• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2013

Lowering surface reflectance of Si wafers by texturization is one of the most important processes for improving the efficiency of Si solar cells. This paper presents the results on the effect of texturing using acidic solution mixtures containing the catalytic agents to moderate etching rates on the surface morphology of mc-Si wafer as well as on the performance parameters of solar cell. It was found that the treatment of contaminated crystalline silicon wafer with $HNO_3-H_2O_2-H_2O$ solution before the texturing helps the removal of organic contaminants due to its oxidizing properties and thereby allows the formation of nucleation centers for texturing. This treatment combined with the use of a catalytic agent such as phosphoric acid improved the effects of the texturing effects. This reduced the reflectance of the surface, thereby increased the short circuit current and the conversion efficiency of the solar cell. Employing this technique, we were able to fabricate mc-Si solar cell of 16.4% conversion efficiency with anti-reflective (AR) coating of silicon nitride film using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and Si wafers can be texturized in a short time.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.1448-1452
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• 2004

In this paper, a photodiode capable of obtaining a sufficient photo/ dark current ratio at both a forward bias state and a reverse bias state is proposed. The photodiode includes a glass substrate, an Cr thin film formed as a lower electrode over the glass substrate, Cr silicide thin film(∼l00$\AA$) ) formed as a schottky barrier over the Cr thin film, a hydrogenated amorphous silicon film formed as a photo conduction layer over a portion of the Cr silicide thin film. Transparent conduction film ITO (thickness 100nm) formed as an upper electrode over the hydro-generated amorphous silicon film is then deposited in pure argon at room temperature for the Schottky contact and light window. The high quality Cr silicide thin film using annealing of Cr and a-Si:H is formed and analyzed by experiment. We have obtained the film with a superior characteristics. The dark current of the ITO/a-Si:H Schottky at a reverse bias of -5V is ∼3$\times$IO-12 A/un2, and one of the lowest reported, hitherto. AES(Auger Electron Spectroscophy) measurements indicate that this notable improvement in device characteristics stems from reduced diffusion of oxygen, rather than indium, from the ITO into the a-Si:H layer, thus, preserving the integrity of the Schottky interface. The spectral response of the photodiode for wavelengths in the range from 400nm to 800nm shows the expected behavior whereby the photocurrent is governed by the absorption characteristics of a-Si:H.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.2075-2082
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• 2006

This paper presents modeling and optimization techniques for hish efficiency solar cell process on single-crystalline float zone (FZ) wafers. Among a sequence of multiple steps of fabrication, the followings are the most sensitive steps for the contact formation: 1) Emitter formation by diffusion; 2) Anti-reflection-coating (ARC) with silicon nitride using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD); 3) Screen-printing for front and back metalization; and 4) Contact formation by firing. In order to increase the performance of solar cells in terms of efficiency, the contact formation process is modeled and optimized using neural networks and genetic algorithms, respectively. This paper utilizes the design of experiments (DOE) in contact formation to reduce process time and fabrication costs. The experiments were designed by using central composite design which consists of 24 factorial design augmented by 8 axial points with three center points. After contact formation process, the efficiency of the fabricated solar cell is modeled using neural networks. Established efficiency model is then used for the analysis of the process characteristics and process optimization for more efficient solar cell fabrication.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.348-353
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• 1997

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon(a-C:H) films were deposited on p-type Si(100) by DC saddle-field plasma enhanced CVD to investigate the effect of substrate bias on optical properties and structural changes. They were deposited using pure methane gas at a wide range of substrate bias at room temperature and 90 mtorr. The substrate bias voltage ($V_s$) was employed from $V_s=0 V$ to $V_s=400 V$. The information of optical properties was investigated by photoluminescence and transmitance. Chemical bondings of a-C:H have been explored from FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. The thickness and relative hydrogen content of the films were measured by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and elastic recoil detection (ERD) technigue. The growth rate of a-C:H film was decreased with the increase of $V_s$, but the hydrogen content of the film was increased with the increase of $V_s$. The a-C:H films deposited at the lowest $V_s$ contain the smallest amount of hydrogen with most of C-H bonds in the of $CH_2$ configuration, whereas the films produced at higher $V_s$ reveal dominant the $CH_3$ bonding structure. The emission of white photoluminescence from the films were observed even with naked eyes at room temperature and the PL intensity of the film has the maximum value at $V_s$=200 V. With $V_s$ lower than 200 V, the PL intensity of the film increased with V, but for V, higher than 200 V, the PL intensity decreased with the increase of $V_s$. The peak energy of the PL spectra slightly shifted to the higher energy with the increase of $V_s$. The optical bandgap of the film, determined by optical transmittance, was increased from 1.5 eV at $V_s$=0V to 2.3 eV at $V_s$=400 V. But there were no obvious relations between the PL peak and the optical gap which were measured by Tauc process.