• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.487-491
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• 2015

In photovoltaic power generation where minority carrier generation via light absorption is competing against minority carrier recombination, the substrate thickness and material quality are interdependent, and appropriate combination of the two variables is important in obtaining the maximum output power generation. Medici, a two-dimensional semiconductor device simulation tool, is used to investigate the interdependency in relation to the maximum power output in front-lit Si solar cells. Qualitatively, the results indicate that a high quality substrate must be thick and that a low quality substrate must be thin in order to achieve the maximum power generation in the respective materials. The dividing point is $70{\mu}m/5{\times}10^{-6}sec$. That is, for materials with a minority carrier recombination lifetime longer than $5{\times}10^{-6}sec$, the substrate must be thicker than $70{\mu}m$, while for materials with a lifetime shorter than $5{\times}10^{-6}sec$, the substrate must be thinner than $70{\mu}m$. In substrate fabrication, the thinner the wafer, the lower the cost of material, but the higher the cost of wafer fabrication. Thus, the optimum thickness/lifetime combinations are defined in this study along with the substrate cost considerations as part of the factors to be considered in material selection.

• Proceedings of the Korea Association of Crystal Growth Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.155-159
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• 1997

We investigated the effect of mechanical backside damage in Czochralski silicon wafer. The intensity of mechanical damage were evaluated by minority carrier recombination lifetime by a laser excitation/microwave reflection photoconductance decay method, photo-acoustic displacement method, X-ray section topography, and wet oxidation/preferential etch methods. The data indicate that the higher the mechanical damage intensity, the lower the minority carrier lifetime, and the photoacoustic displacement values are also increased proportionally.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.844-847
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• 2001

In this work, transient characteristics of the Non-Punch Through(NPT) Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor(IGBT) has been studied. we has analyzed with lifetimes excess minority carrier injected into N-dirft, base region of IGBT's BJT part and accumulated charge of on-state which affected swiching characteristic. In this paper, excess minority carrier and charge distribution in active base region is expressed analytically. This analysis proposed optical trade-off between lifetimes and accumulated charge for decreasing switching losses because charge result in switching loss when device was tuned off.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.408-413
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• 1995

We investigated the effect of mechanical backside damage upon minority carrier recombination lifetime measurement in Czochralski silicon substrate by laser excitation/microwave reflection photoconductance decay method. The intensity of mechanical damage was evaluated by X-ray double crystal rocking curve, X-ray section topography and wet oxidation/preferential etch methods. The data indicate that the higher the mechanical damage intensity, the lower the minority carrier lifetime, and the threshold full width at half maximum value which affect minority carrier lifetime measurement is about 13 secs.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 1999

We investigated the effect of mechanical back side damage in viewpoint of electrical and surface morphological characteristics in Czochralski silicon wafer. The intensity of mechanical damage was evaluated by minority carrier recombination lifetime by laser excitation/microwave reflection photoconductance decay technique, atomic force microscope, optical microscope, wet oxidation/preferential etching methods. The data indicate that the higher the mechanical damage degree, the lower the minority carrier lifetime, and surface roughness, damage depth and density of oxidation induced stacking fault increased proportionally.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.429-429
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• 2012

To investigate the gettering effect of B-doped n-type monocrystalline silicon wafer, we made the p-n junction by diffusing boron into n-type monocrystalline Si substrate and then oxidized the boron doped n-type monocrystalline silicon wafer by in-situ wet and dry oxidation. After oxidation, the minority carrier lifetime was measured by using microwave photoconductance and the sheet resistance by 4-point probe, respectively. The junction depth was analyzed by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). Boron diffusion reduced the metal impurities in the bulk of silicon wafer and increased the minority carrier lifetime. In the case of wet oxidation, the sheet resistance value of ${\sim}46{\Omega}/{\Box}$ was obtained at $900^{\circ}C$, depostion time 50 min, and drive-in time 10 min. Uniformity was ~7% at $925^{\circ}C$, deposition time 30 min, and drive-in time 10 min. Finally, the minority carrier lifetime was shown to be increased from $3.3{\mu}s$ for bare wafer to $21.6{\mu}s$ for $900^{\circ}C$, deposition 40 min, and drive-in 10 min condition. In the case of dry oxidation, for the condition of 50 min deposition, 10 min drive-in, and O2 flow of 2000 SCCM, the minority carrier lifetime of 16.3us, the sheet resistance of ${\sim}48{\Omega}/{\Box}$, and uniformity of 2% were measured.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.111-115
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• 2015

To improve the efficiency of the Si solar cell, high minority carrier life time is required. Therefore, the passivation technology is important to eliminate point defects on the silicon surface, causing the loss of minority carrier recombination. PECVD or post-annealing of thermally-grown $SiO_2$ is commonly used to form the passivation layer, but a high-temperature process and low thermal stability is a critical factor of low minority carrier lifetime. In this study, atomic layer deposition was used to grow the $Al_2O_3$ passivation layer at low temperature process. $Al_2O_3$ was selected as a passivation layer which has a low surface recombination velocity because of the fixed charge density. For the high charge density, an improved minority carrier lifetime, and a low surface recombination, nitrogen was doped in the $Al_2O_3$ thin film and the improvement of passivation was studied.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2015

Among the various possible factors affecting the Minority Carrier Life Time (MCLT) of the mc-Si crystal, dislocations formed during the cooling period after solidification were found to be a major element. It was confirmed that other defects such as grain boundary or twin boundary were not determinative defects affecting the MCLT because most of these defects seemed to be formed during the solidification period. With a measurement of total thickness variation (TTV) and bow of the silicon wafers, it was found that residual stress remaining in the mc-Si crystal might be another major factor affecting the MCLT. Thus, it is expected that better quality of mc-Si can be grown when the cooling process right after solidification is carried out as slow as possible.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.30-35
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• 1983

Numerical calculations have been made about the phase differences of the short circuit current in a solar cell according to the variation of the modulation frequency. The phase differences in short circuit current of the solar cell exposed to the modulated light source is measured experimentally. From the above two results, the minority carrier lifetime has been determined. Also, minority carrier lifetime has been determined from the observed photo-induced open circuit voltage decay wave form that follows termination of the excitation.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2017

The BCBJ (Back Contact and Back Junction) or back-lit solar cell design eliminates shading loss by placing the pn junction and metal electrode contacts all on one side that faces away from the sun. However, as the electron-hole generation sites now are located very far from the pn junction, loss by minority-carrier recombination can be a significant issue. Utilizing Medici, a 2-dimensional semiconductor device simulation tool, the interdependency between the substrate thickness and the minority-carrier recombination lifetime was studied in terms of how these factors affect the solar cell power output. Qualitatively speaking, the results indicate that a very high quality substrate with a long recombination lifetime is needed to maintain the maximum power generation. The quantitative value of the recombination lifetime of minority-carriers, i.e., electrons in p-type substrates, required in the BCBJ cell is about one order of magnitude longer than that in the front-lit cell, i.e., $5{\times}10^{-4}sec$ vs. $5{\times}10^{-5}sec$. Regardless of substrate thickness up to $150{\mu}m$, the power output in the BCBJ cell stays at nearly the maximum value of about $1.8{\times}10^{-2}W{\cdot}cm^{-2}$, or $18mW{\cdot}cm^{-2}$, as long as the recombination lifetime is $5{\times}10^{-4}s$ or longer. The output power, however, declines steeply to as low as $10mW{\cdot}cm^{-2}$ when the recombination lifetime becomes significantly shorter than $5{\times}10^{-4}sec$. Substrate thinning is found to be not as effective as in the front-lit case in stemming the decline in the output power. In view of these results, for BCBJ applications, the substrate needs to be only mono-crystalline Si of very high quality. This bars the use of poly-crystalline Si, which is gaining wider acceptance in standard front-lit solar cells.