• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.156-159
• /
• 2011

SiNx:H films have been widely used for anti-reflection coatings and passivation for crystalline silicon solar cells. In this study, SiNx:H films were deposited using high frequency (13.56 MHz) direct plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and the optical and passivation properties were investigated. The radio frequency power, the spacing between the showerhead and wafer, the $NH_3/SiH_4$ ratio, the total gas flow, and the $N_2$ gas flow were changed over certain ranges for the film deposition. The thickness uniformity, the refractive index, and the minority carrier lifetime were then measured in order to study the properties of the film. The optimal deposition conditions for application to crystalline Si solar cells are determined from the results of this study.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.67-77
• /
• 1995

Abstract The principal factor affecting the increased penetration of photovoltaics into the marketplace is cost. For traditional crystalline silicon modules, half of the cost is that of the silicon wafers. As a result much effort has centered on reducing this cost by the use of thin film technologies. Substantial technical progress has been made towards improving the efficiencies of polycrystalline thin film solar cells to reduce the production costs. Progress in semiconductor deposition techniques has also been rapid. The most mature of these are based on polycrystalline silicon (p - Si), amorphous silicon (a - Si), copper indium diselenide $SuInSe_2$(CIS), and cadmium telluride (CdTe). This paper explores the recent advances in the development of polycrystalline thin film solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.62-68
• /
• 2012

The conversion efficiency of solar cells depending on incident angle of light is important for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) applications. The quantum efficiency is the ratio of the number of charge carriers collected by the solar cell to the number of photons of a given energy shining on the solar cell. The analysis of angle dependence of quantum efficiencies give more information upon the variation of power output of a solar cell by the incident angle of light. The variations in power output of solar cells with increasing angle of incidence is different for the type of cell structures. In this study we present the results of the quantum efficiency measurement of single-crystalline silicon solar cells and a-Si:H thin-film solar cells with the angle of incidence of light. As a result, as the angle of incidence increases in single-crystalline silicon solar cells, quantum efficiency at all wavelength (300~1,100 nm) of light were reduced. But in case of a-Si:H thin-film solar cells, quantum efficiency was increased or maintained at the angle of incidence from 0 degree to about 40 degrees and dramatically decrease at more than 40 degrees in the range of visible light. This results of quantum efficiency with increasing incident angle were caused by haze and interference effects in thin-film structure. Thus, the structural optimization considering incident angle dependence of solar cells is expected to benefit BIPV.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.120-124
• /
• 2011

Silicon heterojunction solar cells have been studied by many research groups. In this work, silicon heterojunction solar cells having a simple structure of Ag/ZnO:Al/n type a-Si:H/p type c-Si/Al were fabricated. Samples were fabricated to investigate the effect of transparent conductive oxide growth conditions on the interface between ZnO:Al layer and a-Si:H layer. One sample was deposited by ZnO:Al at low working pressure. The other sample was deposited by ZnO:Al at alternating high working pressure and low working pressure. Electrical properties and chemical properties were investigated by light I-V characteristics and AES method, respectively. The light I-V characteristics showed better efficiency on sample deposited by ZnO:Al by alternating high working pressure and low working pressure. Atomic concentrations and relative oxidation states of Si, O, and Zn were analyzed by AES method. For poor efficiency samples, Si was diffused into ZnO:Al layer and O was diffused at the interface of ZnO:Al and Si. Differentiated O KLL spectra, Zn LMM spectra, and Si KLL spectra were used for interface reaction and oxidation state. According to AES spectra, sample deposited by high working pressure was effective at reducing the interface reaction and the Si diffusion. Consequently, the efficiency was improved by suppressing the SiOx formation at the interface.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
• /
• v.31A no.7
• /
• pp.102-109
• /
• 1994

Low cost high efficiency single crystal silicon solar cells for terrestrial applications have been fabricated by using inexpensive materials such as solar grade silicon wafer and pastes, and mass production processes such as screen printing and spray. Under 100 mW/cm$^2$ (AM 1.5) and $25^{\circ}C$ conditions conversion efficiency of 16.48% was obtained by anon fire-thru process and 15.55% by fire-thru process.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.68-71
• /
• 2020

In this study, SiNx and Al₂O₃ thin film was manufactured using PECVD deposition process and applied to crystalline silicon solar cells, resulting in 16.7% conversion efficiency. The structural improvement experiment of the rear electrode resulted in a 1.7% improvement in conversion efficiency compared to the reference cell by reducing the recombination rate of minority carriers and increasing the carrier lifetime by forming a passivation layer consisting of SiNx and Al₂O₃ thin films through the PECVD process.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.192-197
• /
• 2017

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon (a-Si:H) is used as an emitter layer in HIT (heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cells. Its low band gap and low optical properties (low transmittance and high absorption) cause parasitic absorption on the front side of a solar cell that significantly reduces the solar cell blue response. To overcome this, research on CSC (carrier Selective Contacts) is being actively carried out to reduce carrier recombination and improve carrier transportation as a means to approach the theoretical efficiency of silicon solar cells. Among CSC materials, molybdenum oxide ($MoO_x$) is most commonly used for the hole transport layer (HTL) of a solar cell due to its high work function and wide band gap. This paper analyzes the electrical and optical properties of $MoO_x$ thin films for use in the HTL of HIT solar cells. The optical properties of $MoO_x$ show better performance than a-Si:H and ${\mu}c-SiO_x:H$.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.107-111
• /
• 2015

Current characteristic curve of an illuminated solar cell was used to determine its reverse saturation current density ($J_0$), ideality factor (n) and resistances, by using numerical diode simulation. High efficiency amorphous silicon, heterojunction crystalline Si (HIT), plastic and organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cell shows n=3.27 for a-Si and n=2.14 for improved HIT cell as high and low n respectively, while the perovskite and plastic cells show n=2.56 and 2.57 respectively. The $J_0$ of these cells remain within $7.1{\times}10^{-7}$ and $1.79{\times}10^{-8}A/cm^2$ for poorer HIT and improved perovskite solar cell respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.06a
• /
• pp.454-455
• /
• 2009

Selective emitter structure have an important research subject for crystalline silicon solar cells because it is used in production for high efficiency solar cells. A selective emitter structure with highly doped regions underneath the metal contacts is widely known to be one of the most promising high-efficiency solution in solar cell processing. Since most of the selective emitter processes require expensive extra masking and double steps process. Formation of selective emitters is not cost effective. One method that satisfies these requirements is the method of screen-printing with a phosphorus doping paste. In this paper we researched two groups of selective emitter structure process. One was using dopant paste, and the other was using solid source, in order to compare their uniformity, sheet resistance and performance condition time.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2003.07c
• /
• pp.1598-1600
• /
• 2003

Microcrystalline silicon(c-Si:H) thin-film solar cells are prepared with intrinsic Si-layer by hot wire CVD. The operating parameters of solar cells are strongly affected by the filament temperature ($T_f$) during intrinsic layer. Jsc and efficiency abruptly decreases with elevated $T_f$ to $1400^{\circ}C$. This deterioration of solar cell parameters are resulted from increase of crystalline volume fraction and corresponding defect density at high $T_f$ The heater temperature ($T_h$) are also critical parameter that controls device operations. Solar cells prepared at low $T_h$ (<$200^{\circ}C$) shows a similar operating properties with devices prepared at high $T_f$, i.e. low Jsc, Voc and efficiency. The origins for this result, however, are different with that of inferior device performances at high $T_f$. In addition the phase transition of the silicon films occurs at different silane concentration (SC) by varying filament temperature, by which highest efficiency with SC vanes with $T_f$.