• 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.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2005

High-efficiency silicon solar cells have potential applications on mobile electronics and electrical vehicles. The fabrication processes of the high efficiency cells necessitate com placated fabrication precesses and expensive materials. Ti/Pd/Ag metal contact has been used only for limited area In spite of good stability and low contact resistance because of Its expensive material cost and precesses. Screen printed contact formed by Ag paste causes a low fill factor and a high shading loss of commercial solar cells because of high contact resistance and a low aspect ratio. Low cost Ni/Cu metal contact has been formed by using a low cost electroless and electroplating. Nickel silicide formation at the interface enhances stability and reduces the contact resistance resulting In an energy conversion efficiency of $20.2\%\;on\;0.50{\Omega}cm$ FZ wafer. Tapered contact structure has been applied to large area solar cells with $6.7\times6.7cm^2$ in order to reduce power losses by the front contact The tapered front metal contact Is easily formed by the electroplating technique producing $45cm^2$ solar cells with an efficiency of $21.4\%$ on $21.4\%\;on\;2{\Omega}cm$ FZ wafer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.116-117
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• 2006

We investigated selective emitter effect of Porous Silicon (PSI) as antireflection coatings (ARC). The thin PSi layer, less than 100nm, was electrochemically formed by electrochemical method in about $3{\mu}m$ thick $n^+$ emitter on single crystalline silicon wafer (sc-Si). The appropriate PSi formations for selective emitter effect were carried out a two steps. A first set of samples allowed to be etched after metal-contact processing and a second one to evaporate Ag front-side metallization on PSi layer, by evaluating the I-V features The PSi has reflectance less than 20% in wavelength for 450-1000nm and porosity is about 60%. The cell made after front-contact has improved cell efficiency of about in comparison with the one made after PSi. The observed increase of efficiency for samples with PSi coating could be explained not only by the reduction of the reflection loss and surface recombination but also by the increased short-circuit current (Isc) within selective emitter. The assumption was confirmed by numerical modeling. The obtained results point out that it would be possible to prepare a solar cell over 15% efficiency by the proposed simple technology.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.56-59
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• 2001

Thin films of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si : H) of different compositions were deposited on Si(100) wafer and glass by RF plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). In the present work, we have investigated the effect of the If. power on the properties, such as optical band gap, transmittance and crystallinity, of crystalline silicon thin films. Raman data show that the material consists of an amorphous and crystalline phase for the co-presence of two peaks centered at 480 and 520cm$^{-1}$. X-ray spectra confirmed of crystallites with (111) orientation at 300w The transmittance of thin films was measured by UV-VIS spectrophotometer. In addition, Si-H chemical bondings were studied by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.84-88
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• 2010

Photonic crystals containing rugate structures from a single crystalline silicon wafer was obtained by using a sinoidal alternating current during an electrochemical etch procedure. Photonic crystals were isolated from the silicon substrate by applying an electropolishing current and were then made into particles by using an ultrasonic fracture in an ethanol solution to give a smart dust. Smart dusts exhibited their unique nanostructures and optical characteristics. They exhibited sharp photonic band gaps in the optical reflectivity spectrum. The size of smart dust obtained was in the range of 10-20 nm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.68-68
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• 2001

Thin films of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) is a promising material for use in large-area electronic devices. Especially, the poly-Si can be used in high resolution and integrated active-matrix liquid-crystal displays (AMLCDs) and active matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLEDs) because of its high mobility compared to hydrogenated _amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). A number of techniques have been proposed during the past several years to achieve poly-Si on large-area glass substrate. However, the conventional method for fabrication of poly-Si could not apply for glass instead of wafer or quartz substrate. Because the conventional method, low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) has a high deposition temperature ($600^{\circ}C-1000^{\circ}C$) and solid phase crystallization (SPC) has a high annealing temperature ($600^{\circ}C-700^{\circ}C$). And also these are required time-consuming processes, which are too long to prevent the thermal damage of corning glass such as bending and fracture. The deposition of silicon thin films on low-cost foreign substrates has recently become a major objective in the search for processes having energy consumption and reaching a better cost evaluation. Hence, combining inexpensive deposition techniques with the growth of crystalline silicon seems to be a straightforward way of ensuring reduced production costs of large-area electronic devices. We have deposited crystalline poly-Si thin films on soda -lime glass and SiOz glass substrate as deposited by PVD at low substrate temperature using high power, magnetron sputtering method. The epitaxial orientation, microstructual characteristics and surface properties of the films were analyzed by TEM, XRD, and AFM. For the electrical characterization of these films, its properties were obtained from the Hall effect measurement by the Van der Pauw measurement.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.6-16
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• 2024

The efficiency of silicon solar cells is approaching a theoretical limit referred to as 'the state of the art'. Consequently, maintaining efficiency is more productive than pursuing improvements the last room for limiting efficiency. One of the primary considerations in silicon module conservation is the occurrence of failures and degradation. Degradation can be mitigated during the cell manufacturing stage, unlike physical and spontaneous failure. It is mostly because the chemical reaction is triggered by the carrier generation of thermal and light injection, an inherent aspect of the solar cell environment. Therefore, numerous researchers and cell manufacturers are engaged in implementing mitigation strategies based on the physical degradation mechanism.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.406-406
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• 2016

To get high efficiency n-type crystalline silicon solar cells, passivation is one of the key factor. Tunnel oxide (SiO2) reduce surface recombination as a passivation layer and it does not constrict the majority carrier flow. In this work, the passivation quality enhanced by different chemical solution such as HNO3, H2SO4:H2O2 and DI-water to make thin tunnel oxide layer on n-type crystalline silicon wafer and changes of characteristics by subsequent annealing process and firing process after phosphorus doped amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposition. The tunneling of carrier through oxide layer is checked through I-V measurement when the voltage is from -1 V to 1 V and interface state density also be calculated about $1{\times}1012cm-2eV-1$ using MIS (Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor) structure . Tunnel oxide produced by 68 wt% HNO3 for 5 min on $100^{\circ}C$, H2SO4:H2O2 for 5 min on $100^{\circ}C$ and DI-water for 60 min on $95^{\circ}C$. The oxide layer is measured thickness about 1.4~2.2 nm by spectral ellipsometry (SE) and properties as passivation layer by QSSPC (Quasi-Steady-state Photo Conductance). Tunnel oxide layer is capped with phosphorus doped amorphous silicon on both sides and additional annealing process improve lifetime from $3.25{\mu}s$ to $397{\mu}s$ and implied Voc from 544 mV to 690 mV after P-doped a-Si deposition, respectively. It will be expected that amorphous silicon is changed to poly silicon phase. Furthermore, lifetime and implied Voc were recovered by forming gas annealing (FGA) after firing process from $192{\mu}s$ to $786{\mu}s$. It is shown that the tunnel oxide layer is thermally stable.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.823-828
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• 2013

To reduce the cost per watt of photovoltaic power, it is important to reduce the cell thickness of crystalline silicon solar cells. As the thickness of the silicon layer is reduced, two distinctive thermal expansion rates between the silicon and the aluminum layer induce bowing in a solar cell. With a thinner silicon layer, the bowing distance grows exponentially. Excessive bowing could damage the silicon wafer. In this study, we tried to measure an irregularly curved silicon solar cell more accurately using a 3D image scanner. For the detailed analysis of the three-dimensional bowing shape, a least square fit was applied to the point data from the scanned image. It has been found that the bowing distance and shape distortion increase with a decrease in the thickness of the silicon layer. An Ag strip on top of the silicon layer can reduce the bowing distance.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2014

Dislocations are basic crystal defects and represent one-dimensional native nanostructures embedded in a perfect crystalline matrix. Their structure is predefined by crystal symmetry. Two-dimensional, self-organized arrays of such nanostructures are realized reproducibly using specific preparation conditions (semiconductor wafer direct bonding). This technique allows separating dislocations up to a few hundred nanometers which enables electrical measurements of only a few, or, in the ideal case, of an individual dislocation. Electrical properties of dislocations in silicon were measured using MOSFETs as test structures. It is shown that an increase of the drain current results for nMOSFETs which is caused by a high concentration of electrons on dislocations in p-type material. The number of electrons on a dislocation is estimated from device simulations. This leads to the conclusion that metallic-like conduction exists along dislocations in this material caused by a one-dimensional carrier confinement. On the other hand, measurements of pMOSFETs prepared in n-type silicon proved the dominant transport of holes along dislocations. The experimentally measured increase of the drain current, however, is here not only caused by an higher hole concentration on these defects but also by an increasing hole mobility along dislocations. All the data proved for the first time the ambipolar behavior of dislocations in silicon. Dislocations in p-type Si form efficient one-dimensional channels for electrons, while dislocations in n-type material cause one-dimensional channels for holes.