• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.188.1-188.1
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• 2014

Aluminum is widely used as a material for electrode on silicon based devices. Especially, aluminum films are used as backside and front-side electrodes in silicon quantum dot (QD) solar cells. In this point, the diffusion of aluminum is very important for the enhancement of power conversion efficiency by improvement of contact property. Aluminum was deposited on a Si (100) wafer and a Si QD layer by ion beam sputter system with a DC ion gun. The Si QD layer was fabricated by $1100^{\circ}C$ annealing of the $SiO_2/SiO_1$ multilayer film grown by ion beam sputtering deposition. Cs ion beam with a low energy and a grazing incidence angle was used in SIMS depth profiling analysis to obtain high depth resolution. Diffusion behavior of aluminum in the Al/Si and Al/Si QD interfaces was investigated by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) as a function of heat treatment temperature. It was found that aluminum is diffused into Si substrate at $450^{\circ}C$. In this presentation, the effect of heat treatment temperature and Si nitride diffusion barrier on the diffusion of Al will be discussed.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.73.1-73.1
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• 2010

태양광 시장은 세계적인 금융 위기 속에서도 점점 그 규모가 확대되고 있다. 시장의 규모가 확대되고 있음에도 불구하고 금융 위기를 겪으면서 생산자 중심의 시장에서 수요자 중심의 시장으로 바뀌게 되었다. 이에 따라 더 적은 비용으로 높은 출력의 제품만이 경쟁력을 가지게 됨으로써 효율이 더욱 이슈화되었다. 여러 태양전지 중 가장 점유율이 높은 결정질 태양전지는 일반적인 양산 공정만으로 효율을 높이는데 한계가 있으므로 selective emitter, back contact, light induced plating 등의 새로운 공정을 도입하여 효율을 높이려는 경향이 나타나고 있다. 본 연구에서는, ALD 장치를 사용하여 결정질 태양전지의 후면을 passivation 함으로써 효율을 높이는 방법을 모색하였다. 부동화 층으로는 $Al_2O_3$를 사용하였으며 셀을 제조하여 평가하였다. 실험방법은 p-type의 웨이퍼를 이용하여 습식으로 texturing 후 $POCl_3$ 용액으로 p-n junction을 형성하였고 anti-reflection 막인 SiNx는 PECVD를 사용하여 R.I 2.05, 80nm 두께로 증착하였다. 그런 다음 후면의 n+ layer를 제거하기 위하여 SiNx에 영향을 미치지 않는 용액을 사용하여 후면을 식각하였다. BSF 층은 screen printer로 Al paste를 printing하여 형성하였고 Al etching용액으로 여분의 Al제거한 후 ALD 장치를 이용하여 $Al_2O_3$를 증착하였다. 마지막으로 전극을 형성한 후 laser로 isolation하여 효율을 평가하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.75-75
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• 2011

Recently, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) attracts great attention as a promising alternative to conventional silicon solar cells. One of the key components for the DSSC would be the nanocrystalline TiO2 electrode, and the control of interface between TiO2 and TCO is a highly important issue in improving the photovoltaic conversion efficiency. In this work, we applied various interfacial layers, and analyzed their effect in enhancing photovoltaic properties. In overall, introduction of interfacial layers increased both the Voc and Jsc, since the back-reaction of electrons from TCO to electrolyte could be blocked. First, several metal oxides with different band gaps and positions were employed as interfacial layer. SnO2, TiO2, and ZrO2 nanoparticles in the size of 3-5 nm have been synthesized. Among them, the interfacial layer of SnO2, which has lower flat-band potential than that of TiO2, exhibited the best performance in increasing the photovoltaic efficiency of DSSC. Second, long-range ordered cubic mesoporous TiO2 films, prepared by using triblock copolymer-templated sol-gel method via evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process, were utilized as an interfacial layer. Mesoporous TiO2 films seem to be one of the best interfacial layers, due to their additional effect, improving the adhesion to TCO and showing an anti-reflective effect. Third, we handled the issues related to the optimum thickness of interfacial layers. It was also found that in fabricating DSSC at low temperature, the role of interfacial layer turned out to be a lot more important. The self-assembled interfacial layer fabricated at room temperature leads to the efficient transport of photo-injected electrons from TiO2 to TCO, as well as blocking the back-reaction from TCO to I3-. As a result, fill factor (FF) was remarkably increased, as well as increase in Voc and Jsc.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2022

The most prevalent cause of solar cell efficiency loss is reduced recombination at the metal electrode and silicon junction. To boost efficiency, a a SiO_X/poly-Si passivating interface is being developed. Poly-Si for passivating contact is formed by various deposition methods (sputtering, PECVD, LPCVD, HWCVD) where the ploy-Si characterization depends on the deposition method. The sputtering process forms a dense Si film at a low deposition rate of 2.6 nm/min and develops a low passivation characteristic of 690 mV. The PECVD process offers a deposition rate of 28 nm/min with satisfactory passivation characteristics. The LPCVD process is the slowest with a deposition rate of 1.4 nm/min, and can prevent blistering if deposited at high temperatures. The HWCVD process has the fastest deposition rate at 150 nm/min with excellent passivation characteristics. However, the uniformity of the deposited film decreases as the area increases. Also, the best passivation characteristics are obtained at high doping. Thus, it is necessary to optimize the doping process depending on the deposition method.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.203-207
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• 2013

P-type Si wafers were dipped in HF solution. The minority carrier lifetime (lifetime) increased after HF treatment due to the hydrogen termination effect. To investigate the film passivation effect, PECVD was used to deposit $SiN_x$ on both HF-treated and untreated wafers. $SiN_x$ generally helped to improve the lifetime. A thermal process at $850^{\circ}C$ reduced the lifetime of all wafers because of the dehydrogenation at high temperature. However, the HF-treated wafers showed better lifetime than untreated wafers. PERCs both passivated and not passivated by HF treatment were fabricated on the rear side, and their characteristics were measured. The short-circuit current density and the open-circuit voltage were improved due to the effectively increased lifetime by HF treatment.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.94-94
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• 2009

최근 실리콘 태양전지는 점점 얇아 지는 추세에 있다. 실리콘 태양전지에 있어 실리콘의 두께를 감소시키는 것은 실리콘 소모량을 줄이는데 있어 필수적인 조건이 되었다. 이에 따라 실리콘 표면의 passivation도 더욱 중요하게 여겨지고 있다. 실리콘 태양전지의 passivation막의 한 종류인 $Al_2O_3$는 다른 산화막 물질들과는 달리 negative fixed charge를 가지고 있고 charge의 양이 다른 산화막의 density보다 높아 p-type 실리콘의 경우 후면 passivation막으로 이용이 고려되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 atomic layer deposition으로 $Al_2O_3$막을 실리콘 위에 증착하여 열처리에 따른 그 특성을 비교하고 태양전지를 제작하였다. $Al_2O_3$막을 rapid thermal annealing을 통해 서로 다른 분위기에서 열처리 한 결과를 capacitance-voltage를 통해 측정하여 비교, 분석하였고 ellipsomety 분석을 통해 광학적 특성을 비교하였다. 또한 열처리 온도의 변화에 따른 $Al_2O_3$내에 charge에 변화가 있다는 것을 관찰하였다. 이러한 charge의 변화가 태양전지의 passivation에 영향을 주는지 관찰하기 위해 Quasi-steady state photoconductace를 통해 lifetime의 변화를 관찰 하였다. 이러한 실험결과로부터 열처리 분위기와 온도를 최적화 하여 태양전지 passivation 특성을 증가시킬 수 있었다.

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.87-94
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• 2001

Silicon nitride films grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are useful for a variety of applications, including anti-reflecting coatings in solar cells, passivation layers, dielectric layers in metal/insulator structures, and diffusion masks. PECVD systems are controlled by many operating variables, including RF power, pressure, gas flow rate, reactant composition, and substrate temperature. The wide variety of processing conditions, as well as the complex nature of particle dynamics within a plasma, makes tailoring SiN film properties very challenging, since it is difficult to determine the exact relationship between desired film properties and controllable deposition conditions. In this study, SiN PECVD modeling using optimized neural networks has been investigated. The deposition of SiN was characterized via a central composite experimental design, and data from this experiment was used to train and optimize feed-forward neural networks using the back-propagation algorithm. From these neural process models, the effect of deposition conditions on film properties has been studied. A recipe synthesis (optimization) procedure was then performed using the optimized neural network models to generate the necessary deposition conditions to obtain several novel film qualities including high charge density and long lifetime. This optimization procedure utilized genetic algorithms, hybrid combinations of genetic algorithm and Powells algorithm, and hybrid combinations of genetic algorithm and simplex algorithm. Recipes predicted by these techniques were verified by experiment, and the performance of each optimization method are compared. It was found that the hybrid combinations of genetic algorithm and simplex algorithm generated recipes produced films of superior quality.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07b
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• pp.985-988
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• 2004

The carrier lifetime of boron doped Cz silicon samples after light induced degradation could be improved by optimized rapid thermal processing (RTP). The important five different parameters varied in order to investigate which parameter is important for the stable lifetime after light induced degradation, $\tau_d$. The Plateau temperature and the Plateau time influenced on the lifetime after light induced degradation. Especially, the Plateau temperature showed a strong influence on the stable lifetime. The optimal plateau temperature is approximately $900^{\circ}C$ t for a plateau time of 120 s. The stable lifetime increased from $15\mu}s$ to $25.5{\mu}s$. The normalized defect concentration, $N_t^*$, decreased from $0.06{\mu}s^{-1}$ to $0.037{\mu}s^{-1}$ by RTP-process.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07c
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• pp.1584-1586
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• 2002

CuIn$Se_2$ (CIS) and related compounds such as Cu($In_xGa_{1-x})Se_2$(CIGS) have been studied by their potential for use in photovoltaic devices. CIS thin film materials which have high absorption coefficient and wide bandgap, have attracted much attention as an alternative to crystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells currently in use. Cu-rich CIGS film have very low resistivity, due to coexistence of the semimetallic $Cu_{2-x}Se$. In-rich CIGS films show high resistivity, since these films are compensated films without the $Cu_{2-x}Se$ phase. Optical properties of the CIGS films also change in accordance with the resistivity for the Cu/(In+Ga) ratio. The Cu-rich films have different spectra from In-rich films in near infrared wavelengths.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.240-240
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• 2011

투명전도성 산화물 박막은 넓은 밴드갭을 가지고 있으며 금속 도핑에 따라서 낮은 저항과 높은 투과도를 가지고 있다. 이러한 투명전도성 산화물 박막은 광학 디바이스, 유기광전자 디바이스(OLED) 및 태양전지 등 다양한 분야에 응용이 되고 있다. 또한 이러한 투명전도성 산화물 박막중에서도 AZO 박막은 실리콘 태양전지의 전극으로 사용이 되며, 이를 식각하여 다양한 모양을 가지는 박막으로 성장시킬 경우 빛의 산란 및 포집 효과에 의해서 태양전지의 current density를 증가시키는 요인이 된다. 본 연구에서는 AZO 박막을 RF magnetron sputtering법을 이용하여 유리 기판위에 성장하였다. 또한, 성장된 AZO 박막은 염산, 질산, 황산, 인산, 초산 등의 다양한 산성용액을 이용하여 식각을 하였다. 그 결과 식각률은 식각용액의 농도 및 pH에 따라서 다양한 변화를 보였으며, 식각된 AZO 박막은 실리콘 태양전지에 응용이 가능할 것으로 기대된다.