Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society (한국태양에너지학회 논문집)

The Korean Solar Energy Society (한국태양에너지학회)
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Properties of Silicon Nitride Deposited by RF-PECVD for C-Si solar cell

결정질 실리콘 태양전지를 위한 실리콘 질화막의 특성

  • Park, Je-Jun (Dept.of Electronic Engineering, Chungnam National University) ;
  • Kim, Jin-Kuk (Dept. of Semiconductor Engineering, Chungbuk National University) ;
  • Song, Hee-Eun (Korea Institute of Energy Research) ;
  • Kang, Min-Gu (Korea Institute of Energy Research) ;
  • Kang, Gi-Hwan (Korea Institute of Energy Research) ;
  • Lee, Hi-Deok (Dept.of Electronic Engineering, Chungnam National University)
  • 박제준 (충남대학교 대학원 전자.전파.정보통신공학과) ;
  • 김진국 (충북대학교 대학원 반도체공학과) ;
  • 송희은 (한국에너지기술연구원) ;
  • 강민구 (한국에너지기술연구원) ;
  • 강기환 (한국에너지기술연구원) ;
  • 이희덕 (충남대학교 대학원 전자.전파.정보통신공학과)
  • Received : 2012.10.22
  • Accepted : 2013.04.30
  • Published : 2013.04.30
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Abstract

Silicon nitride($SiN_x:H$) deposited by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(RF-PECVD) is commonly used for anti-reflection coating and passivation in crystalline silicon solar cell fabrication. In this paper, characteristics of the deposited silicon nitride was studied with change of working pressure, deposition temperature, gas ratio of $NH_3$ and $SiH_4$, and RF power during deposition. The deposition rate, refractive index and effective lifetime were analyzed. The (100) p-type silicon wafers with one-side polished, $660-690{\mu}m$, and resistivity $1-10{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ were used. As a result, when the working pressure increased, the deposition rate of SiNx was increased while the effective life time for the $SiN_x$-deposited wafer was decreased. The result regarding deposition temperature, gas ratio and RF power changes would be explained in detail below. In this paper, the optimized condition in silicon nitride deposition for silicon solar cell was obtained as 1.0 Torr for the working pressure, $400^{\circ}C$ for deposition temperature, 500 W for RF power and 0.88 for $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio. The silicon nitride layer deposited in this condition showed the effective life time of > $1400{\mu}s$ and the surface recombination rate of 25 cm/s. The crystalline silicon solar cell fabricated with this SiNx coating showed 18.1% conversion efficiency.

Keywords

References

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