• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2013

Lowering surface reflectance of Si wafers by texturization is one of the most important processes for improving the efficiency of Si solar cells. This paper presents the results on the effect of texturing using acidic solution mixtures containing the catalytic agents to moderate etching rates on the surface morphology of mc-Si wafer as well as on the performance parameters of solar cell. It was found that the treatment of contaminated crystalline silicon wafer with $HNO_3-H_2O_2-H_2O$ solution before the texturing helps the removal of organic contaminants due to its oxidizing properties and thereby allows the formation of nucleation centers for texturing. This treatment combined with the use of a catalytic agent such as phosphoric acid improved the effects of the texturing effects. This reduced the reflectance of the surface, thereby increased the short circuit current and the conversion efficiency of the solar cell. Employing this technique, we were able to fabricate mc-Si solar cell of 16.4% conversion efficiency with anti-reflective (AR) coating of silicon nitride film using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and Si wafers can be texturized in a short time.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.103-109
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• 2014

Highly efficient hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) thin-film solar cells were prepared on flexible stainless steel substrates using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. To enhance the performance of solar cells, material properties of back reflectors, n-doped seed layers and wide bandgap nc-SiC:H window layers were optimized. The light scattering efficiency of Ag back reflectors was improved by increasing the surface roughness of the films deposited at elevated substrate temperatures. Using the n-doped seed layers with high crystallinity, the initial crystal growth of intrinsic nc-Si:H absorber layers was improved, resulting in the elimination of the defect-dense amorphous regions at the n/i interfaces. The nc-SiC:H window layers with high bandgap over 2.2 eV were deposited under high hydrogen dilution conditions. The vertical current flow of the films was enhanced by the formation of Si nanocrystallites in the amorphous SiC:H matrix. Under optimized conditions, a high conversion efficiency of 9.13% ($V_{oc}=0.52$, $J_{sc}=25.45mA/cm^2$, FF = 0.69) was achieved for the flexible nc-Si:H thin-film solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.148-148
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• 2011

Recently, there have been many research activities to develop the large-area plasma source, which is able to generate the high-density plasma with relatively good uniformity, for the plasma processing in the thin-film solar cell and display panel industries. The large-area CCP sources have been applied to the PECVD process as well as the etching. Especially, the PECVD processes for the depositions of various films such as a-Si:H, ${\mu}c$-Si:H, Si3N4, and SiO2 take a significant portion of processes. In order to achieve higher deposition rate (DR), good uniformity in large-area reactor, and good film quality (low defect density, high film strength, etc.), the application of VHF (>40 MHz) CCP is indispensible. However, the electromagnetic wave effect in the VHF CCP becomes an issue to resolve for the achievement of good uniformity of plasma and film. Here, we propose a new electrode as part of a method to resolve the standing wave effect in the large-area VHF CCP. The electrode is split up a series of strip-type electrodes and the strip-type electrodes and the ground ones are arranged by turns. The standing wave effect in the longitudinal direction of the strip-type electrode is reduced by using the multi-feeding method of VHF power and the uniformity in the transverse direction of the electrodes is achieved by controlling the gas flow and the gap length between the powered electrodes and the substrate. Also, we provide the process results for the growths of the a-Si:H and the ${\mu}c$-Si:H films. The high DR (2.4 nm/s for a-Si:H film and 1.5 nm/s for the ${\mu}c$-Si:H film), the controllable crystallinity (~70%) for the ${\mu}c$-Si:H film, and the relatively good uniformity (1% for a-Si:H film and 7% for the ${\mu}c$-Si:H film) can be obtained at the high frequency of 40 MHz in the large-area discharge (280 mm${\times}$540 mm). Finally, we will discuss the issues in expanding the multi-electrode to the 8G class large-area plasma processing (2.2 m${\times}$2.4 m) and in improving the process efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.97-97
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• 1998

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.129.1-129.1
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• 2011

a-Si:H/c-Si 구조의 이종접합 태양전지 전면 투명전도막으로 Indium tin oxide(ITO) 박막의 조건에 따라 태양전지 특성을 연구하였다. ITO 박막은 파우더 타겟으로 마그네트론 스퍼터링 방식으로 성막하였고, 증착 온도(Ts)에 따라 전기적, 광학적 특성을 비교, 분석하였다. 기판 증착 온도가 증가할수록 박막의 저항이 낮아지는 것으로 나타났으며 $350^{\circ}C$ 조건에서 가장 낮은 저항($34.2{\Omega}$/sq)을 보였다. 투과도 또한 기판 증착 온도가 올라갈수록 전반적인 향상을 나타냈다. a-Si:H/c-Si 기판의 MCLT(minority carrier lifetime)는 $350^{\circ}C$에서 최적($359{\mu}s$)의 결과를 나타냈다. 그 이상의 기판 온도에서는 오히려 감소하였는데, 이는 높은 온도에서의 a-Si:H/c-Si 계면의 열손상으로 판단된다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.315-315
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• 2016

The hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film solar cells using n/Al or n/Ag/Al back reflector have low short circuit current (Jsc) due to high absorption coefficients of Al or work function difference between n-layer and the metal. In this article, we utilized aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) to raise the internal reflectance for the improvement of short current density (Jsc) in a-Si:H thin film solar cells. It was found that there was a slight increase in the reflectance in the long wavelength range at the process temperature of 125oC due to improved crystalline quality of the AZO back reflector. The optical band gap (Eg) and work function were affected by the temperature and so did the internal reflectance. The increased internal reflectance within the solar cell resulted in Jsc of 14.94 mA/cm2 and the efficiency of 8.84%. Jsc for the cell without back reflector was 12.29 mA/cm2.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.07c
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• pp.1598-1600
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• 2003

Microcrystalline silicon(c-Si:H) thin-film solar cells are prepared with intrinsic Si-layer by hot wire CVD. The operating parameters of solar cells are strongly affected by the filament temperature ($T_f$) during intrinsic layer. Jsc and efficiency abruptly decreases with elevated $T_f$ to $1400^{\circ}C$. This deterioration of solar cell parameters are resulted from increase of crystalline volume fraction and corresponding defect density at high $T_f$ The heater temperature ($T_h$) are also critical parameter that controls device operations. Solar cells prepared at low $T_h$ (<$200^{\circ}C$) shows a similar operating properties with devices prepared at high $T_f$, i.e. low Jsc, Voc and efficiency. The origins for this result, however, are different with that of inferior device performances at high $T_f$. In addition the phase transition of the silicon films occurs at different silane concentration (SC) by varying filament temperature, by which highest efficiency with SC vanes with $T_f$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.88-88
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• 2009

실리콘 이종접합 태양전지 제작을 위한 주요 요소기술 중 TCO/a-Si:H 간의 계면 특성은 태양전지 효율을 결정하는 주요 인자이다. 일반적으로 투명전도 산화막으로는 ZnO:Al 또는 ITO 가 사용되고 있으며 Zn, In, Sn, O 등의 확산과 Si원소의 확산으로 TCO/a-Si:H 계면에서 $SiO_x$가 생성되어 태양전지 충진률을 감소시키는 영향을 미친다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 TCO/a-Si 계면에서 확산을 방지 하면서 패시베이션 역할을 하는 완충층을 삽입하여 실리콘 이종접합 태양전지의 효율을 높이는 연구를 수행하였다. 완충층으로 사용된 ZnO:Al의 수소화와 Zn 박막, $TiO_2$ 박막의 전기 광학적 특성을 분석하였고 AES 분석을 통해 $SiO_x$의 생성과 각 원소의 확산정도를 분석하고, CTLM을 이용하여 TCO/완충층/a-Si 간의 접촉저항을 측정하였다. 결과적으로 완충층으로 사용된 $TiO_2$(5nm)는 광특성에 큰 감소요인 없이 전기적 특성과 접촉저항 특성이 우수하였으며, 원소들간의 확산방지층으로도 우수한 특성을 보였다. ZnO:Al의 수소화는 SIMS 분석 결과 수소원소들이 계면쪽에 위치하지 않고 표면쪽에 다수 존재함으로써 패시베이션 특성을 크게 보이지 않았으나 AZO 박막의 전기적 특성은 크게 향상 시켰다. 그밖에 완충층으로 사용된 Zn 박막은 두께가 두꺼원 질수록 접촉저항의 감소를 가져왔으나 광학적 특성이 크게 감소하면서 효율적인 광포획 특성을 가지지 못하였다. 본 연구를 통하여 TCO/a-Si:H 간의 완충층 삽입을 통해 접촉저항을 낮추고 원소간의 확산을 억제하여 계면 패시베이션 특성을 향상 시킬수 있었다.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2019

Carrier selective solar cell structure has allured curiosity of photovoltaic researchers due to the use of wide band gap transition metal oxide (TMO). Distinctive p/n-type character, broad range of work functions (2 to 7 eV) and risk free fabrication of TMO has evolved new concept of heterojunction intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cell employing carrier selective layers such as $MoO_x$, $WO_x$, $V_2O_5$ and $TiO_2$ replacing the doped a-Si layers on either front side or back side. The p/n-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layers are deposited by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), which includes the flammable and toxic boron/phosphorous gas precursors. Due to this, carrier selective TMO is gaining popularity as analternative risk-free material in place of conventional a-Si:H. In this work hole selective materials such as $MoO_x$, $WO_x$ and $V_2O_5$has been investigated. Recently $MoO_x$, $WO_x$ & $V_2O_5$ hetero-structures showed conversion efficiency of 22.5%, 12.6% & 15.7% respectively at temperature below $200^{\circ}C$. In this work a concise review on few important aspects of the hole selective material solar cell such as historical developments, device structure, fabrication, factors effecting cell performance and dependency on temperature has been reported.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.104.1-104.1
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• 2011

가볍고, 유연성(flexibility)을 갖는 박막(thin film)형 플랙서블 태양전지(flexible solar cell)는 상황에 따른 형태의 변형이 가능하여, 휴대가 간편하고, 기존 혹은 신규 구조물의 지붕(rooftop)등에 설치가 용이하여, 차세대 성장 동력 분야에서 각광받고 있다. 그러나 아직까지 플랙서블 태양전지는 제작시 열에 의한 기판의 변형, 기판 이송시 너울 현상, 대면적 패터닝(patterning) 기술 등 많은 어려움 등으로 웨이퍼나 글라스 기판에 제조된 태양전지 대비 낮은 광전환 효율을 갖는다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 플랙서플 태양전지 성능개선을 위해 3.5세대급 ($450{\times}450cm^2$) 스퍼터(sputter), 금속유기 화학기상장치 (MOCVD), 플라즈마 화학기상장치 (PECVD), 레이저 가공장치 (Laser scriber)를 이용하여 a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H 이중접합(tandem)을 갖는 태양전지를 제작하였고, 광 변환효율 특성을 평가하였다. 전도도(conductivity), 라만(Raman)분광 및 UV/Visible 분광 분석을 통하여 박막의 전기적, 구조적, 광학적 물성을 평가하여 단위박막의 물성을 최적화 했다. 또한 제작된 태양전지는 쏠라 시뮬레이터 (Solar Simulator)를 이용하여 성능 평가를 수행하였고, 상/하부층의 전류 정합 (current matching)을 위해 외부양자효율 (external quantum efficiency) 분석을 수행하였다. 제작된 이중접합 접이식 태양전지로 소면적($0.25cm^2$)에서 8.7%, 대면적($360cm^2$ 이상) 8.0% 이상의 효율을 확보하였으며, 성능 개선을 위해 대면적 패턴 기술 향상 및 공정 기술 개선을 수행 중이다.