• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.565-569
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• 2006

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) is a well established technique for the deposition of hydrogenated film of silicon nitride (SiNx:H), which is commonly used as an antireflection coating as well as passivating layer in crystalline silicon solar cell. PECVD-SiNx:H films were investigated by varying the deposition and annealing conditions to optimize for the application in silicon solar cells. By varying the gas ratio (ammonia to silane), the silicon nitride films of refractive indices 1.85 - 2.45 were obtained. The film deposited at $450^{\circ}C$ showed the best carrier lifetime through the film deposition rate was not encouraging. The film deposited with the gas ratio of 0.57 showed the best carrier lifetime after annealing at a temperature of $800^{\circ}C$. The single crystalline silicon solar cells fabricated in conventional industrial production line applying the optimized film deposition and annealing conditions on large area substrate of size $125mm{\times}125mm$ (pseudo square) was found to have the conversion efficiencies as high as 17.05 %. Low cost and high efficiency silicon solar cells fabrication sequence has also been explained in this paper.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.378-381
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• 2008

고효율 a-Si:H/c-Si 이종접합 태양전지를 얻기 위해서는 우수한 c-Si wafer 위에 고품질의 비정질 실리콘박막을 통한 heterointerface를 형성하는 것이 매우 중요하다. 이를 달성하기 위해서는 공정중에 오염되기 쉬운 Si wafer 표면 상태를 정확히 검사하고 잘 관리하여야 한다. 본 연구에서는 세정 및 표면산화에 따른 Si wafer 상태를 Spectroscopic Ellipsometry 및 u-PCD를 이용하여 분석하였으며, <$\varepsilon$2> @4.25eV 값이 Si wafer 상태를 잘 나타내고 있음을 확인하였고 세정 최적화 할 경우 그 값이 43.02에 도달하였다. 또한 RF-PECVD로 증착된a-Si:H 박막을 EMA 모델링을 통해 분석한 결과 낮은 결정성과 높은 밀도를 가지는 a-Si:H를 얻을 수 있었으며, 이를 이종접합 태양전지에 적용한 결과 Flat wafer상에서 10.88%, textured wafer 적용하여 13.23%의 변환효율을 얻었다. 결론적으로 Spectroscopic Ellipsometry가 매우 얇고 고품질의 다층 박막이 필요한 이종접합 태양전지 분석에 있어 매우 유용한 방법임이 확인되었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.107-107
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• 2011

오늘 날 transparent conductive oxide는 다양한 분야에서 활용되고 있다. 최근에는 태양전지 분야에서도 많이 활용되고 있으며, 초기에는 transmittance 및 낮은 sheet resistance 특성을 가지는 ITO가 많이 활용되었지만 thin film solar cell와 같이 hydrogenation 공정에 약한 ITO보다는 Al-doped ZnO가 사용되기 시작하면서 많은 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 thin film solar cell 및 silicon heterojunction solar cell에 적용 가능한 Al-doped ZnO에 관한 연구로써 a-Si:H의 Si-H bonds에 영향을 주지 않는 낮은 영역의 substrate temperature와 power로 Al-doped ZnO를 형성하고 상기 parameter에 따른 Al-doped ZnO의 특성 변화에 대해서 분석하였다. 특히 substrate temperature가 변화할수록 carrier concentration 및 sheet resistance가 많은 변화를 보였으며 이로 인하여 transmittance 특성이 온도에 따라 좋아지다가 너무 높은 온도에서는 오히려 좋지 않게 되었다. 이는 너무 높은 carrier concentration은 free carrier absorption에 의해 transmittance 특성을 오히려 좋지 않게 한다. 우리는 본 연구를 통해 92.677% (450 nm), 90.309% (545 nm), 94.333% (800 nm)의 transmittance를 얻을 수 있었다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.275-277
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• 2007

유리를 기판으로 하는 superstrate pin 비정질 태양전지에서 전면투명전도막(TCO)과 p-layer의 계면이 태양전지의 효율을 내는데 가장 큰 기여를 한다. 전면투명전도막(TCO)으로 현재 일반적으로 사용되는 ZnO:Al는 $SnO_2:F$ 보다 전기,광학적으로 우수하고, 안개율(Haze)높으며, 수소 플라즈마에서의 안정성이 높은 특정을 갖고 있다. 그래서 박막 태양전지 특성향상에 매우 유리하나, 태양전지로 제조했을 때, $SnO_2:F$보다 충진율(Fill factor:F.F)과 V_{\infty}$ 가 감소한다는 단점을 가지고 있다. 본 실험실에서는 $SnO_2:F$의 F.F가 72%이 나온 반면 ZnO:Al의 F.F은 68%에 그쳤다. 이들 원인을 분석하기 위해 TCO/p-layer의 전기적 특성을 알아 본 결과, $SnO_2:F$보다 ZnO:Al의 직렬저항이 높게 측정되었다. 이러한 결과를 바탕으로 p-layer 에 R={$H_2/SiH_4$}=25로 변화, p ${\mu$}c$-Si:H/p a-SiC:H 로 p-layer 이중 증착, p-layer의 boron doping 농도를 증가시키는 실험을 하였다. 직렬저항이 가장 낮았던 p ${\mu$}c$-Si:H/p a-SiC:H 로 p-layer 이중 증착에서 Voc는 0.95V F.F는 70% 이상이 나왔다. 이들 각 p층의 $E_a$(Activation Energy)를 구해본 결과, ${\mu$}c$-Si:H의 Ea 가 가장 낮은 것을 관찰 할 수 있었다.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.63-68
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• 2007

유리를 기판으로 하는 superstrate pin 비정질 실리콘 태양전진에서 전면 투명전도막(TCO)과 p-층의 계면은 태양전지 변환효율에 큰 영향을 미친다. 면투명전도막(TCO)으로 현재 일반적으로 사용되는 ZnO:Al는 $SnO_2:F$보다 전기, 광학적으로 우수하고, 안개율 (Haze)높으며, 수소 플라즈마에서 안정성이 높은 특징을 갖고 있다. 그래서 박막 태양전지의 특성향상에 매우 유리하나, 태양전지로 제조했을 때, $SnO_2$보다 충진율(Fill Factor:F.F)과 $V_{oc}$가 감소한다는 단점을 가지고 있다. 본 실험실에서는 $SnO_2:F$dml F.F.가 72%이 나온 반면 ZnO:Al의 F.F은 68%에 그쳤다. 이들 원인을 분석하기 위해 TCO/p-layer의 전기적 특성을 알아 본 결과, $SnO_2:F$보다 ZnO:Al의 직렬저항이 높게 측정되었다. 이러한 결과를 바탕으로 p-layer에 $R=(H_2/SiH_4)=25$로 변화, p ${\mu}c$-Si:H/p a-SiC:H로 p-layer 이중 증착, p-layer의 boron doping 농도를 증가시키는 실험을 하였다. 직렬저항이 가장 낮았던 p ${\mu}c$-Si:H/p a-SiC:H 인 p-layer 이중 증착에서 $V_{oc}$는 0.95V F.F는 70%이상이 나왔다. 이들 각 p층의 $E_a$(Activiation Energy)를 구해본 결과, ${\mu}c$-Si:H의 Ea 가 가장 낮은 것을 관찰 할 수 있었다.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.519-524
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• 2019

Even though stainless steel foil is not a highly efficient material for film-type solar cell, it has strong passivation capability without additional process. In this study, silicone resin was employed during a-Si:H thin film solar cell fabrication for the purpose of planarization and electrical insulation. In the first stage of process, silicone resin was coat onto the stainless steel (STS) using spin coater with thickness of $2{\sim}3{\mu}m$ and followed by aluminum deposition using ion beam application. Unexpectedly buckling was formed during aluminum deposition process. After subsequent fabrication processes, solar cell performance was evaluated. In voltage-current data, slight increase of cell performance was obtained and interpreted by the increase of light scattering.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.321-322
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• 2009

Al doped ZnO films deposited on glass substrate using RF magnetron sputtering in Ar and $Ar+H_2$ gas ambient at $100^{\circ}C$. The films deposited in $Ar+H_2$ were hydrogen-annealed at the temperature of $150\sim300^{\circ}C$ for 1hr. The lowest resistivity of $4.25\times10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ was obtained for the AZO film deposited in $Ar+H_2$ after hydrogen annealing at $300^{\circ}C$ for 1hr. The average transmittance is above 85% in the range of 400-1000 nm for all films. The absorption efficiency of solar cell was improved by using the optimized AZO films as a top electrode.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.68-73
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• 2008

It is very important that constitution of good hetero-junction interface with a high quality amorphous silicon thin films on very cleaned c-Si wafer for making high efficiency hetero-junction solar cells. For achieving the high efficiency solar cells, the inspection and management of c-Si wafer surface conditions are essential subjects. In this experiment, we analyzed the c-Si wafer surface very sensitively using Spectroscopic Ellipsometer for < ${\varepsilon}2$ > and u-PCD for effective carrier life time, so we accomplished < ${\varepsilon}2$ > value 43.02 at 4.25eV by optimizing the cleaning process which is representative of c-Si wafer surface conditions very well. We carried out that the deposition of high quality hydrogenated silicon amorphous thin films by RF-PECVD systems having high density and low crystallinity which are results of effective medium approximation modeling and fitting using spectroscopic ellipsometer. We reached the cell efficiency 12.67% and 14.30% on flat and textured CZ c-Si wafer each under AM1.5G irradiation, adopting the optimized cleaning and deposition conditions that we made. As a result, we confirmed that spectroscopic ellipsometry is very useful analyzing methode for hetero-junction solar cells which need to very thin and high quality multi layer structure.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.10
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• pp.1694-1696
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• 2016

Present thin film solar cells with hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO:H) as an absorber suffer from low fill factor(FF) of 61~64 [%] in spite of its benefits related to high open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$). Since degraded quality of a-SiO:H absorber by alloying with oxygen can affect the FF, we aimed to achieve high photosensitivity by minimizing $CO_2$ gas addition. Improving optical gap($E_{opt}$) has been attained by strong hydrogen dilution combined with lowering substrate temperature down to 100 [$^{\circ}C$]. Small amount of the $CO_2$ was added in order to disturb microcrystalline formation by high hydrogen dilution. The developed a-SiO:H has high photosensitivity (${\sim}2{\times}10^5$) and high $E_{opt}$ of 1.85 [eV], which contributed to attain remarkable FF of 74 [%] and high $V_{oc}$ (>1 [V]). As a result, high power conversion efficiency of 7.18 [%] was demonstrated by using very thin absorber layer of only 100 [nm], even though we processed all experiment at extremely low temperature of 100 [$^{\circ}C$].

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.312-312
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• 2011

In SiH4/H2 discharge for growth process of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), silane polymers, produced by SiH2 + Sin-1H2n ${\rightarrow}$ SinH2n+2, have no reactivity on the film-growing surface. However, under the SiH2 rich condition, high silane reactive species (HSRS) can be produced by electron collision to silane polymers. HSRS, having relatively strong reactivity on the surface, can react with dangling bond and form Si-H2 networks which have a close correlation with photo-induced degradation of a-Si:H thin film solar cell [1]. To find contributions of suggested several external plasma conditions (pressure, frequency and ratio of mixture gas) [2,3] to suppressing productions of HSRS, some plasma characteristics are studied by numerical methods. For this study, a zero-dimensional global model for SiH4/H2 discharge and a one-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte-Carlo-collision model (PIC-MCC) for pure SiH4 discharge have been developed. Densities of important reactive species of SiH4/H2 discharge are observed by means of the global model, dealing 30 species and 136 reactions, and electron energy probability functions (EEPFs) of pure SiH4 discharge are obtained from the PIC-MCC model, containing 5 charged species and 15 reactions. Using global model, SiH2/SiH3 values were calculated when pressure and driving frequency vary from 0.1 Torr to 10 Torr, from 13.56 MHz to 60 MHz respectively and when the portion of hydrogen changes. Due to the limitation of global model, frequency effects can be explained by PIC-MCC model. Through PIC-MCC model for pure SiH4, EEPFs are obtained in the specific range responsible for forming SiH2 and SiH3: from 8.75 eV to 9.47 eV [4]. Through densities of reactive species and EEPFs, polymerization reactions and production of HSRS are discussed.