• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.685-688
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• 2009

Surface Texturing is very important process for high cell efficiency in crystalline silicon solar cell. Anisotropic texturing with an alkali etchant was known not to be able to produce uniform surface morphology in multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si), because of its different etching rate with random crystal orientation. In order to reduce surface reflectance of mc-Si wafer, the general etching tendency was studied with HF/HN$O_3$/De-ionized Water acidic solution. And the surface structures of textured mc-Si in various HF/HN$O_3$ ratios were compared. The surface morphology and reflectance of textured silicon wafers were measured by FE-SEM and UVvisible spectrophotometer, respectively. We obtained average reflectance of $16{\sim}19$% for wavelength between 400 nm and 900 nm depending on different etching conditions.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.25-27
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• 2017

Nanoscale textured black silicon has attracted intensive attention due to its great potential as applications in multicrystalline silicon-based solar cells. It absorbs sunlight over a broad range of wavelengths but introduces large recombination centers, non-uniform doping into cell. In this study, we present a metal-assisted chemical etching technique plus alkaline etching process to fabricate nanoscale pyramid structures with optimized condition. To make the structures, silver nanoparticles-loaded mc-Si wafer was submerged into $H_2O_2/HF$ solution first for nanohole texturing the wafer and textured wafer etched again with KOH solution for making nanoscale pyramid structures. The average reflectivity (350-1050 nm) is about 8.42% with anti-reflection coating.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.314-318
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• 2010

We fabricated a plasma texturing for multi-crystalline silicon cells using reactive ion etching (RIE). Multi-crystalline Si cells have not benefited from the cost-effective wet-chemical texturing processes that reduce front surface reflectance on single-crystal wafers. Elimination of plasma damage has been achieved while keeping front reflectance to extremely low levels. We will discuss reflectance, quantum efficiency and conversion efficiency for multi-crystalline Si solar cell by each RIE process conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.47-53
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• 2014

Three kinds of crystalline silicon have been used for the solar cell grade. First of all, single crystalline silicon is the main subject to enhance the production yield. Most of the efforts are focused on the control of the melt-crystal interface shape affected by the crystal-crucible rotation rate. The main subject in the multi-crystalline silicon ingot is the contamination control. Faster Ar gas flow above the melt surface will lower the carbon contamination in the crystal. And also, twin boundary electrically inactive is found to be more effective than grain boundary for the improvement of the MCLT. In the case of mono-like silicon material, propagation of the multi-crystalline silicon growing from the inner side crucible is the problem lowering the portion of the single crystalline part at the center of the ingot. Crystal growing apparatus giving higher cooling rate at the bottom and lower cooling rate at the side crucible was suggested as the optimum solution obtaining higher quality of the mono-like silicon ingot. Proper application of the seeds at the bottom of the crucible would be one of the solutions.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.697-702
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• 2019

In this study, using a wet chemical process, we evaluate the effectiveness of different solution concentrations in removing layers from a solar cell, which is necessary for recovery of high-purity silicon. A 4-step wet etching process is applied to a 6-inch back surface field(BSF) solar cell. The metal electrode is removed in the first and second steps of the process, and the anti-reflection coating(ARC) is removed in the third step. In the fourth step, high purity silicon is recovered by simultaneously removing the emitter and the BSF layer from the solar cell. It is confirmed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy(ICP-MS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) analyses that the effectiveness of layer removal increases with increasing chemical concentrations. The purity of silicon recovered through the process, using the optimal concentration for each process, is analyzed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy(ICP-AES). In addition, the silicon wafer is recovered through optimum etching conditions for silicon recovery, and the solar cell is remanufactured using this recovered silicon wafer. The efficiency of the remanufactured solar cell is very similar to that of a commercial wafer-based solar cell, and sufficient for use in the PV industry.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.143-146
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• 2009

One of the most important issues of crystalline silicon solar cell is minimizing reflectance at the surface. Laser texturing is an isotropic process that will sculpt the surface of a silicon wafer, regardless of its crystallographic orientation. We investigated surface texturing process using Nd-YAG laser ($\lambda$=1064 nm) on multi-crystalline silicon wafer. Removal of slag formed after the laser process was performed using acid solution (HF : $HNO_3$ : $CH_3COOH$ : DI water). The reflectance and carrier lifetime of the samples were measured and analyzed using UV-Vis spectrophotometer and carrier lifetime tester. It was found that the minimum reflectance of the samples was 16.39% and maximum carrier life time was $21.8\;{\mu}s$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.145-148
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• 2006

The protocrystalline silicon (pc-Si:H) multilayer solar cell is very promising owing to its fast stabilization with low degradation against light irradiation. However, the pc-Si:H multi layers have not extensively been investigated in detail on its material characteristics yet. We present the material characteristics of pc-Si:H multilayer using a transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, we present the superior light-soaking behavior of the pc-Si:H mutt i layer solar cell. A TEM micrograph shows that a pc-Si:H multilayer has a repeatedly layered structure and crystalline-like objects in a-Si:H matrix. A Raman spectra introduces improved short-range-order and medium-range-order in pc-Si:H multilayer. As a result the excellent metastability of the pc-Si:H multilayer solar cell is primarily due to the repeatedly layered structure that improves a structural order in absorber layer.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.243-243
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• 2010

This paper two different etching, HF : HNO3 :DI and RIE were used for etching in multi-crystalline Silicon(Mc-Si) solar cell fabrication. The wafers etched in RIE texture showed low reflectance compared to the wafers etched in Acid soultion after SiNx deposition. In light current-voltage results, the cells etched in RIE texture exhibited higher short circuit current and open circuit voltage than those of the cells etched in acid solution. We have obtained 15.1% conversion efficiency in large area($156cm^2$) Multi-Si solar cells etched in RIE texture.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.244-244
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• 2010

Doping process of crystalline silicon solar cell process is very important which is as influential on efficiency of solar. Doping process consists of pre -deposition and diffusion. Each of these processes is important in the process temperature and process time. Through these process conditions variable, p-n junction depth can be controled to low and high. In this paper, we studied a optimized doping pre-deposition temperature for high solar cell efficiency. Using a $200{\mu}m$ thickness multi-crystalline silicon wafer, fixed conditions are texture condition, sheet resistance($50\;{\Omega}/sq$), ARC thickness(80nm), metal formation condition and edge isolation condition. The three variable conditions of pre-deposition temperature are $790^{\circ}C$, $805^{\circ}C$ and $820^{\circ}C$. In the $790^{\circ}C$ pre-deposition temperature, we achieved a best solar cell efficiency of 16.2%. Through this experiment result, we find a high efficiency condition in a low pre-deposition temperature than the high pre-deposition temperature. We optimized a pre-deposition temperature for high solar cell efficiency.