• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.195-199
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• 2008

Production of the silicon feedstock for the semiconductor industry cannot meet the requirement for the solar cell industry because the production volume is too small and production cost is too high. This situation stimulates the solar cell industry to try the lower grade silicon feedstock like UMG (Upgraded Metallurgical Grade) silicon of 5$\sim$6 N in purity. However, this material contains around 1 ppma of dopant atoms like boron or phosphorous. Calculation of the composition profile of these impurities using segregation coefficient during crystal growth makes us expect the change of the type from p to n : boron rich area in the early solidified part and phosphorous rich area in the later solidified part of the silicon ingot. It was expected that the change of the growth speed during the silicon crystal growth is effective in controlling the amount of the metal impurities but not effective in reducing the amount of dopants.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.341-353
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• 2016

Manufactures of multi-crystalline silicon ingots by means of the directional solidification system (DSS) is important to the solar photovoltaic (PV) cell industry. The quality of the ingots, including the grain size and morphology, is highly related to the shape of the crystal-melt interface during the crystal growth process. We performed numerical simulations to analyze the thermo-fluid field and the shape of the crystal-melt interface both for steady conditions and transient processes. The steady simulations are first validated and then applied to improve the hot zone design in the furnace. The numerical results reveal that, an additional guiding plate weakens the strength of vortex and improves the desired profile of the crystal-melt interface. Based on the steady solutions at an early stage, detailed transient processes of crystal growth can be simulated. Accuracy of the results is supported by comparing the evolutions of crystal heights with the experimental measurements. The excellent agreements demonstrate the applicability of the present numerical methods in simulating a practical and complex system of directional solidification system.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2010

Conventional surface texturing in crystalline silicon solar cell have been use wet texturing by Alkali or Acid solution. But conventional wet texturing has the serious issue of wafer breakage by large consumption of wafer in wet solution and can not obtain the reflectance below 10% in multi crystalline silicon. Therefore it is focusing on RIE texturing, one method of dry etching. We developed large scale plasma RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) equipment which can accommodate 144 wafers (125 mm) in tray in order to provide surface texturing on the silicon wafer surface. Reflectance was controllable from 3% to 20% in crystalline silicon depending on the texture shape and height. We have achieved excellent reflectance below 4% on the weighted average (300~1,100 nm) in multi crystalline silicon using plasma texturing with gas mixture ratio such as $SF_6$, $Cl_2$, and $O_2$. The texture shape and height on the silicon wafer surface have an effect on gas chemistry, etching time, RF frequency, and so on. Excellent conversion efficiency of 16.1% is obtained in multi crystalline silicon by RIE process. In order to know the influence of RF frequency with 2 MHz and 13.56 MHz, texturing shape and conversion efficiency are compared and discussed mutually using RIE technology.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.49-55
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• 2018

Recently solar cell industry needs the optimal design of Czochralski process for low cost high quality silicon mono crystalline ingot. Because market needs both high efficient solar cell and similar cost with multi-crystalline Si ingot. For cost reduction in Czochralski process, first of all energy reduction should be completed because Czochralski process is high energy consumption process. For this purpose we studied optimal water-cooling tube design and simultaneously we also check the quality of ingot with Von mises stress and V(pull speed of ingot)/G(temperature gradient to the crystallization) values. At this research we used $CG-Sim^{(R)}$ S/W package and finally we got improved water-cooling tube design than normally used process in present industry. The optimal water-cooling tube length should be 200mm. The result will be adopted at real industry.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.209-216
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• 2005

태양광 주택 보급을 위해서는 기존에 고가의 실리콘 기판을 이용한 고효율 달성을 위한 연구중심의 태양전지 개발연구가 주축을 이루어왔다. 이는 개발에 성공하더라도 고가, 고난도, 복잡한 다단계 공정기술을 이용하는 단점 때문에 보급활성화를 촉진하기 위해서는 저가의 다결정 실리콘 기판을 이용한 중 상급 태양전지 상용화 기술개발로 전환할 필요로 인하여 본 연구에서는 차세대전력용 태양광발전시스템의 요소소자인 다결정태양전지 고효율화의 열쇠가 되는 기술력 확보를 통한 저가, 대면적, 고효율, 고수율 제품 대량생산 상용화에 중점을 두었다.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.68-73
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• 2008

It is very important that constitution of good hetero-junction interface with a high quality amorphous silicon thin films on very cleaned c-Si wafer for making high efficiency hetero-junction solar cells. For achieving the high efficiency solar cells, the inspection and management of c-Si wafer surface conditions are essential subjects. In this experiment, we analyzed the c-Si wafer surface very sensitively using Spectroscopic Ellipsometer for < ${\varepsilon}2$ > and u-PCD for effective carrier life time, so we accomplished < ${\varepsilon}2$ > value 43.02 at 4.25eV by optimizing the cleaning process which is representative of c-Si wafer surface conditions very well. We carried out that the deposition of high quality hydrogenated silicon amorphous thin films by RF-PECVD systems having high density and low crystallinity which are results of effective medium approximation modeling and fitting using spectroscopic ellipsometer. We reached the cell efficiency 12.67% and 14.30% on flat and textured CZ c-Si wafer each under AM1.5G irradiation, adopting the optimized cleaning and deposition conditions that we made. As a result, we confirmed that spectroscopic ellipsometry is very useful analyzing methode for hetero-junction solar cells which need to very thin and high quality multi layer structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07b
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• pp.977-980
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• 2004

본 논문에서는 저가 고효율 태양전지를 제작하기 위하여 p형 다결정 실리콘 기판을 사용하여 수산화 칼륨(KOH)이 포함된 용액에 Saw damage 과정 후 불산이 함유된 용액에 전기화학적 양극산화 과정으로 실리콘 웨이퍼 표면에 요철을 형성하여 다공성 실리콘을 형성 하였다. 본 논문은 전기화학적 에칭방법으로 기존의 진공장비로 제작된 반사방지막의 반사율만큼 감소된 다공성 실리콘 반사방지막을 형성하였다. 전자빔 증착기(e-beam evaporator)로 단층으로 형성된 $TiO_2$의 반사방지막은 400-1000 nm의 파장 범위에서 4.1 %의 평균 반사율을 가졌으며, 양극산화과정으로 형성된 다공성 실리콘은 400-1000 nm의 파장의 범위에서 4.4 %의 평균 반사율을 가졌다. 본 연구는 태양전지의 반사방지막 형성을 기존의 제작 방법보다 간단하고 저렴한 방법으로 접근하여 태양전지의 변환효율을 상승하는데 목적을 두었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.276-279
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• 2004

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon nitride (SiN) is a proven technique for obtaining layers that meet the needs of surface passivation and anti-reflection coating. In addition, the deposition process appears to provoke bulk passivation as well due to diffusion of atomic hydrogen. This bulk passivation is an important advantage of PECVD deposition when compared to the conventional CVD techniques. A further advantage of PECVD is that the process takes place at a relatively low temperature of 300t, keeping the total thermal budget of the cell processing to a minimum. In this work SiN deposition was performed using a horizontal PECVD reactor system consisting of a long horizontal quartz tube that was radiantly heated. Special and long rectangular graphite plates served as both the electrodes to establish the plasma and holders of the wafers. The electrode configuration was designed to provide a uniform plasma environment for each wafer and to ensure the film uniformity. These horizontally oriented graphite electrodes were stacked parallel to one another, side by side, with alternating plates serving as power and ground electrodes for the RF power supply. The plasma was formed in the space between each pair of plates. Also this paper deals with the fabrication of multicrystalline silicon solar cells with PECVD SiN layers combined with high-throughput screen printing and RTP firing. Using this sequence we were able to obtain solar cells with an efficiency of 14% for polished multi crystalline Si wafers of size 125 m square.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.225-229
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• 2011

Most of the silicon cutting methods using the multi-wire with the slurry injection have been used for wafers of the crystalline solar cell. But the productivity of slurry injection cutting type falls due to low cutting speeds. Also, the direct contact with the metal wire and silicon block increases the concentration of metallic impurities in the wafer's surface. In addition, the abrasive silicon carbide (SiC) generates pollutants. And production costs are rising because it does not re-use the worn wire. On the other hand, the productivity of the cutting method using the diamond coated wire is about 2 times faster than the slurry injection cutting type. Also, the continuous cutting using the used wire of low wear is possible. And this is a big advantage for reduced production costs. Therefore, the cutting method of the diamond coated wire is more efficient than the slurry injection cutting technique. In this study, each cutting type is analyzed using the surface characteristics of the solar wafer and will describe the effects of the manufacturing process of the solar cell. Finally, we will suggest improvement methods of the solar cell process for using the diamond cutting type wafer.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.71-75
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• 2019

Solar energy is one of the renewable energy sources. It can respond to expanding energy demand. A solar cell module is designed to have a durability that can be developed over a long period of 25 years to be installed outdoors and perform like a stable power supply. We need Standard Test Condition (STC)-based power output data before and after testing to measure the power output of existing modules. The modules are shown to reduce power output by comparing data before and after outdoor experiments regardless of whether they are indoor or outdoor. It is easy to compare the power output quantities through the module simulator in the indoor. However, it takes a lot of testing time and costs to compare the power output on outdoor in the case of a high number of modules and distance from the module simulator. It can save time and costs if we can check the power output using the data in outdoor. We have used the long-term outdoor test to find the elements out that corresponds to the reductions in power output quantities. We have conducted research that matched the actual and the tests.