• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.183-186
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• 2006

Reduction of optical losses in crystalline silicon solar cells by surface modification is one of the most important issues of silicon photovoltaics. Porous Si layers on the front surface of textured Si substrates have been investigated with the aim of improving the optical losses of the solar cells, because an anti-reflection coating and a surface passivation can be obtained simultaneously in one process. We have demonstrated the feasibility of a very efficient porous Si AR layer, prepared by a simple, cost effective, electrochemical etching method. Silicon p-type CZ (100) oriented wafers were textured by anisotropic etching in sodium carbonate solution. Then, the porous Si layer were formed by electrochemical etching in HF solutions. After that, the properties of porous Si in terms of morphology, structure and reflectance are summarized. The surface morphology of porous Si layers were investigated using SEM. The formation of a porous Si layer about $0.1{\mu}m$ thick on the textured silicon wafer result in an effective reflectance coefficient $R_{eff}$ lower than 5% in the wavelength region from 400 to 1000nm. Such a surface modification allows improving the Si solar cell characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.450-453
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• 2012

In crystalline solar cells, the substrate itself constitutes a large portion of the fabrication cost as it is derived from semiconductor ingots grown in costly high temperature processes. Thinner wafer substrates allow some cost saving as more wafers can be sliced from a given ingot, although technological limitations in slicing or sawing of wafers off an ingot, as well as the physical strength of the sliced wafers, put a lower limit on the substrate thickness. Complementary to these economical and techno-physical points of view, a device operation point of view of the substrate thickness would be useful. With this in mind, BC-BJ Si and GaAs solar cells are compared one to one by means of the Medici device simulation, with a particular emphasis on the substrate thickness. Under ideal conditions of 0.6 ${\mu}m$ photons entering the 10 ${\mu}m$-wide BC-BJ solar cells at the normal incident angle (${\theta}=90^{\circ}$), GaAs is about 2.3 times more efficient than Si in terms of peak cell power output: 42.3 $mW{\cdot}cm^{-2}$ vs. 18.2 $mW{\cdot}cm^{-2}$. This strong performance of GaAs, though only under ideal conditions, gives a strong indication that this material could stand competitively against Si, despite its known high material and process costs. Within the limitation of the minority carrier recombination lifetime value of $5{\times}10^{-5}$ sec used in the device simulation, the solar cell power is known to be only weakly dependent on the substrate thickness, particularly under about 100 ${\mu}m$, for both Si and GaAs. Though the optimum substrate thickness is about 100 ${\mu}m$ or less, the reduction in the power output is less than 10% from the peak values even when the substrate thickness is increased to 190 ${\mu}m$. Thus, for crystalline Si and GaAs with a relatively long recombination lifetime, extra efforts to be spent on thinning the substrate should be weighed against the expected actual gain in the solar cell output power.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.04a
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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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.858-862
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• 2013

The front electrode should be used to make solar cell panel so as to collect electron. The front electrode is used by paste type, printed on the Si-solar cell wafer and sintered at about $800^{\circ}C$. The paste is composed Ag powder and glass frit which make the ohmic contact between Ag electrode and n-type semiconductor layer. From the previous study, the Ag electrodes which used two commercial glass frit of Bi-system were so different on the interface resistance. The main composition of them was Bi-Zn-B-Si-O and few additives added in one of them. In this study, glass frit was made with the ratio of $Bi_2O_3$ and ZnO on the main composition, and then paste using glass frit was prepared respectively. And, also, the paste using the glass frit added oxide additives were prepared. The change of interface resistance was not large with the ratio of $Bi_2O_3$ and ZnO. In the case of G6 glass frit, 78 wt% $Bi_2O_3$ addition, the interface resistance was $190{\Omega}$ and most low. In the glass frit added oxide, the case of Ca increased over 10 times than it of G6 glass frit on the interface resistance. It was thaught that after sintering, Ca added glass frit was not flowed to the interface between Ag electrode and wafer but was in the Ag electrode.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.23-29
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• 2013

Furnace and laser is currently the most important doping process. However furnace is typically difficult appling for selective emitters. Laser requires an expensive equipment and induces a structural damage due to high temperature using laser. This study has developed a new atmospheric pressure plasma source and research atmospheric pressure plasma doping. Atmospheric pressure plasma source injected Ar gas is applied a low frequency (a few 10 kHz) and discharged the plasma. We used P type silicon wafers of solar cell. We set the doping parameter that plasma treatment time was 6s and 30s, and the current of making the plasma is 70 mA and 120 mA. As result of experiment, prolonged plasma process time and highly plasma current occur deeper doping depth and improve sheet resistance. We investigated doping profile of phosphorus paste by SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy) and obtained the sheet resistance using generally formula. Additionally, grasped the wafer surface image with SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) to investigate surface damage of doped wafer. Therefore we confirm the possibility making the selective emitter of solar cell applied atmospheric pressure plasma doping with phosphorus paste.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.243-247
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• 2012

The paper focuses on an anti-reflection (AR) coating deposited by PECVD in silicon solar cell fabrication. AR coating is effective to reduce the reflection of the light on the silicon wafer surface and then increase substantially the solar cell conversion efficiency. In this work, we carried out experiments to optimize double AR coating layer with silicon nitride and silicon oxide for the silicon solar cells. The p-type mono crystalline silicon wafers with $156{\times}156mm^2$ area, 0.5-3 ${\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ resistivity, and $200{\mu}m$ thickness were used. All wafers were textured in KOH solution, doped with $POCl_3$ and removed PSG before ARC process. The optimized thickness of each ARC layer was calculated by theoretical equation. For the double layer of AR coating, silicon nitride layer was deposited first using $SiH_4$ and $NH_3$, and then silicon oxide using $SiH_4$ and $N_2O$. As a result, reflectance of $SiO_2/SiN_x$ layer was lower than single $SiN_x$ and then it resulted in increase of short-circuit current and conversion efficiency. It indicates that the double AR coating layer is necessary to obtain the high efficiency solar cell with PECVD already used in commercial line.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.442-453
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• 2023

Tandem or multijunction solar cells (MJSCs) can convert sunlight into electricity with higher efficiency (η) than single junction solar cells (SJSCs) by dividing the solar irradiance over sub-cells having distinct bandgaps. The efficiencies of various common SJSC materials are close to the edge of their theoretical efficiency and hence there is a tremendous growing interest in utilizing the tandem/multijunction technique. Recently, III-V materials integration on a silicon substrate has been broadly investigated in the development of III-V on Si tandem solar cells. Numerous growth techniques such as heteroepitaxial growth, wafer bonding, and mechanical stacking are crucial for better understanding of high-quality III-V epitaxial layers on Si. As the choice of growth method and substrate selection can significantly impact the quality and performance of the resulting tandem cell and the terminal configuration exhibit a vital role in the overall proficiency. Parallel and Series-connected configurations have been studied, each with its advantage and disadvantages depending on the application and cell configuration. The optimization of both growth mechanisms and terminal configurations is necessary to further improve efficiency and lessen the cost of III-V on Si tandem solar cells. In this review article, we present an overview of the growth mechanisms and terminal configurations with the areas of research that are crucial for the commercialization of III-V on Si tandem solar cells.

• 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.

• 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.15 no.11
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• pp.2439-2443
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• 2011

To obtain the effect of texturing process in Solar cells, the Si-wafers were textured by using the IPA+DI water mixed etching solution with KOH alkaline. All samples were analyzed by the scanning electron microscopy for the surface images, and it was researched the correlation between the efficiency of optical properties and the effect of texturing. From the results of the surface images obtained by SEM, mc-Si wafer shows a isotropic surface but sc-Si wafers displays the unisotropic surface. The reflectance was improved at the sc-Si wafer textured uniformly, and the reflectance of over etched-samples increased.