• 한국재료학회지
• /
• 제25권9호
• /
• pp.487-491
• /
• 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.

• 한국결정성장학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국결정성장학회 1997년도 Proceedings of the 13th KACG Technical Meeting `97 Industrial Crystallization Symposium(ICS)-Doosan Resort, Chunchon, October 30-31, 1997
• /
• pp.155-159
• /
• 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.

• 한국재료학회지
• /
• 제27권2호
• /
• pp.107-112
• /
• 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.

• 한국결정성장학회지
• /
• 제5권4호
• /
• pp.408-413
• /
• 1995

초크랄스키 실리콘 기판의 뒷면에 형성된 기계적 손상이 레이저 여기/극초단파 반사 광전도 감쇠법에 의한 소수반송자 재결합 수명 측정에 미치는 영향을 고찰하였다. 기계적손상의 정도는 X-선 이중결정 회절법과 X-선 단면 측정법 및 습식산화/선택적 식각 방법으로 평가하였다. 그 결과, 웨이퍼 뒷면에 가해지는 기계적 손상의 세기가 강할수록 소수반송자 재결합 수명은 짧아지고, 소수반송자 재결합 수명 측정에 영향을 미치는 반치전폭의 임계값은 약13초임을 알 수 있다.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
• /
• 제12권1호
• /
• pp.27-34
• /
• 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.

• 마이크로전자및패키징학회지
• /
• 제22권4호
• /
• pp.111-115
• /
• 2015

실리콘 태양전지의 효율을 향상하기 위해서는 소수 캐리어의 높은 수명이 필수조건이다. 따라서, 이를 달성하기 위한 실리콘 표면결함을 없애줄 수 있는 부동화(passivation) 기술이 매우 중요하다. 일반적으로 PECVD 법이나 열산화 공정을 통해 얻어진 $SiO_2$ 박막이 부동화 층으로 많이 사용되나 1000도에 이르는 고온 공정과 낮은 열적 안정성이 문제로 여겨진다. 본 연구에서는 원자층 증착법을 이용하여 400도 미만의 저온 공정을 통해 $Al_2O_3$ 부동화 박막을 형성하였다. $Al_2O_3$ 박막은 고유의 음의 고정 전하밀도로 인해 낮은 표면 재결합속도를 보이는 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구에서는 질소 도핑을 통해 높은 음의 고정 전하 밀도를 얻고 이를 통해 좀 더 향상된 실리콘 표면 부동화 특성을 얻고자 하였다.

• 한국결정성장학회지
• /
• 제9권2호
• /
• pp.157-161
• /
• 1999

초크랄스키 실리콘 기판의 뒷면에 형성된 기계적 손상이 미치는 효과에 대하여 고찰하였다. 기계적 손상의 정도는 레이저 여기/극초단파 반사 광전도 감쇠법에 의한 소수반송자 재결합 수명, 습식산화/선택적 식각 방법, 표면 부위 미소 결함 및 X-선 단면 측정 분석으로 평가하였다. 그 결과, 웨이퍼 뒷면에 가해지는 기계적 손상의 세기가 강할수 록 소수반송자 재결합 수명은 짧아지고, 표면 부위 미소 결함 밀도는 비례적으로 증가하였으며, 산화 유기 적충 결함 밀 도와도 상호 일치하였다. 그래서, 표면 부위 미소 결함 기술은 산화 유기 적층 결함을 측정하는데 있어서 통상적인 부식 방법과는 별도로 사용될 수 있다.

• 한국결정성장학회지
• /
• 제8권1호
• /
• pp.117-123
• /
• 1998

초크랄스키 실리콘 기판의 뒷면에 형성된 기계적 손상이 미치는 효과에 대하여 고찰하였다. 기계적 손상의 정도는 레이저 여기/극초단파 반사 광전도 감쇠법에 의한 소수반송자 재결합 수명, 광열범위, X-선 단면 측정 및 습식산화/선택적 식각 방법으로 평가하였다. 그 결과, 웨이퍼 뒷면에 가해지는 기계적 손상의 세기가 강할수록 소수반송자 재결합 수명은 짧아지고, 광열 변위의 평균값은 비례적으로 증가하였으며, 손상된 웨이퍼에서 Grade 1의 과잉 광열 변위값을 1로 봤을 때 과잉 광열 변위의 정규화한 상대 정량 비는 Grade 1: Grade 2:Grade 3 = 1:19.6:41이다.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• 제48권3호
• /
• pp.124-130
• /
• 2023

Background: When bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) are used as switches, their switching characteristics can be deteriorated because the recombination time of the minority carriers is long during turn-off transient. When BJTs operate as low frequency switches, the power dissipation in the on-state is large. However, when BJTs operate as high frequency switches, the power dissipation during switching transients increases rapidly. Materials and Methods: When silicon (Si) BJTs are irradiated by fast neutrons, defects occur in the Si bulk, shortening the lifetime of the minority carriers. Fast neutron irradiation mainly creates displacement damage in the Si bulk rather than a total ionization dose effect. Defects caused by fast neutron irradiation shorten the lifetime of minority carriers of BJTs. Furthermore, these defects change the switching characteristics of BJTs. Results and Discussion: In this study, experimental results on the switching characteristics of a pnp Si BJT before and after fast neutron irradiation are presented. The results show that the switching characteristics are improved by fast neutron irradiation, but power dissipation in the on-state is large when the fast neutrons are irradiated excessively. Conclusion: The switching characteristics of a pnp Si BJT were improved by fast neutron irradiation.

• 한국재료학회지
• /
• 제28권1호
• /
• pp.38-42
• /
• 2018

Continuous efforts are being made to improve the efficiency of Si solar cells, which is the prevailing technology at this time. As opposed to the standard front-lit solar cell design, the back-lit design suffers no shading loss because all the metal electrodes are placed on one side close to the pn junction, which is referred to as the front side, and the incoming light enters the denuded back side. In this study, a systematic comparison between the two designs was conducted by means of computer simulation. Medici, a two-dimensional semiconductor device simulation tool, was utilized for this purpose. The $0.6{\mu}m$ wavelength, the peak value for the AM-1.5 illumination, was chosen for the incident photons, and the minority-carrier recombination lifetime (${\tau}$), a key indicator of the Si substrate quality, was the main variable in the simulation on a p-type $150{\mu}m$ thick Si substrate. Qualitatively, minority-carrier recombination affected the short circuit current (Isc) but not the opencircuit voltage (Voc). The latter was most affected by series resistance associated with the electrode locations. Quantitatively, when ${\tau}{\leq}500{\mu}s$, the simulation yielded the solar cell power outputs of $20.7mW{\cdot}cm^{-2}$ and $18.6mW{\cdot}cm^{-2}$, respectively, for the front-lit and back-lit cells, a reasonable 10 % difference. However, when ${\tau}$ < $500{\mu}s$, the difference was 20 % or more, making the back-lit design less than competitive. We concluded that the back-lit design, despite its inherent benefits, is not suitable for a broad range of Si solar cells but may only be applicable in the high-end cells where float-zone (FZ) or magnetic Czochralski (MCZ) Si crystals of the highest quality are used as the substrate.