• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.337-344
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• 2024

This work focuses on improving the light-harvesting efficiency of thin-film silicon solar cells through innovative multi-architecture surface modifications. To create a regular optical structure, a lithographic process was performed to form it on a glass substrate through various etching processes, from Etch-1 to Etch-3. AZO was deposited on top of the structures and re-etched to create a multi-architectural surface. These surface-modified structures improved the light absorption and overall performance of the solar cell through changes in optical and physical properties, which we will analyze. In addition, we investigated the effect of post-cleaning on the etched glass structures through EDX analysis to understand the mechanism of the etching action. The results of this study are expected to provide important guidelines for the design and fabrication of solar cells and other photovoltaic devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.686-686
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• 2013

Crystalline silicon solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts light into electrical energy. Screen printing is commonly used to form the front/back electrodes in silicon solar cell. Screen printing method is convenient but usually shows high resistance and low aspect ratio, which cause the efficiency decrease in crystalline silicon solar cell. Recently the plating method is applied in c-Si solar cell to reduce the resistance and improve the aspect ratio. In this paper, we investigated the effect of additional electroless Ag plating into screen-printed c-Si solar cell and compared their electrical properties. All wafers used in this experiment were textured, doped, and anti-reflection coated. The electrode formation was performed with screen-printing, followed by the firing step. Aften then we carried out electroless Ag plating by changing the plating time in the range of 20 sec~5 min and light intensity. The light I-V curve and optical microscope were measured with the completed solar cell. As a result, the conversion efficiency of solar cells was increased mainly due to the decreased series resistance.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.149-153
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• 2011

The PC1D is widely used for modeling the properties of crystalline silicon solar cell. Optimized doping profile in crystalline silicon solar cell fabrication is necessary to obtain high conversion efficiency. Doping profile in the forms of a uniform, gaussian, exponential and erfc function can be simulated using the PC1D program. In this paper, the doping profiles including junction depth, dopant concentration on surface and the form of doping profile (gaussian, gaussian+erfc function) were changed to study its effect on electrical properties of solar cell. As decreasing junction depth and doping concentration on surface, electrical properties of solar cell were improved. The characteristics for the solar cells with doping profile using the combination of gaussian and erfc function showed better open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current and conversion efficiency.

• Composites Research
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.56-63
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• 2011

The objective of this study is to investigate appropriate bonding methods of solar cells in order to apply solar cells, which have been receiving particular attention as a renewable energy due to fossil energy depletion and environment issues, to composite structures. Back-contact solar cells with approximately 24.2% energy conversion efficiency were used in this study. Since silicon-based solar cells are mechanically fragile, the secondary-bonding methods using adhesive were examined in this study. The experiment was conducted with three kinds of bonding materials such as EVA film, Resin film and elastic adhesive. The performance of solar cells for three types of adhesives under mechanical loading on test specimens is conducted. In addition, the measuring equipment was designed to evaluate the performance of the solar cells under mechanical loading in real time and the fracture characteristics depending on bonding materials were evaluated. The reason decreasing solar cells efficiency were analyzed and considered by Fractography. The results show that the solar cell performance is largely affected by bonding techniques. Moreover, the bonding method using elastic adhesive shows best solar cell efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.219-224
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• 2012

We study for long-term performance of amorphous silicon solar cells under light exposure. The performance is predicted with a kinetic model in which the carrier lifetimes are determined by the defect density. In particular, the kinetic model is described by the stretched-exponential relaxation of defects to reach equilibrium. In this report, we simulate the light-induced degradation of the amorphous silicon solar cells with the kinetic model and AMPS-1D computer program. And data measured for outdoor performances of various solar cells are compared with the simulated results. This study focuses on examining the light-induced degradation for the following amorphous silicon pin solar cells: thickness${\approx}$300 nm, built-in potential${\approx}$1.05 V, defect density (at t=0)${\approx}5{\times}10^{15}cm^{-3}$, short-circuit current density (at t=0)${\approx}15.8mA/cm^2$, fill factor (at t=0)${\approx}0.691$, open-circuit voltage (at t=0)${\approx}0.865V$, conversion efficiency (at t=0)${\approx}9.50%$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.455-460
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• 2016

A textured front surface is required in high efficiency silicon solar cells to reduce reflectance and to improve light trapping. Wet etching with alkaline solution is usually applied for mono crystalline silicon solar cells. However, alkali texturing method is not appropriate for multi-crystalline silicon wafers due to grain boundary of random crystallographic orientation. Accordingly, acid texturing method is generally used for multi-crystalline silicon wafers to reduce the surface reflectance. To reduce reflectivity of multi-crystalline silicon wafers, double texturing method with combination of acid and reactive ion etching is an attractive technical solution. In this paper, we have studied to optimize RIE condition by different RF power condition (100, 150, 200, 250, 300 W).

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.1-5
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• 2008

This paper analyzes on the radiation effect of silicon solar cells in a low Earth orbit satellite by using high energy electron beams. Generally, the satellite circling round in a low orbit go through Van Allen belt, in which electronic components are easily damaged and shortened by charged particles moving in a cycle between the South Pole and the North Pole. For example, Single Event Upset (SEU) by radiation could cause electronic devices on satellite to malfunction. From the ground experiment in which we used the high energy electron beam facility at Knrea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), we tried to explain sun sensor degradations on orbit could he caused by high energy electrons. While we focused on the solar cells used for light detectors, We convince our research also contributes to understand the radiation effect of solar cells generating electric powers on satellites.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.33-45
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• 2017

Crystalline silicon photovoltaic module certification began in 2007. "Renewable Energy Equipment Certification Scheme" was implemented until July 28, 2015. Then, the scheme was changed to "KS Certification Scheme" since July 29, 2015. A total of 2,331 models have been certified by 2016. The proportion of multi crystalline modules in certified products is higher than that of mono crystalline modules, and Korean modules account for 78% of the total certification modules. Chinese solar cells account for the highest percentage of 40% of the total modules and 62.4% of modules certified in 2016 use Chinese solar cells. With the development of technology, module power is continuously increasing, and efficiency is also rising. The average efficiency of mono crystalline module is 0.74% higher than the average of multi crystalline module. As a result of comparing domestic module with Chinese module, the highest efficiency of mono crystalline module and multi crystalline module and the average efficiency of mono crystalline module are higher than those of Chinese module, but the average efficiency of multi crystalline module is similar to that of Chinese module.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.12-15
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• 2016

Screen printing technique followed by firing has commonly been used as metallization for both laboratory and industrial based solar cells. In the solar cell industry, the firing process is usually conducted in a belt furnace and needs to be optimized for fabricating high efficiency solar cells. The printed-Al layer on the silicon is rapidly heated at over $800^{\circ}C$ which forms a layer of back surface field (BSF) between Si-Al interfaces. The BSF layer forms $p-p^+$ structure on the rear side of cells and lower rear surface recombination velocity (SRV). To have low SRV, deep $p^+$ layer and uniform junction formation are required. In this experiment, firing process was carried out by using conventional tube furnace with $N_2$ gas atmosphere to optimize $V_{oc}$ of laboratory cells. To measure the thickness of BSF layer, selective etching was conducted by using a solution composed of hydrogen fluoride, nitric acid and acetic acid. The $V_{oc}$ and pseudo efficiency were measured by Suns-$V_{oc}$ to compare cell properties with varied firing condition.

• JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL WORLD
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• no.4 s.148
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• pp.30-36
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• 1989