• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.43.2-43.2
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• 2010

In this study, metallurgical grade (MG) silicon with 99% purity produced by arc furnace process was systematically investigated for slag refining. The most problematic impurities to remove from MG silicon are boron (B) and phosphorus (P). To remove B and P from MG-silicon, we used synthetic slag in the molten state. MG-silicon with synthetic slag of CaO, $SiO_2$, and $CaF_2$ was melted using by high-frequency induction furnace with electrical output of 50kW. Specimens prepared by various refining process conditions(holding time, mixture ratio) were inspected by combined analysis of ICP-MS and XRF. With this approach, B has been reduced to <5ppm, P to <1ppm and other impurities to 0.1~0.2% except for Calcium. Calcium has been increased from 17ppm to 1500ppm. Problem of calcium contamination will be resolved by additional refining processes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.323-323
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• 2010

Saw damage of crystalline silicon wafer is unavoidable factor. Usually, alkali treatment for removing the damage has been carried out as the saw damage removal (SDR) process for priming the alkali texture. It usually takes lots of time and energy to remove the sawed damages for solar grade crystalline silicon wafers We implemented two different mixed acidic solution treatments to obtain the improved surface structure of silicon wafer without much sacrifice of the silicon wafer thickness. At the first step, the silicon wafer was dipped into the mixed acidic solution of $HF:HNO_3$=1:2 ration for polished surface and at the second step, it was dipped into the diluted mixed acidic solution of $HF:HNO_3:H_2O$=7:3:10 ratio for porous structure. This double treatment to the silicon wafer brought lower reflectance (25% to 6%) and longer carrier lifetime ($0.15\;{\mu}s$ to $0.39\;{\mu}s$) comparing to the bare poly-crystalline silicon wafer. With optimizing the concentration ratio and the dilution ratio, we can not only effectively substitute the time consuming process of SDR to some extent but also skip plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process. Moreover, to conduct alkali texture for pyramidal structure on silicon wafer surface, we can use only nitric acid rich solution of the mixed acidic solution treatment instead of implementing SDR.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.161-166
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• 2007

Photovoltaic (PV) technology permits the transformation of solar light directly into electricity. For the last five years, the photovoltaic sector has experienced one of the highest growth rates worldwide (over 30% in 2006) and for the next 20 years, the average production growth rate is estimated to be between 27% and 34% annually. Currently the cost of electricity produced using photovoltaic technology is above that for traditional energy sources, but this is expected to fall with technological progress and more efficient production processes. A large scale production of solar grade silicon material of high purity could supply the world demand at a reasonably lower cost. A shift from crystalline silicon to thin film is expected in the future. The technical limit for the conversion efficiency is about 30%. It is assumed that in 2030 thin films will have a major market share (90%) and the share of crystalline cells will have decreased to 10%. Our research at Sungkyunkwan University of South Korea is confined to crystalline silicon solar cell technology. We aim to develop a technology for low cost production of high efficiency silicon solar cell. We have successfully fabricated silicon solar cells of efficiency more than 16% starting with multicrystalline wafers and that of efficiency more than 17% on single crystalline wafers with screen printing metallization. The process of transformation from the first generation to second generation solar cell should be geared up with the entry of new approaches but still silicon seems to remain as the major material for solar cells for many years to come. Local barriers to the implementation of this technology may also keep continuing up to year 2010 and by that time the cost of the solar cell generated power is expected to be 60 cent per watt. Photovoltaic source could establish itself as a clean and sustainable energy alternate to the ever depleting and polluting non-renewable energy resource.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.167-167
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• 2009

결정질실리콘 태양전지를 제조함에 있어 실리콘 기판 내의 금속 불순물들은 소자제작 시에 성능 저하의 원인으로 작용한다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 실리콘 기판에 Cr, Cu, Ni 불순물을 강제 오염시킨 후 태양전지를 제작하여 각각의 불순물에 대한 특성을 조사 하였다. p-type 실리콘 기판을 오염시키기 위해 일정 시간동안 표준용액에 담근 후 질소 분위기에서 열처리 하여 불순물을 확산시켰다. 이후 상용 공정을 이용하여 태양전지를 제작하고 기판내 금속불순물 농도에 따른 태양전지의 동작특성을 분석하였다.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2009

In this study, binderless consolidation processes of ultra foe Si powder, by-products of making high purity poly-Si in the current method, were systematically investigated for use as economical solar-grade feedstock. The average diameter of the silicon powder was $7.8{\mu}m$. The main contaminants of the fine silicon powder were $SiO_2$ type oxide and humidity. The chemical pretreatment using the HF solution was observed to be effective for the improvement of the compactability of the silicon powder and the density ratio and the strength of the silicon powder compacts. The yield of the binder-free consolidation process increased by 20% under a vacuum condition. In as-received state, the silicon powder were not pure enough to be used as solar grade feed-stock material. After the dry chemical treatments, a sufficiently high purity above solar-grade was able to be achieved.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.55-61
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• 2011

In order to develop economical production process from metallurgical grade silicon(MG-Si) to solar grade(SOG-Si), removal of boron by slag treatment was investigated at 1823 K using CaO-$SiO_2$ based slags. In the present study boron removal ratio in CaO-$SiO_2$ stags and $CaCO_3-SiO_2$ slags were increased to 63% and 73% respectively with slag basicity (%CaO/$%SiO_2$). However, bubbling time with Ar gas of slag and metal was not affected on removal ratio of boron. The addition of $Na_2CO_3$ to CaO-$SiO_2$ slags did not improve the removal ratio of boron from molten silicon. Boron contend was decreased from 20.6 ppm to 1.03 ppm by three times treatment using $CaCO_3-SiO_2$ slag (basicity=1.2).

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.383-383
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• 2009

Silicon is commercially prepared by the reaction of high-purity silica with wood, charcoal, and coal, in an electric arc furnace using carbon electrodes, so called the metallurgical refining process, which produces ~98% pure Si (MG-Si). This can be further purified to solar grade silicon (SoG-Si) by various techniques. The most problematic impurity elements are B and P because of their high segregation coefficients. In this study, we explored the possibility of the using Cat-CVD for Si purification. The existing hot-wire CVD was modified to accommodate the catalyzer and the heating source. Mo boat (1.5 cm ${\times}$ 1 cm ${\times}$ 0.2 cm) was used as a heating source. Commercially available Si was purchased from Nilaco corporation (~99% pure). This powder was kept in the Mo-boat and heated to the purification temperature. In addition to the purification by cat-CVD technique, other methods such as thermal CVD, plasma enhanced CVD, vacuum annealing was also tried. It is found that the impurities are reduced to a great extent when treated with cat-CVD method.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.54.2-54.2
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• 2011

야금학적 정련 공정 중 슬래그 처리, 일방향 응고, 플라즈마-전자기유도용해 공정을 적용한 태양전지용 실리콘 제조 기술에 관한 연구를 수행하였다. 원소재인 금속급 실리콘을 제조하기 위해원재료로 규석, 코크스(Cokes), 숯, 그리고 우드칩(Wood chip)을 사용하였으며, 150kW급 DC 아크로(Arc furnace)를 이용하여 순도 99.8% 금속급 실리콘을 제조하였다. 제조된 용융 상태의 금속급 실리콘은 슬래그와 반응시켜 불순물을 제거하였다. SiO2-CaO-CaF2 계의 슬래그를 이용하였으며, 금속급 실리콘과 슬래그의 질량비 및 반응 시간에 따른 실리콘 불순물 특성을 평가하였다. 이후 고액 계면이 제어 가능한 일방향 응고 장치를 이용하여 금속불순물을 제거하였다. 고액상태의 온도 조건 및 응고 시간에 따른 불순물 농도 변화를 평가하였으며, 순도 6N급의 실리콘을 제조하였다. 마지막 공정으로 스팀 플라즈마 토치와 냉도가니가 적용된 전자기 유도 용해장치를 이용하여 붕소와 인을 제거하였다. 플라즈마 토치 가스로는 아르곤, 스팀, 수소를 이용하였다. 붕소와 인의 제거율은 각각 94%와 96%를 달성하였으며, 최종 순도 6N급의 실리콘을 제조하였다.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2011

Impurity removal from metallurgical grade silicon by acid washing at $50^{\circ}C$ was investigated by employing sulfuric, nitric acid and the mixture of hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid. Acid washing treatment had no effect on the removal of boron and the concentration of this clement after treatment was rather increased. In our experimental range, the removal percentage of phosphorus was 60%. In the acid washing with sulfuric and nitric acid, the removal percentage of major impurities was below 50%, which indicates that refining effect was not great with these acids. Acid washing with the mixture of hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid led to removal percentage of higher than 90%. Data on the purity of silicon after acid washing at various conditions are reported.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.103-111
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• 2011

Laser drilling of vias is the one of key technologies in developing Emitter-Wrap Through(EWT) solar cell which is particularly attractive due to the use of industrial processing and common solar grade p-type silicon materials. While alternative economically feasible drilling process is not available to date, the processing time and laser induced damage should be as small as possible in this process. This paper provides an overview on various factors that should be considered in using the laser via drilling technology for developing highly efficient and industrially applicable EWT solar cells.