• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.214-219
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• 2009

In high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells, If high-efficiency solar cells are to be commercialized. It is need to develop superior contact formation method and material that can be inexpensive and simple without degradation of the solar cells ability. For reason of plated metallic contact is not only high metallic purity but also inexpensive manufacture. It is available to apply mass production. Especially, Nickel, Copper and Silver are applied widely in various electronic manufactures as easily formation is available by plating. The metallic contact system of silicon solar cell must have several properties, such as low contact resistance, easy application and good adhesion. Ni is shown to be a suitable barrier to Cu diffusion as well as desirable contact metal to silicon. Nickel monosilicide(NiSi) has been suggested as a suitable silicide due to its lower resistivity, lower sintering temperature and lower layer stress than $TiSi_2$. Copper and Silver can be plated by electro & light-induced plating method. Light-induced plating makes use the photovoltaic effect of solar cell to deposite the metal on the front contact. The cell is immersed into the electrolytic plating bath and irradiated at the front side by light source, which leads to a current density in the front side grid. Electroless plated Ni/ Electro&light-induced plated Cu/ Light-induced plated Ag contact solar cells result in an energy conversion efficiency of 14.68 % on $0.2{\sim}0.6{\Omega}{\cdot}cm,\;20{\times}20mm^2$, CZ(Czochralski) wafer.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.217-221
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• 2015

Developing a metallization that has low cost and high efficiency is essential in solar-cell industries, to replace expensive silver-based metallization. Ni/Cu two-step metallization is one way to reduce the cost of solar cells, because the price of copper is about 100 times less than that of silver. Alkaline electroless plating was used for depositing nickel seed layers on the front electrode area. Prior to the nickel deposition process, 2% HF solution was used to remove native oxide, which disturbs uniform nickel plating. In the subsequent step, a nickel sintering process was carried out in $N_2$ gas atmosphere; however, copper was plated by light-induced plating (LIP). Plated nickel has different properties under different bath conditions because nickel electroless plating is a completely chemical process. In this paper, plating bath conditions such as pH and temperature were varied, and the metal layer's structure was analyzed to investigate the adhesion of Ni/Cu metallization. Average adhesion values in the range of 0.2-0.49 N/mm were achieved for samples with no nickel sintering process.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.48.2-48.2
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• 2010

고효율 실리콘 태양전지 개발은 단파장의 광 응답 특성 개선을 위한 선택적 에미터 형성과 반사 손실 개선을 위한 미세 패턴 전극을 형성하는데 집중적인 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 실험에서는 레이저 도핑된 선택적 에미터 위에 미세 패턴 Ni/Cu 도금 전극을 형성하였다. 니켈과 동 도금은 무전해 Light induced plating(LIP)으로 진행하였다. 니켈 도금 전극의 접착력 개선과 접촉저항 개선을 위해서 니켈 전극을 질소 분위기에서 열처리하여 니켈실리사이드(NiSi)를 형성하였다. 니켈 도금 두께와 니켈실리사이드 열처리 조건을 최적화하여 충실도 77.4%, 변환효율 18.5%를 달성하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.414.1-414.1
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• 2016

스크린 프린팅법을 이용한 태양전지의 전극은 주로 고가의 은을 사용하기에 태양전지의 저가화에 한계를 가지고 있다. 고효율 결정질 실리콘 태양전지의 원가절감의 문제 해결방안으로 박형 웨이퍼 연구개발이 많은 관심을 받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 은 전극을 대체 할 수 있는 니켈/구리 전극을 사용하였고, 박형 웨이퍼에서도 전극 공정이 가능한 도금법을 사용하여 전극을 형성 하였다. 니켈 전극형성은 광유도 도금법(Light-Induced Plating), 구리 전극형성은 광유도전해도금법(Light-Induced Electro Plating)을 이용하여 실험을 진행 하였다. 니켈 광유도 도금 공정시 공정시간 3 ~ 9분까지 가변하였다. 니켈실리사이드 형성 위해 열처리 공정을 $300{\sim}450^{\circ}C$까지 가변하였고 유지시간 30초 ~ 3분까지 가변하여 실험을 진행하였다. 니켈 도금 수용액의 pH 6 ~ 7.5까지 가변하여 실험하였다. 구리 광유도 전해도금 공정 전류밀도를 $1.6mA/cm^2{\sim}6.4mA/cm^2$까지 가변하여 실험을 진행 후, 전류밀도 $3.2mA/cm^2$로 시간 5 ~ 7분까지 가변하여 실험 하였다. 니켈 도금 공정 시간 5분, 니켈실리사이드 형성 열처리 온도 $350^{\circ}C$, 유지시간 1분에서 DIV(Dark I-V) 분석결과 가장 적은 누설전류를 확인하였다. 니켈 도금액 pH 6.5에서 니켈입자 및 구리입자의 균일성이 좋은 최적의 조건임을 확인하였다. 구리 도금 공정 전류밀도 $3.2mA/cm^2$, 시간 5분에서 TLM(Transmission Line Method) 측정결과 접촉 저항 $0.39{\Omega}$과 접촉 비저항 $12.3{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$의 저항을 확인하였다. 도금법을 이용하여 전극을 형성함으로써 접촉저항 및 접촉 비저항이 낮고 전극 품질이 향상됨으로서 셀의 전류밀도 $42.49mA/cm^2$를 얻을 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.575-579
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• 2010

The technologies of Ni/Cu plating contact is attributed to the reduced series resistance caused by a better contact conductivity of Ni with Si and the subsequent electroplating of Cu on Ni. The ability to pattern narrower grid lines for reduced light shading was combined with the lower resistance of a metal silicide contact and an improved conductivity of the plated deposit. This improves the FF (fill factor) as the series resistance is reduced. This is very much requried in the case of low concentrator solar cells in which the series resistance is one of the important and dominant parameter that affect the cell performance. A Selective emitter structure with highly dopeds regions underneath the metal contacts, is widely known to be one of the most promising high-efficiency solution in solar cell processing In this paper the formation of a selective emitter, and the nickel silicide seed layer at the front side metallization of silicon cells is considered. After generating the nickel seed layer the contacts were thickened by Cu LIP (light induced plating) and by the formation of a plated Ni/Cu two step metallization on front contacts. In fabricating a Ni/Cu plating metallization cell with a selective emitter structure it has been shown that the cell efficiency can be increased by at least 0.2%.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.173-176
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• 2014

We have investigated the seed layer formation of front side contact using the inkjet printing process. Conductive silver ink was printed on textured Si wafers with 80 nm thick $SiN_x$ anti reflection coating (ARC) layers and thickened by light induced plating (LIP). The inkjet printable sliver inks were specifically formulated for inkjet printing on these substrates. Also, a novel method to prepare nano-sized glass frits by the sol-gel process with particle sizes around 5 nm is presented. Furthermore, dispersion stability of the formulated ink was measured using a Turbiscan. By implementing these glass frits, it was found that a continuous and uniform seed layer with a line width of $40{\mu}m$ could be formed by a inkjet printing process. We also investigated the contact resistance between the front contact and emitter using the transfer length model (TLM). On an emitter with the sheet resistance of $60{\Omega}/sq$, a specific contact resistance (${\rho}_c$) below $10m{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$ could be achieved at a peak firing temperature around $700^{\circ}C$. In addition, the correlation between the contact resistance and interface microstructures were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We found that the added glass particles act as a very effective fire through agent, and Ag crystallites are formed along the interface glass layer.