• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2010년도 하계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.249-249
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• 2010

We investigated novel surface treatment and its impact on silicon photovoltaic cells. Using 2-step etching methods, we have changed the nanostructure on pyramid surface so that less light is reflected. This work proposes an improved texturing technique of mono crystalline silicon surface for solar cells with sub-nanotexturing process. The nanotextured silicon surface exhibits a lower average reflectivity (~4%) in the wavelength range of 300-1100nm without antireflection coating layer. It is worth mentioning that the surface of pyramids may also affect the surface reflectance and carrier lifetime. In one word, we believe nanotextruing is a promising guide for texturization of monocrystalline silicon surface.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.171-174
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• 2016

The diamond wire sawing method to produce silicon wafers for the photovoltaic application is still a new and highly investigated wafering technology. This technology, featured as the higher productivity, lower wear of the wire, and easier recycling of the coolant, is expected to become the mainstream technique for slicing the silicon crystals. However, the saw marks on the wafer surface have to be investigated and improved. This paper discusses the removal of saw marks on diamond wire-sawn single crystalline silicon wafer. With a pretreatment step using tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide ($(CH_3)_4NOH$, TMAH) and conventional texturing process with KOH solution (1 % KOH, 8 % IPA, and DI water), the saw marks on the surface of the diamond wire-sawn silicon wafers can be effectively removed and they are invisible to naked eyes completely.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.95-102
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• 2014

Light trapping techniques can change the propagation direction of incident light and keep the light longer in the absorption layers of solar cells to enhance the power conversion efficiency. In thin film silicon (Si) solar cells, the thickness of absorption layer is generally not enough to absorb entire available photons because of short carrier life time, and light induced degradation effect, which can be compensated by the light trapping techniques. These techniques have been adopted as textured transparent conduction oxide (TCO) layers randomly or periodically textured, intermediate reflection layers of tandem and triple junction, and glass substrates etched by various patterning methods. We reviewed the light trapping techniques for thin film Si solar cells and mainly focused on the commercially available techniques applicable to textured TCO on patterned glass substrates. We described the characterization methods representing the light trapping effects, texturing of TCO and showed the results of multi-scale textured TCO on etched glass substrates. These methods can be used tandem and triple thin film Si solar cells to enhance photo-current and power conversion efficiency of long term stability.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.345-348
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• 2012

The optical losses associated with the reflectance of incident radiation are among the most important factors limiting the efficiency of a solar cell. Therefore, photovoltaic cells normally require special surface structures or materials, which can reduce reflectance. In this study, nano-scale textured structures with anti-reflection properties were successfully formed on silicon. The surface of sicon wafer was etched by the inductively coupled plasma process using the gaseous mixture of $SF_6+O_2$. We demonstrate that the reflection characteristic has significantly reduced by ~0% compared with the flat surface. As a result, the power efficiency $P_{max}$ of the nano-scale textured silicon solar cell were enhanced up to 20%, which can be ascribed primarily to the improved light trapping in the proposed nano-scale texturing.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• 제4권5호
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• pp.10-14
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• 2003

A low-cost, large area, random, maskless texturing scheme independent of crystal orientation is expected to have significant impact on terrestrial photovoltaic technology. We investigated silicon surface microstructures formed by reactive ion etching (R IE) in Multi-Hollow cathode system. Desirable texturing effect has been achieved when radio-frequency (rf) power of about 20 Watt per one hollow cathode glow is applied for our RF Multi -Hollow cathode system. The black silicon etched surface shows almost zero reflectance in the visible region as well as in near IR region. The etched silicon surface is covered by columnar microstructures with diameters from 50 to 100 nm and depth of about 500 nm. We have successfully achieved 11.7 % efficiency of mono-crystalline silicon solar cell and 10.2 % for multi-crystalline silicon solar cell.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

Among the various types of solar cells, silicon based two terminal tandem solar cell is one of the most popular one. It is designed to split the absorption of incident AM1.5 solar radiation among two of its component cells, thereby widening the wavelength range of external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectra of the device, in comparison to that of a single junction solar cell. In order to improve the EQE spectra further and raise short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) an optimization of the tradeoff between the top and bottom cell is needed. In an optimized cell structure, the $J_{sc}$ and hence efficiency of the device can further be enhanced with the help of light trapping scheme. This can be achieved by texturing front and back surface as well as a back reflector of the device. In this brief review we highlight the development of light trapping in the silicon based tandem solar cell.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국태양에너지학회 2011년도 춘계학술발표대회 논문집
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• pp.101-104
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• 2011

Many studies in crystalline silicon solar cell fabrication have been focused on high efficiency and low cost. In this paper, we carried out the doping procedure by varying the silicon wafer thicknesses and sheet resistance. The silicon wafers with various thicknesses were obtained by shiny etching and texturing. The thicknesses of wafers were 100, 120, 150, and $180{\mu}m$. The emitter layer formed by $POCl_3$ doping process had sheet resistance with 40 and $80{\Omega}/sq$ for selective emitter application. This experiment indicated wafer thickness did not influence sheet resistance but lifetime was strongly effected.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제21권10호
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• pp.573-579
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• 2011

Highly textured Ag, Al and Al:Si back reflectors for flexible n-i-p silicon thin-film solar cells were prepared on 100-${\mu}m$-thick stainless steel substrates by DC magnetron sputtering and the influence of their surface textures on the light-scattering properties were investigated. The surface texture of the metal back reflectors was influenced by the increased grain size and by the bimodal distribution that arose due to the abnormal grain growth at elevated deposition temperatures. This can be explained by the structure zone model (SZM). With an increase in the deposition temperatures from room temperature to $500^{\circ}C$, the surface roughness of the Al:Si films increased from 11 nm to 95 nm, whereas that of the pure Ag films increased from 6 nm to 47 nm at the same deposition temperature. Although Al:Si back reflectors with larger surface feature dimensions than pure Ag can be fabricated at lower deposition temperatures due to the lower melting point and the Si impurity drag effect, they show poor total and diffuse reflectance, resulting from the low reflectivity and reflection loss on the textured surface. For a further improvement of the light-trapping efficiency in solar cells, a new type of back reflector consisting of Ag/Al:Si bilayer is suggested. The surface morphology and reflectance of this reflector are closely dependent on the Al:Si bottom layer and the Ag top layer. The relationship between the surface topography and the light-scattering properties of the bilayer back reflectors is also reported in this paper.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.119-123
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• 2013

Most of the world's solar cells in photovoltaic industry are currently fabricated using crystalline silicon. Czochralski-grown silicon crystals are more expensive than multicrystalline silicon crystals. The future of solar-grade Czochralski-grown silicon crystals crucially depends on whether it is usable for the mass-production of high-efficiency solar cells or not. It is generally believed that the main obstacle for making solar-grade Czochralski-grown silicon crystals a perfect high-efficiency solar cell material is presently light-induced degradation problem. In this work, the substitution of boron with gallium in p-type silicon single crystal is studied as an alternative to reduce the extent of lifetime degradation. The diamond-wire sawing technology is employed to slice the silicon ingot. In this paper, the quality of the diamond wire-sawn gallium-doped silicon wafers is studied from the chemical, electrical and structural points of view. It is found that the characteristic of gallium-doped silicon wafers including texturing behavior and surface metallic impurities are same as that of conventional boron-doped Czochralski crystals.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2012년도 제43회 하계 정기 학술대회 초록집
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• pp.438-438
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• 2012

결정질 실리콘 태양전지 공정 중 텍스쳐 공정은 표면에서 반사되는 반사광을 줄여 단락전류(Isc)를 증가시킨다. 표면 텍스쳐 형성 방식으로는 일반적으로 습식 식각(Wet etching) 공정과 건식 식각(Reactive ion etching:RIE) 공정이 있다. 습식 식각 공정은 식각 용액을 사용하는 공정이며 건식 식각 공정은 플라즈마를 통하여 식각하는 공정으로 습식 식각 공정의 경우 식각 용액에 의한 공정상 위험도가 높으며, 용액의 폐기물에 의한 환경오염 문제가 크다. 건식 식각공정의 경우 습식 식각과 달리 공정상 위험도가 낮으며 불규칙적인 결정방향에 영향 받지 않는 비등방성 식각이 가능하여 다결정 실리콘 태양전지의 경우 습식 식각 공정보다 반사광이 적어 단락전류가 증가하게 된다. 그리고 태양전지를 Photovoltaic module로 만들게 되면 태양전지의 효율이 떨어지는데 이것을 Cell to module loss (CTM loss)라 부르며 이는 태양전지의 발전량을 줄이는 큰 원인이 된다. CTM loss의 경우 습식 식각 공정보다 건식 식각 공정에서 더 크게 나타나며 건식 식각 공정한 PV module의 경우 CTM loss로 인해 습식 식각 공정을 통한PV module와 비슷한 효율을 내게 된다. 본 연구에서는 식각 공정의 방식에 따라 나타나는CTM loss 중 광 손실 원인을 외부양자효율(External Quantum Efficiency)과 투과율(Transmittance), 반사율(Reflectance) 등 광 특성 통하여 분석한다.