• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.200.1-200.1
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• 2013

실리콘 태양전지 표면에는 구조적인 결함에 의해 소수 캐리어의 재결합이 일어난다. 재결합에 의해 캐리어의 반송자 수명은 줄어들게 되고, 태양전지의 효율은 감소하게 된다. 이를 줄이기 위해 태양전지 전 후면에 패시베이션을 하게 되는데, 이번 연구는 단결정 실리콘 태양전지 전면에 SiNx막을 증착함으로 수소 패시베이션이 반송자 수명에 미치는 영향에 대하여 연구하였다. 공정을 위해 $156{\times}156mm^2$, 200 ${\mu}m$, 0.5-3.0 ${\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and p-type 단결정 실리콘 웨이퍼를 사용하였고, SiNx막을 올리기 전에 KOH 8.5% 용액으로 SDR을 실행하였다. RF-PECVD 장비로 SiNx 막을 증착하였고 증착 온도는 $200{\sim}400^{\circ}C$, 반응기 내부의 압력을 200~1,000 mtorr, SiH4/NH3/N2 각각의 가스 비율 조절, 그리고 플라즈마 RF power 변화시킴에 따라 증착된 SiNx막의 균일도 및 특성을 분석하였다. 반사광 측정 장비인 Reflectometer장비로 막의 두께와 굴절률, 반사율을 측정하였고, 반송자 수명을 측정하여 태양전지의 표면결함을 최대한 패시베이션 시켜주는 조건에 대한 연구를 수행하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.470.2-470.2
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• 2014

RF-PECVD 장치에 의해 증착된 실리콘 질화막(SiNx)은 결정질 실리콘 태양전지에서 반사 방지막 효과 및 우수한 표면 패시베이션 특성을 제공하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 논문에서는 실리콘 질화막의 패시베이션 특성을 향상시키기 위해서 공정온도를 $400^{\circ}C$로 고정하고 공정압력, 가스비, RF (radio frequency) power를 가변하였다. 이 때의 실리콘 질화막의 굴절률 및 두께는 각각 2.0, 80 nm로 증착하여 그에 따른 특성에 대해 분석하였다. 공정 압력이 감소할수록 실리콘 질화막이 증착된 결정질 실리콘 태양전지의 유효 반송자 수명이 증가함을 보였고, 반면에 증착속도는 감소하였다. 또한 RF-power 500 W에서 실리콘 질화막이 증착된 결정질 실리콘 태양전지의 유효 반송자 수명이 상대적으로 높았으며 출력이 올라갈수록 증착속도가 증가하였다. 결과적으로 결정질 실리콘 태양전지에 증착한 실리콘 질화막은 0.8torr 공정 압력과 RF-power 500 W에서 $38.8{\mu}s$로 가장 좋은 유효 반송자 수명을 확인하였다. 위의 결과를 바탕으로 결정질 실리콘 태양전지를 제작하였고 향상된 패시베이션 특성을 갖는 실리콘 질화막의 조건을 찾기 위해서 개방전압(open circuit voltage)을 비교하였다. 공정압력 0.8 torr, RF-power 500 W에서 가장 높은 결과를 보였으며 이는 유효 반송자 수명과 유사한 결과를 나타냈다. 하지만 낮은 FF (fill factor)로 인해 변환 효율이 낮은 결과를 보였다. 태양전지 제작시 낮은 fill factor를 보인 이유와 위의 단점을 보완하기 위해 추가 실험을 수행하였으며, 개선된 fill factor를 통해 18.3% 효율의 태양전지를 제작하였다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.59.1-59.1
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• 2010

Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) is studied with the structure of a glass/Al/$SiO_2$/a-Si, in which the $SiO_2$ layer has micron-sized laser holes in the stack. An oxide layer between aluminum and a-Si thin films plays a significant role in the metal-induced crystallization (MIC) process determining the properties such as grain size and preferential orientation. In our case, the crystallization of a-Si is carried out only through the key hole because the $SiO_2$ layer is substantially thick enough to prevent a-Si from contacting aluminum. The crystal growth is successfully realized toward the only vertical direction, resulting a crystalline silicon grain with a size of $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$ under the hole. Lateral growth seems to be not occurred. For the AIC experiment, the glass/Al/$SiO_2$/a-Si stacks were prepared where an Al layer was deposited on glass substrate by DC sputter, $SiO_2$ and a-Si films by PECVD method, respectively. Prior to the a-Si deposition, a $30{\times}30$ micron-sized hole array with a diameter of $1{\sim}2{\mu}m$ was fabricated utilizing the femtosecond laser pulses to induce the AIC process through the key holes and the prepared workpieces were annealed in a thermal chamber for 2 hours. After heat treatment, the surface morphology, grain size, and crystal orientation of the polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) film were evaluated by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, and energy dispersive spectrometer. In conclusion, we observed that the vertical crystal growth was occurred in the case of the crystallization of a-Si with aluminum by the MIC process in a small area. The pc-Si grain grew under the key hole up to a size of $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$ with the workpiece.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.518-523
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• 2017

In commercial solar cells, the pattern of the front electrode is critical to effectively assemble the photo generated current. The power loss in solar cells caused by the front electrode was categorized as four types. First, losses due to the metallic resistance of the electrode. Second, losses due to the contact resistance of the electrode and emitter. Third, losses due to the emitter resistance when current flows through the emitter. Fourth, losses due to the shading effect of the front metal electrode, which has a high reflectance. In this paper, optimizing the number of finger on a $4{\times}4$ solar cell is demonstrated with known theory. We compared the short circuit current density and fill factor to evaluate the power loss from the front metal contact calculation result. By experiment, the short circuit current density($J_{sc}$), taken in each pattern as 37.61, 37.53, and $37.38mA/cm^2$ decreased as the number of fingers increased. The fill factor(FF), measured in each pattern as 0.7745, 0.7782 and 0.7843 increased as number of fingers increased. The results suggested that the efficiency(Eff) was measured in each pattern as 17.51, 17.81, and 17.84 %. Throughout this study, the short-circuit current densities($J_{sc}$) and fill factor(FF) varied according to the number of fingers in the front metal pattern. The effects on the efficiency of the two factors were also investigated.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.73.1-73.1
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• 2010

태양광 시장은 세계적인 금융 위기 속에서도 점점 그 규모가 확대되고 있다. 시장의 규모가 확대되고 있음에도 불구하고 금융 위기를 겪으면서 생산자 중심의 시장에서 수요자 중심의 시장으로 바뀌게 되었다. 이에 따라 더 적은 비용으로 높은 출력의 제품만이 경쟁력을 가지게 됨으로써 효율이 더욱 이슈화되었다. 여러 태양전지 중 가장 점유율이 높은 결정질 태양전지는 일반적인 양산 공정만으로 효율을 높이는데 한계가 있으므로 selective emitter, back contact, light induced plating 등의 새로운 공정을 도입하여 효율을 높이려는 경향이 나타나고 있다. 본 연구에서는, ALD 장치를 사용하여 결정질 태양전지의 후면을 passivation 함으로써 효율을 높이는 방법을 모색하였다. 부동화 층으로는 $Al_2O_3$를 사용하였으며 셀을 제조하여 평가하였다. 실험방법은 p-type의 웨이퍼를 이용하여 습식으로 texturing 후 $POCl_3$ 용액으로 p-n junction을 형성하였고 anti-reflection 막인 SiNx는 PECVD를 사용하여 R.I 2.05, 80nm 두께로 증착하였다. 그런 다음 후면의 n+ layer를 제거하기 위하여 SiNx에 영향을 미치지 않는 용액을 사용하여 후면을 식각하였다. BSF 층은 screen printer로 Al paste를 printing하여 형성하였고 Al etching용액으로 여분의 Al제거한 후 ALD 장치를 이용하여 $Al_2O_3$를 증착하였다. 마지막으로 전극을 형성한 후 laser로 isolation하여 효율을 평가하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.45-55
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• 2018

Environmentally benign lead-free solder coated ribbon (e. g. SnCu, SnZn, SnBi${\cdots}$) has been intensively studied to interconnect cells without lead mixed ribbon (e. g. SnPb) in the crystalline silicon(c-Si) photovoltaic modules. However, high melting point (> $200^{\circ}C$) of non-lead based solder provokes increased thermo-mechanical stress during its soldering process, which causes early degradation of PV module with it. Hence, we proposed low-temperature conductive paste (CP) based tabbing method for lead-free ribbon. Modules, interconnected by the lead-free solder (SnCu) employing CP approach, exhibits similar output without increased resistivity losses at initial condition, in comparison with traditional high temperature soldering method. Moreover, 400 cycles (2,000 hour) of thermal cycle test reveals that the module integrated by CP approach withstands thermo-mechanical stress. Furthermore, this approach guarantees strong mechanical adhesion (peel strength of ~ 2 N) between cell and lead-free ribbons. Therefore, the CP based tabbing process for lead free ribbons enables to interconnect cells in c-Si PV module, without deteriorating its performance.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.301-311
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• 2012

Discharge property of plasma jet devices is investigated for the application to the doping processes of crystalline solar cells and others. Current-voltage characteristics are shown as the typical normal-glow discharge in the various gas pressure of plasma jets, such as in the atmospheric plasma jets of Ar-discharge, in the ambient pressure of atmospheric discharge, and in the ambient Ar-pressure of Ar-discharge. The discharge voltage of atmospheric plasma jet is required as low as about 2.5 kV while the operation voltage of low pressure below 200 Torr is low as about 1 kV in the discharge of atmospheric and Ar plasma jets. With a single channel plasma jet, the irradiated plasma current on the doped silicon wafer is obtained high as the range of 10~50 mA. The temperature increasement of wafer is normally about $200^{\circ}C$. In the result of silicon wafers doped by phosphoric acid with irradiating the plasma jets, the doping profiles of phosphorus atoms shows the possibility of plasma jet doping on solar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.566-572
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• 2020

In the recent years, thin film solar cells (TFSCs) have emerged as a viable replacement for crystalline silicon solar cells and offer a variety of choices, particularly in terms of synthesis processes and substrates (rigid or flexible, metal or insulator). Among the thin-film absorber materials, SnS has great potential for the manufacturing of low-cost TFSCs due to its suitable optical and electrical properties, non-toxic nature, and earth abundancy. However, the efficiency of SnS-based solar cells is found to be in the range of 1 ~ 4 % and remains far below those of CdTe-, CIGS-, and CZTSSe-based TFSCs. Aside from the improvement in the physical properties of absorber layer, enormous efforts have been focused on the development of suitable buffer layer for SnS-based solar cells. Herein, we investigate the device performance of SnS-based TFSCs by introducing double buffer layers, in which CdS is applied as first buffer layer and ZnMgO films is employed as second buffer layer. The effect of the composition ratio (Mg/(Mg+Zn)) of RF sputtered ZnMgO films on the device performance is studied. The structural and optical properties of ZnMgO films with various Mg/(Mg+Zn) ratios are also analyzed systemically. The fabricated SnS-based TFSCs with device structure of SLG/Mo/SnS/CdS/ZnMgO/AZO/Al exhibit a highest cell efficiency of 1.84 % along with open-circuit voltage of 0.302 V, short-circuit current density of 13.55 mA cm^-2, and fill factor of 0.45 with an optimum Mg/(Mg + Zn) ratio of 0.02.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.369-380
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• 2020

Most mono-crystalline silicon ingots are manufactured by the Czochralski (Cz) process. But If there are oxygen impurities, These Si-ingot tends to show low-efficiency when it is processed to be solar cell substrate. For making single-crystal Si- ingot, We need Czochralski (Cz) process which melts molten Si and then crystallizing it with seed of single-crystal Si. For melts poly Si-chunk and forming of single-crystalline Si-ingot, the heat transfer plays a main role in the structure of Cz-process. In this study to obtain high-quality Si ingot, the Cz-process was modified with the process design. The crystal growth simulation was employed with pulling rate and rotation speed optimization. Studies for modified Cz-process and the corresponding results have been discussed. The results revealed that using crystal growth simulation, we optimized the oxygen concentration of single crystal silicon by the optimal design of the pulling rate, rotation speed and melt charge level of Cz-process.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.21-25
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• 2014

The silicon nitride ($SiN_x$) film for surface passivation and anti-reflection coating of crystalline silicon solar cell is very important and it is generally deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). PECVD can be divided into low and high frequency method. In this paper, the $SiN_x$ film deposited by low and high frequency PECVD method was studied. First, to optimize the $SiN_x$ film deposited by low frequency PECVD method, the refractive index was measured by varying the process conditions like $SiH_4$, $NH_3$, $N_2$ gas rate, and RF power. When $SiH_4$ gas rate was increased and $NH_3$ gas rate was decreased, the refractive index was increased. The refractive index was also increased with RF power decline. Second, to compare the characteristics of the low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film, the refractive index was measured by varying $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio and RF power and the minority carrier lifetime of before and after high temperature treatment process was also measured. The refractive index of both low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film was decreased with increase in $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio and RF power. After high temperature treatment process, the minority carrier lifetime of both low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film was increased and increased degree was similar. The minority carrier lifetime of low frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ was increased from $11.03{\mu}m$ to $28.24{\mu}m$ and that of high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ was increased from $11.60{\mu}m$ to $27.10{\mu}m$.