabrication of porous nano-master for antireflective surface is presented. In conventional fabrication methods for antireflective surface, coating method with low refractive index has usually been used. However, it is required to have high cost and long times for mass production. In this paper, we suggested the fabrication method of antireflective surface by the hot embossing process using the porous nano patterned master on silicon wafer fabricated by low-temperature anodic aluminum oxidation. Through multi-AAO and etching processes, nano patterned master with high aspect ratio was fabricated at the large area. Pore diameter and inter-pore distance are about 150nm and from 150 to 200nm. In order to replicate anti-reflective structure, hot embossing process was performed by varying the processing parameters such as temperature, pressure and embossing time etc. Finally, antireflective surface can be successfully obtained after etching process to remove selectively silicon layer of AAO master.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.367-370
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• 2009

It is important to reduce a reflection of light as a solar cell is device that directly converts the energy of solar radiation to electrical energy in oder to improve efficiency of solar cells. The antireflection coating has proven effective in providing substantial increase in solar cell efficiency. This paper investigates the formation of thin film PSi(porous silicon) layer on the surface of crystalline silicon substrates without other ARC(antirefiection coating) layers. On the other hand the formation of $SO_{2}/SiN_x$ ARC layers on the surface of crystalline silicon substrates. After that, the structure of PSi and $SO_2/SiN_x$ ARC was investigated by SEM and reflectance. The formation of PSi layer and $SO_{2}/SiN_x$ ARC layers on the textured silicon wafer result about 5% in the wavelength region from 0.4 to $1.0{\mu}m$. It is achieved on the textured crystalline silicon solar cell that each efficiency is 14.43%, 16.01%.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.565-569
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• 2006

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) is a well established technique for the deposition of hydrogenated film of silicon nitride (SiNx:H), which is commonly used as an antireflection coating as well as passivating layer in crystalline silicon solar cell. PECVD-SiNx:H films were investigated by varying the deposition and annealing conditions to optimize for the application in silicon solar cells. By varying the gas ratio (ammonia to silane), the silicon nitride films of refractive indices 1.85 - 2.45 were obtained. The film deposited at $450^{\circ}C$ showed the best carrier lifetime through the film deposition rate was not encouraging. The film deposited with the gas ratio of 0.57 showed the best carrier lifetime after annealing at a temperature of $800^{\circ}C$. The single crystalline silicon solar cells fabricated in conventional industrial production line applying the optimized film deposition and annealing conditions on large area substrate of size $125mm{\times}125mm$ (pseudo square) was found to have the conversion efficiencies as high as 17.05 %. Low cost and high efficiency silicon solar cells fabrication sequence has also been explained in this paper.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.33-36
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• 2010

$MgF_2$ is a current material used for optical applications in the ultraviolet and deep ultraviolet range. Process variables for manufacturing $MgF_2$ thin film were established in order to clarify the optimum conditions for the growth of the thin film, dependant upon the process conditions, and then by changing a number of the vapor deposition conditions, substrate temperatures, and heat treatment conditions, the structural and optical characteristics were measured. Then, optimum process variables were thus derived. Nevertheless, modern applications still require improvement in the optical and structural quality of the deposited layers. In the present work, in order to understand the composition and microstructure of $MgF_2$, single layers grown on a slide glass substrate using an Electron beam Evaporator (KV-660), were analyzed and compared. The surface substrate temperature, having an effect on the quality of the thin film, was changed from $200^{\circ}C$ to $350^{\circ}C$ at intervals of $50^{\circ}C$. The heat treatment temperature, which also has an effect on the thin film, was changed from $200^{\circ}C$ to $400^{\circ}C$ at intervals of $50^{\circ}C$. The physical properties of the thin film were investigated at various fabrication conditions, such as the substrate temperature, the heat treatment temperature, and the heat treatment time, by X-ray diffraction, and field emission-scanning electron microscopy.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.871-876
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• 2014

Efficiency of crystalline Si solar cell can be maximized as minimizing optical loss through antireflection texturing with inverted pyramids. Even if cost-competitive, soft lithography can be employed instead of photolithography for the purpose, some limitations still remain to apply the soft lithography directly to as-received solar grade wafer with a bunch of micro trenches on surface. Therefore, it is needed to develop a low-cost, effective planarization process and evaluate its output to be applicable to patterning process with PDMS stamp. In this study new surface planarization process is proposed and the change of micro scale trenches on the surface as a function of etching time is observed. Also, the effect of trenches on pattern quality by soft lithography is investigated using FEM structural analysis. In conclusion it is clear that the geometry and shape of trenches would be basic considerations for soft lithography application to low quality wafer.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.373-378
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• 2008

A simple chemical fixation method for the fabrication of layer-by-layer (LbL) polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) has been developed to create a large area, highly uniform film for various applications. PEM of weak poly-electrolytes, i.e., polyallylamine hydrogen chloride (PAH) and poly(acrylic acid)(PAA), was assembled on polymer substrates such as poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC). In the case of a weak polyelectrolyte, the fabricated thin film thickness of the polyelectrolyte multilayers was strongly dependent on the pH of the processing solution, which enabled the film thickness or optical properties to be controlled. On the other hand, the environmental stability for device application was poor. In this study, we utilized the chemical fixation method using glutaraldehyde (GA)-amine reaction in order to stabilize the polyelectrolyte multilayers. By simple treatment of GA on the PEM film, the inherent morphology was fixed and the adhesion and mechanical strength were improved. Both surface tension and FT-IR measurements supported the chemical cross-linking reaction. The surface property of the polyelectrolyte films was altered and converted from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by chemical modification. The possible application to antireflection coating on PMMA and PC was demonstrated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.190-190
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• 2010

Zinc oxide is the most attractive material due to the large direct band gap (3.37 eV), excellent chemical and thermal stability, and large exciton binding energy (60 meV). Recently, ZnO nanorods were used as the high efficient antireflection coating layer of solar cells based on silicon (Si). In this reports, we studied the effects of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment on optical properties of ZnO nanorods. For fabrication of ZnO nanorods, there are many methods such as hydrothermal method, sol-gel method, and metal organic chemical vapor deposition method. Among of them, we used the conventional wet chemical method which is simple and low temperature growth. In order to synthesize the ZnO nanorods, the ZnO films were deposited on Si substrate by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature and the samples were dipped to aqua solution containing the zinc nitrate and hexamethylentetramines (HMT). The synthesis process was achieved in keeping with temperature of $90-95^{\circ}C$ and under constant stirring. The morphology of ZnO nanorods on glass and Si was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. For the analysis of antireflection performance, the reflectance and transmittance were measured by spectrophotometer. And for analyzing the effects of RTA treatment on ZnO nanorods, crystalline properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction measurements and optical properties was estimated by photoluminescence spectra.