• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국태양에너지학회 2009년도 추계학술발표대회 논문집
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• pp.350-355
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• 2009

The crysralline silicon solar cell where the solar cell market grows rapidly is occupying of about 85% or more high efficiency and low cost endeavors many crystalline solar cells. The fabricaion process of high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells necessitate complicated fabrication processes and Ti/Pd/AG contact, This metal contacts have only been used in limited areas in spite of their good srability and low contact resistance because of expensive materials and process. Commercial solar cells with screen-printed solar cells formed by using Ag paste suffer from loe fill factor and high contact resistance and low aspect ratio. Ni and Cu metal contacts have been formed by using electroless plating and light-induced electro plating techniques to replace the Ti/Pd/Ag and screen-printed Ag contacts. Copper and Silver can be plated by electro & light-induced plating method. Light-induced plating makes use the photovoltaic effect of solar cell to deposit 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 16.446 % on 0.2~0.6${\Omega}$ cm, $20{\times}20mm^2$, CZ(Czochralski) wafer.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2009년도 하계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.444-445
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• 2009

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 deposit 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 16.446 % on $0.2\sim0.6\;{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, $20\;\times\;20\;mm^2$, CZ(Czochralski) wafer.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.246-251
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• 2013

Screen printing is commonly used to form the front/back electrodes in silicon solar cell. But it has caused high resistance and low aspect ratio, resulting in decreased conversion efficiency in solar cell. Recently the plating method has been combined with screen-printed c-Si solar cell to reduce the resistance and improve the aspect ratio. In this paper, we investigated the effect of light induced silver plating with screen-printed c-Si solar cells and compared their electrical properties. All wafers were textured, doped, and coated with anti-reflection layer. The metallization process was carried out with screen-printing, followed by co-fired. Then we performed light induced Ag plating by changing the plating time in the range of 20 sec~5min with/without external light. For comparison, we measured the light I-V characteristics and electrode width by optical microscope. During plating, silver ions fill the porous structure established in rapid silver particle sintering during co-firing step, which results in resistance decrease and efficiency improvement. The plating rate was increased in presence of light lamp, resulting in widening the electrode with and reducing the short-circuit current by shadowing loss. With the optimized plating condition, the conversion efficiency of solar cells was increased by 0.4% due to decreased series resistance. Finally we obtained the short-circuit current of 8.66 A, open-circuit voltage of 0.632 V, fill factor of 78.2%, and efficiency of 17.8% on a silicon solar cell.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국태양에너지학회 2009년도 춘계학술발표대회 논문집
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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.

• 융복합기술연구소 논문집
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.33-39
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• 2018

The screen printing method for forming the electrode by applying the existing pressure is difficult to apply to thin wafers, and since expensive Ag paste is used, it is difficult to solve the problem of cost reduction. This can solve both of the problems by forming the front electrode using a plating method applicable to a thin wafer. In this paper, the process conditions of electrode formation are optimized by using LIEP (Light-Induced Electrode Plating). Experiments were conducted by varying the Ni plating bath temperature $40{\sim}70^{\circ}C$, the applied current 5 ~ 15 mA, and the plating process time 5 ~ 20 min. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the optimal condition of the structural characteristics was obtained at the plating bath temperature of $60^{\circ}C$, 15 mA, and the process time of 20 min. The Cu LIEP process conditions, experiments were conducted with Cu plating bath temperature $40{\sim}70^{\circ}C$, applied voltage 5 ~ 15 V, plating process time 2 ~ 15 min. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the optimum conditions were obtained as a result of electrical and structural characteristics at the plating bath temperature of $60^{\circ}C$ and applied current of 15 V and process time of 15 min. In order to form Ni silicide, the firing process time was fixed to 2 min and the temperature was changed to $310^{\circ}C$, $330^{\circ}C$, $350^{\circ}C$, and post contact annealing was performed. As a result, the lowest contact resistance value of $2.76{\Omega}$ was obtained at the firing temperature of $310^{\circ}C$. The contact resistivity of $1.07m{\Omega}cm^2$ can be calculated from the conditionally optimized sample. With the plating method using Ni / Cu, the efficiency of the solar cell can be expected to increase due to the increase of the electric conductivity and the decrease of the resistance component in the production of the solar cell, and the application to the thin wafer can be expected.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2016년도 제50회 동계 정기학술대회 초록집
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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 Optical Society of Korea
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• 제19권3호
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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.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제23권7호
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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%.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 추계학술대회 초록집
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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.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2016년도 제50회 동계 정기학술대회 초록집
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• pp.347.1-347.1
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• 2016

Screen printing is commonly used to form the electrode for crystalline silicon solar cells. However, it has caused high resistance and low aspect ratio, resulting in decrease of conversion efficiency. Accordingly, Ni/Cu/Ag plating method could be applied for crystalline silicon solar cells to reduce contact resistance. For Ni/Cu/Ag plating, laser ablation process is required to remove anti-reflection layers prior to the plating process, but laser ablation results in surface damage and then decrease of open-circuit voltage and cell efficiency. Another issue with plating process is ghost plating. Ghost plating occurred in the non-metallized region, resulting from pin-hole in anti-reflection layer. In this paper, we investigated the effect of Ni/Cu/Ag plating on the electrical properties, compared to screen printing method. In addition, phosphoric acid layer was spin-coated prior to laser ablation to minimize emitter damage by the laser. Phosphorous elements in phosphoric acid generated selective emitter throughout emitter layer during laser process. Then, KOH treatment was applied to remove surface damage by laser. At this step, amorphous silicon formed by laser ablation was recrystallized during firing process and remaining of amorphous silicon was removed by KOH treatment. As a result, electrical properties as Jsc, FF and efficiency were improved, but Voc was lower than screen printed solar cells because Voc was decreased due to surface damage by laser process. Accordingly, we expect that efficiency of solar cells could be improved by optimization of the process to remove surface damage.