• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.539-545
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• 2014

Contact resistivity between silver electrodes and the emitter layer of a silicon solar cell wafer has been measured using either the circular transmission line method or the linear transmission line method. The circular transmission line method has an advantage over the linear transmission line method, in that it does not require an additional process for mesa etching to eliminate the leakage current. In contrast, the linear transmission line method has the advantage that its specimen can be acquired directly from a silicon solar cell. In this study, measured resistance data for the calculation of contact resistivity is compared for these two methods, and the mechanism by which the linear transmission line method can more realistically reflect the impact of the width and thickness of a silver electrode on contact resistivity is investigated.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.617-622
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• 2010

We have studied methods to save Si source during the fabrication process of crystalline Si solar cells. One way is to use a thin silicon wafer substrate. As the thickness of the wafers is reduced, mechanical fractures of the substrate increase with the mechanical handling of the thin wafers. It is expected that the mechanical fractures lead to a dropping of yield in the solar cell process. In this study, the mechanical properties of 220-micrometer-solar grade Cz p-type monocrystalline Si wafers were investigated by varying saw-damage etching conditions in order to improve the flexural strength of ultra-thin monocrystalline Si solar cells. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution and tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solution were used as etching solutions. Etching processes were operated with a varying of the ratio of KOH and TMAH solutions in different temperature conditions. After saw-damage etching, wafers were cleaned with a modified RCA cleaning method for ten minutes. Each sample was divided into 42 pieces using an automatic dicing saw machine. The surface morphologies were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and 3D optical microscopy. The thickness distribution was measured by micrometer. The strength distribution was measured with a 4-point-bending tester. As a result, TMAH solution at $90^{\circ}C$ showed the best performance for flexural strength.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.12-17
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• 2019

In this study, the Ag nano-dots structure and silicon nitride film were applied to the textured wafer surface to improve the light trapping effect of mono-crystalline silicon solar cell. Ag nano-dots structure was formed by performing a heat treatment for 30 minutes at 650℃ after the deposition of 10nm Ag thin film. Ag thin film deposition was performed using a thermal evaporator. The silicon nitride film was deposited by a Hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. The effect of light trapping was compared and analyzed through light reflectance measurements. Experimental results showed that the reflectivity increased by 0.5 ~ 1% under all nitride thickness conditions when Ag nano-dots structure was formed before nitride film deposition. In addition, when the Ag nano-dots structure is formed after deposition of the silicon nitride film, the reflectance is increased in the nitride film condition of 70 nm or more. When the HF treatment was performed for 60 seconds to improve the Ag nano-dot structure, the overall reflectance was improved, and the reflectance was 0.15% lower than that of the silicon nitride film-only sample at 90 nm silicon nitride film condition.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.47.2-47.2
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• 2010

For reducing outer reflection in mono-crystalline silicon solar cell, wet texturing process has been adapted for long period of time. Nowadays mixed solution with potassium hydroxide and isopropyl alcohol is used in silicon surface texturing by most manufacturers. In the process of silicon texturing, etch rate is very critical for effective texturing. Several parameters influence the result of texturing. Most of all, temperature, process time and concentration of potassium hydroxide can be classified as important factors. In this paper, temperature, process time and concentration of potassium hydroxide were set as major parameters and 3-level test matrix was created by using robust design for the optimized condition. The process optimization in terms of lowest reflection and stable etch rate can be traced by using robust design method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.335.2-335.2
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• 2016

The fixed negative charge of the Al2O3 passivation layer gives excellent passivation performance for both n-type and p-type silicon wafers. For the best passivation quality, annealing is known to be a prerequisite step and a lot of studies concerning annealing effect on the passivation characteristics have been performed. Meanwhile, for manufacturing a crystalline silicon solar cell, firing process is applied to the Al2O3 passivation layer. Therefore, study on not only annealing effect but also on firing effect is necessary. In this work, Al2O3 passivation performance (minority carrier lifetime) for p-type silicon wafer was evaluated with Quasi-Steady-State Photoconductance(QSSPC) measurement after annealing at different temperatures. For the samples which showed different aspects, C-V measurement was performed for the cause - whether it is due to the chemical effect or field-effect. The change in Al2O3 passivation property after firing processes was investigated and the mechanism for the change could be estimated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.116-117
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• 2006

We investigated selective emitter effect of Porous Silicon (PSI) as antireflection coatings (ARC). The thin PSi layer, less than 100nm, was electrochemically formed by electrochemical method in about $3{\mu}m$ thick $n^+$ emitter on single crystalline silicon wafer (sc-Si). The appropriate PSi formations for selective emitter effect were carried out a two steps. A first set of samples allowed to be etched after metal-contact processing and a second one to evaporate Ag front-side metallization on PSi layer, by evaluating the I-V features The PSi has reflectance less than 20% in wavelength for 450-1000nm and porosity is about 60%. The cell made after front-contact has improved cell efficiency of about in comparison with the one made after PSi. The observed increase of efficiency for samples with PSi coating could be explained not only by the reduction of the reflection loss and surface recombination but also by the increased short-circuit current (Isc) within selective emitter. The assumption was confirmed by numerical modeling. The obtained results point out that it would be possible to prepare a solar cell over 15% efficiency by the proposed simple technology.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.139-143
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• 2017

N-type crystalline silicon solar cells have high metal impurity tolerance and higher minority carrier lifetime that increases conversion efficiency. However, junction quality between the boron diffused layer and the n-type substrate is more important for increased efficiency. In this paper, the current status and prospects for boron diffused layers in N-type crystalline silicon solar cell applications are described. Boron diffused layer formation methods (thermal diffusion and co-diffusion using $a-SiO_X:B$), boron rich layer (BRL) and boron silicate glass (BSG) reactions, and analysis of the effects to improve junction characteristics are discussed. In-situ oxidation is performed to remove the boron rich layer. The oxidation process after diffusion shows a lower B-O peak than before the Oxidation process was changed into $SiO_2$ phase by FTIR and BRL. The $a-SiO_X:B$ layer is deposited by PECVD using $SiH_4$, $B_2H_6$, $H_2$, $CO_2$ gases in N-type wafer and annealed by thermal tube furnace for performing the P+ layer. MCLT (minority carrier lifetime) is improved by increasing $SiH_4$ and $B_2H_6$. When $a-SiO_X:B$ is removed, the Si-O peak decreases and the B-H peak declines a little, but MCLT is improved by hydrogen passivated inactive boron atoms. In this paper, we focused on the boron emitter for N-type crystalline solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.240-244
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• 2011

The high cost of crystalline silicon solar cells has been considered as one of the major obstacles to their terrestrial applications. Spin on doping (SOD) is presented as a useful process for the manufacturing of low cost solar cells. Phosphorus (P509) was used as an n-type emitters of solar cells. N-type emitters were formed on p-type EFG ribbon Si wafers by using a SOD at different spin speed (1,000~4,000 rpm), diffusion temperatures ($800^{\circ}C{\sim}950^{\circ}C$), and diffusion time (5~30 min) in $N_2+O_2$ atmosphere. With optimum condition, we were able to achieve cell efficiency of 14.1%.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.322-327
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• 2019

Hole carrier selective MoOx film is obtained by atomic layer deposition(ALD) using molybdenum hexacarbonyl[$Mo(CO)_6$] as precursor and ozone($O_3$) oxidant. The growth rate is about 0.036 nm/cycle at 200 g/Nm of ozone concentration and the thickness of interfacial oxide is about 2 nm. The measured band gap and work function of the MoOx film grown by ALD are 3.25 eV and 8 eV, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) result shows that the $Mo^{6+}$ state is dominant in the MoOx thin film. In the case of ALD-MoOx grown on Si wafer, the ozone concentration does not affect the passivation performance in the as-deposited state. But, the implied open-circuit voltage increases from $576^{\circ}C$ to $620^{\circ}C$ at 250 g/Nm after post-deposition annealing at $350^{\circ}C$ in a forming gas ambient. Instead of using a p-type amorphous silicon layer, high work function MoOx films as hole selective contact are applied for heterojunction silicon solar cells and the best efficiency yet recorded (21 %) is obtained.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1380-1381
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• 2011

본 논문에서는 SILVACO 사의 ATHENA와 ATLAS를 이용하여 후면 전극 실리콘 태양전지 (back contact silicon solar cell)의 전면 텍스쳐링 (texturing) 깊이 (depth)와 텍스쳐링 간격 (gap)에 따른 태양전지 효율(efficiency)에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 제안한 후면 전극 실리콘 태양전지는 (100) silicon wafer(n-type, $6{\times}10^{15}\;cm^{-3}$)을 기반으로 전면부에 텍스쳐링을, 후면부에 BSF(back surface field, $1{\times}10^{20}\;cm^{-3}$)와 에미터(emitter, $8.5{\times}10^{19}\;cm^{-3}$)를 구성하고, 셀간 피치를 1250 ${\mu}m$, BSF와 에미터의 간격을 25 ${\mu}m$으로 한 구조이다. 텍스쳐링 간격이 없이 텍스쳐링 깊이를 0 ${\mu}m$에서 150 ${\mu}m$으로 증가시켜 분석한 결과, 텍스쳐링 깊이가 증가할수록 효율이 23.90%에서 25.79%로 증가하였다. 텍스쳐링 간격을 1 ${\mu}m$에서 100 ${\mu}m$으로 증가시켜 분석한 결과, 텍스쳐링 깊이와 상관없이 텍스쳐링 간격이 증가할수록 후면 전극 실리콘 태양전지의 효율이 감소하였다. 텍스쳐링 유무에 따라 후면 전극 태양전지의 외부양자효율의 차이를 보였고 텍스쳐링이 있을 때 외부양자효율이 보다 높은 값을 얻었다.