• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.30-37
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• 1981

Numerical calculations have beee made of the effect of grain size on the three-dimensional carrier density, the quantum efficiency, and the AMI efficiency of 30$\mu$m polycrystalliue silicon p-n junction solar cells. Quantum efficiencies calculated for the polycrystalline silicon solar cells are compared to the monocrystalline cases. An efficiency of 12% can theoretically be obtained with grain size 100$\mu$m, and 6% for 5$\mu$m grains.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.155-156
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• 2007

본 연구에서는 태양전지 표면에 입사된 빛의 반사율을 최소화하기 위해서 단결정 실리콘 기판 표면에 다공성 실리콘층을 적용하여 반사방지막(Anti-Reflection Coating, ARC)을 형성하는 실험을 하였다. 다공성 실리콘(Porous silicon, PSi)은 실온에서, 기판 성질에 따라 일정 비율로 만든 전해질 용액($HF-C_2H_5OH-H_2O$)을 사용하여 실리콘 표면에 양극산화처리 함으로써 단순 공정만으로 실리콘 기판의 반사율을 낮출 수 있다. 본 연구는 일정한 면저항을 가지는 단결정 실리콘 기판에 다공성 실리콘층을 여러 조건으로 형성하여 반사방지막으로써의 특성을 비교 분석하였다.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 2011

Fabrication of porous silicon(PS) double layer by electrochemical etching is the first step in process of ultrathin solar cell using PS layer transfer process. The porosity of the porous silicon layer can be controlled by regulating the formation parameters such as current density and HF concentration. PS layer is fabricated by electrochemical etching in a chemical mixture of HF and ethanol. For electrochemical etching, highly boron doped (100) oriented monocrystalline Si substrates was used. Ths resistivity of silicon is $0.01-0.02\;{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. The solution composition for electrochemical etching was HF (40%) : $C_2H_5OH$(99 %) : $H_2O$ = 1 : 1 : 2 (by volume). In order to fabricate porous silicon double layer, current density was switched. By switching current density from low to high level, a high-porosity layer was fabricated beneath a low-porosity layer. Etching time affects only the depth of porous silicon layer.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.262-266
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• 2020

In this paper, we investigated the effect of the passivation stack with Al₂O₃, hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN_x:H) stack and Al₂O₃, silicon oxynitride (SiON_x) stack in the n type bifacial solar cell on monocrystalline silicon. SiNx:H and SiON_x films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition on the Al₂O₃ thin film deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition. We focus on passivation properties of the two stack structure after laser ablation process in order to improve bifaciality of the cell. Our results showed SiN_x:H with Al₂O₃ stack is 10 mV higher in implied open circuit voltage and 60 ㎲ higher in minority carrier lifetime than SiON_x with Al₂O₃ stack at Ni silicide formation temperature for 1.8% open area ratio. This can be explained by hydrogen passivation at the Al₂O₃/Si interface and Al₂O₃ layer of laser damaged area during annealing.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.617-622
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• 2010

We have studied methods to save Si source during the fabrication process of crystalline Si solar cells. One way is to use a thin silicon wafer substrate. As the thickness of the wafers is reduced, mechanical fractures of the substrate increase with the mechanical handling of the thin wafers. It is expected that the mechanical fractures lead to a dropping of yield in the solar cell process. In this study, the mechanical properties of 220-micrometer-solar grade Cz p-type monocrystalline Si wafers were investigated by varying saw-damage etching conditions in order to improve the flexural strength of ultra-thin monocrystalline Si solar cells. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution and tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solution were used as etching solutions. Etching processes were operated with a varying of the ratio of KOH and TMAH solutions in different temperature conditions. After saw-damage etching, wafers were cleaned with a modified RCA cleaning method for ten minutes. Each sample was divided into 42 pieces using an automatic dicing saw machine. The surface morphologies were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and 3D optical microscopy. The thickness distribution was measured by micrometer. The strength distribution was measured with a 4-point-bending tester. As a result, TMAH solution at $90^{\circ}C$ showed the best performance for flexural strength.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.241-241
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• 2008

Macrofore formation in silicon and other semiconductors using electrochemical etching processes has been, in the last years, a subject of great attention of both theory and practice. Its first reason of concern is new areas of macropore silicone applications arising from microelectromechanical systems processing (MEMS), membrane techniques, solar cells, sensors, photonic crystals, and new technologies like a silicon-on-nothing (SON) technology. Its formation mechanism with a rich variety of controllable microstructures and their many potential applications have been studied extensively recently. Porous silicon is formed by anodic etching of crystalline silicon in hydrofluoric acid. During the etching process holes are required to enable the dissolution of the silicon anode. For p-type silicon, holes are the majority charge carriers, therefore porous silicon can be formed under the action of a positive bias on the silicon anode. For n-type silicon, holes to dissolve silicon is supplied by illuminating n-type silicon with above-band-gap light which allows sufficient generation of holes. To make a desired three-dimensional nano- or micro-structures, pre-structuring the masked surface in KOH solution to form a periodic array of etch pits before electrochemical etching. Due to enhanced electric field, the holes are efficiently collected at the pore tips for etching. The depletion of holes in the space charge region prevents silicon dissolution at the sidewalls, enabling anisotropic etching for the trenches. This is correct theoretical explanation for n-type Si etching. However, there are a few experimental repors in p-type silicon, while a number of theoretical models have been worked out to explain experimental dependence observed. To perform ordered macrofore formaion for p-type silicon, various kinds of mask patterns to make initial KOH etch pits were used. In order to understand the roles played by the kinds of etching solution in the formation of pillar arrays, we have undertaken a systematic study of the solvent effects in mixtures of HF, N-dimethylformamide (DMF), iso-propanol, and mixtures of HF with water on the macrofore structure formation on monocrystalline p-type silicon with a resistivity varying between 10 ~ 0.01 $\Omega$ cm. The etching solution including the iso-propanol produced a best three dimensional pillar structures. The experimental results are discussed on the base of Lehmann's comprehensive model based on SCR width.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2012

Cleaning procedure of solar silicon wafer, following ingot sawing process in solar cell production is studied. Types of solar silicon wafer can be divided into monocrystalline or multicrystalline, and slurry sawn wafer or diamond sawn wafer according to the ingot growing methods and the sawing methods, respectively. Wafer surface and contaminants can vary with these methods. The characterisitics of contaminants and wafer surface are investigated for each cleaning substrate, and appropriate cleaning agents are developed. Physical properties and cleaning ability of the cleaning agents are evaluated in order to verify the application in the industry. The wafers cleaned with the cleaning agents do not show any residual contaminants when analyzed by XPS and regular patterns are formed after texturization. Furthermore, the cleaning agents are applied in the production industry, which shows superior cleaning results compared to the existing cleaning agents.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.119-123
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• 2006

This work presents the fabrication and characteristics of $Bi_2O_3/Si$ heterojunction prepared by rapid thermal oxidation technique without any postdeposition annealing condition. The bismuth trioxide film was deposited onto monocrystalline Si and glass substrates by rapid thermal oxidation of bismuth film with aid of halogen lamp at $500^{\circ}C/\;45$ s in static air. The structural, optical and electrical properties of $Bi_2O_3$ film were investigated and compared with other published results. The structural investigation showed that the grown films are polycrystalline and multiphase (${\alpha}-Bi_2O_3$ and ${\beta}-Bi_2O_3$). Optical properties revealed that these films having direct optical band gap of 2.55 eV at 300 K with high transparency in visible and NIR regions. Dark and illuminated I-V, CV, and spectral responsivity of $Bi_2O_3/Si$ heterojunction were investigated and discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.418-418
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• 2008

The electrochemical etching of silicon in HF-based solutions is known to form various types of porous structures. Porous structures are generally classified into three categories according to pore sizes: micropore (below 2 nm in size), mesopore (2 ~ 50 nm), and macropore (above 50 nm). Recently, the formation of macropores has attracted increasing interest because of their promising characteristics for an wide scope of applications such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), chemical sensors, biotechnology, photonic crystals, and photovoltaic application. One of the promising applications of macropores is in the field of MEMS. Anisotropic etching is essential step for fabrication of MEMS. Conventional wet etching has advantages such as low processing cost and high throughput, but it is unsuitable to fabricate high-aspect-ratio structures with vertical sidewalls due to its inherent etching characteristics along certain crystal orientations. Reactive ion dry etching is another technique of anisotropic etching. This has excellent ability to fabricate high-aspect-ratio structures with vertical sidewalls and high accuracy. However, its high processing cost is one of the bottlenecks for widely successful commercialization of MEMS. In contrast, by using electrochemical etching method together with pre-patterning by lithographic step, regular macropore arrays with very high-aspect-ratio up to 250 can be obtained. The formed macropores have very smooth surface and side, unlike deep reactive ion etching where surfaces are damaged and wavy. Especially, to make vertical microwire or nanowire arrays (aspect ratio = over 1:100) on silicon wafer with top-down photolithography, it is very difficult to fabricate them with conventional dry etching. The electrochemical etching is the most proper candidate to do it. The pillar structures are demonstrated for n-type silicon and the formation mechanism is well explained, while such a experimental results are few for p-type silicon. In this report, In order to understand the roles played by the kinds of etching solution and mask patterns in the formation of microwire arrays, we have undertaken a systematic study of the solvent effects in mixtures of HF, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), iso-propanol, and mixtures of HF with water on the structure formation on monocrystalline p-type silicon with a resistivity with 10 ~ 20 $\Omega{\cdot}cm$. The different morphological results are presented according to mask patterns and etching solutions.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.571-574
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• 2010

Surface recombination loss should be reduced for high efficiency of solar cells. To reduce this loss, the BSF (back surface field) is used. The BSF on the back of the p-type wafer forms a p+layer, which prevents the activity of electrons of the p-area for the rear recombination. As a result, the leakage current is reduced and the rear-contact has a good Ohmic contact. Therefore, the open-circuit-voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) of solar cells are increased. This paper investigates the formation of the rear contact process by comparing aluminum-paste (Al-paste) with pure aluminum-metal(99.9%). Under the vacuum evaporation process, pure aluminum-metal(99.9%) provides high conductivity and low contact resistance of $4.2\;m{\Omega}cm$, but It is difficult to apply the standard industrial process to it because high vacuum is needed, and it's more expensive than the commercial equipment. On the other hand, using the Al-paste process by screen printing is simple for the formation of metal contact, and it is possible to produce the standard industrial process. However, Al-paste used in screen printing is lower than the conductivity of pure aluminum-metal(99.9) because of its mass glass frit. In this study, contact resistances were measured by a 4-point probe. The contact resistance of pure aluminum-metal was $4.2\;m{\Omega}cm$ and that of Al-paste was $35.69\;m{\Omega}cm$. Then the rear contact was analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM).