• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.83.2-83.2
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• 2010

최근, 원유 가격의 상승으로 인해 태양에너지에 대한 관심이 크게 증가되고 있다. 그러나 이러한 태양전지용 Si(SoG-Si)의 대부분을 차지하는 태양전지급 다결정 실리콘 원료를 대부분 수입에 의존하고 있는 실정이다. 이에 대한 기술적 대응으로서 최근에는 고비용의 기상법을 해결하기 위하여 야금학적인 정련법을 이용한 제조기술 개발이 세계적으로 주목받고 있으며, 야금학적 정련기술은 지적재산권에 관한 기술적 배타성을 제고 할 수 있을 뿐 만 아니라 기상법의 Si 대비 낮은 품위 에도 불구하고 태양전지용 실리콘의 사용가능성을 제시함으로서 활발한 연구와 함께 실용화기술로 대두되고 있다. 그러므로 본 연구는 기존 사용 중인 고가의 기상법 폴리실리콘 제조와 달리, 생산 가격경쟁력이 있는 규석광으로부터 고순도금속 및 태양전지급 폴리실리콘 생산 연속 종전기술을 개발하고자 하였다. 금속급 Si(이하 MG-Si)으로부터 경제적인 SoG-Si을 제조하기 위한 공정 개발을 일환으로 MG-Si 중 불순물인 P 원소를 효과적으로 정련할 수 있는 슬래그 정련기술 개발과 슬래그설계 기술개발을 기본목표로 설정하여 고찰하였다. 용융 Silicon과 슬래그계면에 설정되는 산소분압제어에 따른 슬래그의 P의 이온 안정성을 변화시킴으로서, MG-Si중 P를 분리제거를 기본개념으로 설정하였다. 염기성 산화물로 산소이온이 공급됨을 이용하여 염기도에 따른 분배비를 고찰한 결과, CaO의 활동도가 증가함에 따라 슬래그 중 $O^{2-}$의 활동도와 함께 phosphide 이온의 안정성이 증가함을 확인하였다. 그리고 슬래그로부터 실리콘 중 Ca의 용해도에 따른 분배비를 확인하기 위해 실험 후 Si에서 Ca의 성분을 분석한 결과, 실리콘 중 Ca 용해도는 염기도($a_{CaO}/\sqrt{a_{SiO_2}}$)의 증가와 함께 증가하였으며, Ca의 용해도 증가는 탈린능을 증가시킨다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 또한 수소분압을 변화시켜 인의 증기압변화 및 기화정련 효과를 알 수 있었으며, acid leaching을 통해 잔존해있는 불순물을 추가적으로 정련될 수 있는 가능성을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.47-53
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• 2014

Three kinds of crystalline silicon have been used for the solar cell grade. First of all, single crystalline silicon is the main subject to enhance the production yield. Most of the efforts are focused on the control of the melt-crystal interface shape affected by the crystal-crucible rotation rate. The main subject in the multi-crystalline silicon ingot is the contamination control. Faster Ar gas flow above the melt surface will lower the carbon contamination in the crystal. And also, twin boundary electrically inactive is found to be more effective than grain boundary for the improvement of the MCLT. In the case of mono-like silicon material, propagation of the multi-crystalline silicon growing from the inner side crucible is the problem lowering the portion of the single crystalline part at the center of the ingot. Crystal growing apparatus giving higher cooling rate at the bottom and lower cooling rate at the side crucible was suggested as the optimum solution obtaining higher quality of the mono-like silicon ingot. Proper application of the seeds at the bottom of the crucible would be one of the solutions.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2014

Ag paste has been used in the front electrode of the Si-solar cell. It is composed by Ag powder, glass frit, binder, solvent and dispersant. The role of the binder and the solvent is to make a flow and a printing property. However, it was not enough to report the printing properties with the variation of binder in the controled viscosity. In this study, we selected 3 kinds of typical binder which were used as binder for the paste in the industry, such as Ethyl cellulose, Hydroxypropyl cellulose and Acrylic. Ag pastes using these were prepared, controled viscosity and printed on the SiNx coated Si wafer. In the 'A paste' used Acrylic binder, printed hight was highest and 'H paste' used Hydroxypropyl cellulose binder was lowest. Because 'H paste' was high viscosity due to the molecular weight, the solvent was added in the paste to control the viscosity. Therefore, the content of solid was lower in 'H paste'. The relative pattern width which is related to the spreading of paste was the best in the case of 'H paste' and 'EH paste' at $30^{\circ}C$. It is thought that the optimization of the relative pattern width is possible for a paste by the controling shear thinning phenomenon. In the case of 'A paste', though printing hight was best, the pattern width was dependant on the temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.308-308
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• 2012

현재 결정질 태양전지 제작에 있어 공정 단가 및 재료비 절감을 위해 실리콘 웨이퍼의 두께가 점점 얇아지는 추세이며, 이에 따른 장파장 영역 흡수 손실을 감소시키기 위한 방안으로 후면 패시베이션에 관한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 후면 패시베이션층으로는 SiO2, SiNx, a-Si:H, SiOxNy 등의 물질이 사용되고 있으며, 본 연구에서는 SiO2/SiNx/SiO2 (ONO)의 삼중막 구조를 패시베이션층으로 하여 SiNx 단일막 구조와의 열처리 온도에 따른 소수캐리어 수명(${\tau}eff$), 후면 재결합속도(Seff), 확산거리(LD) 등의 파라미터 변화를 비교하였다. 증착 직후와 $350^{\circ}C$에서의 Forming Gas Annealing (FGA), 그리고 $800^{\circ}C$의 고온에서의 fast firing 후의 각각의 파라미터 변화를 관찰하였다. 증착 직후 SiNx 단일막과 ONO 삼중막의 소수캐리어 수명은 각각 $108{\mu}s$와 $145{\mu}s$를 보였다. 후면 재결합속도는 65 cm/s와 44 cm/s를 보였으며, 확산거리는 각각 $560{\mu}m$와 $640{\mu}m$를 나타내었다. FGA와 firing 열처리 후 세 파마미터는 모두 향상된 값을 보였으며 최종 firing 처리 후 단일막과 삼중막의 소수캐리어 수명은 각각 $196{\mu}s$와 $212{\mu}s$를 보였다. 또한 후면 재결합속도는 28 cm/s와 24 cm/s를 보였으며, 확산거리는 각각 $750{\mu}m$와 $780{\mu}m$를 보여 ONO 삼중막 구조의 경우에서 보다 우수한 특성을 보였다. 본 실험을 통해 SiNx 단일막보다 ONO 패시베이션 구조에서의 열적안정성이 우수함을 확인하였으며, 또한 ONO 패시베이션 구조는 열적 안정성뿐 아니라 n-type 도핑을 위한 Back To Back (BTB) 도핑 공정 시 후면으로 의 도펀트 침투를 막는 차단 층으로서의 역할도 기대할 수 있다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.281-281
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• 2010

Very low refractive index (<1.4) materials have been proved to be the key factor improving the performance of various optical components, such as reflectors, filters, photonic crystals, LEDs, and solar cell. Highly porous SiO2 are logically designed for ultralow refractive index materials because of the direct relation between porosity and index of refraction. Among them, ordered macroporous SiO2 is of potential material since their theoretically low refractive index ~1.10. However, in the conventional synthesis of ordered macroporous SiO2, the time required for the crystallization of organic nanoparticles, such as polystyrene (PS), from colloidal solution into well ordered template is typical long (several days for 1 cm substrate) due to the low interaction between particles and particle - substrate. In this study, polystyrene - polyacrylic acid (PS-AA) nanoparticles synthesized by miniemulsion polymerization method have hydrophilic polyacrylic acid tails on the surface of particles which increase the interaction between particle and with substrate giving rise to the formation of PS-AA film by simply spin - coating method. Less ordered with controlled thickness films of PS-AA on silicon wafer were successfully fabricated by changing the spinning speed or concentration of colloidal solution, as confirmed by FE-SEM. Based on these template films, a series of macroporous SiO2 films whose thicknesses varied from 300nm to ~1000nm were fabricated either by conventional sol - gel infiltration or gas phase deposition followed by thermal removal of organic template. Formations of SiO2 films consist of interconnected air balls with size ~100 nm were confirmed by FE-SEM and TEM. These highly porous SiO2 show very low refractive indices (<1.18) over a wide range of wavelength (from 200 to 1000nm) as shown by SE measurement. Refraction indices of SiO2 films at 633nm reported here are of ~1.10 which, to our best knowledge, are among the lowest values having been announced.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

Two different fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass substrates were investigated to find better suitability for CdTe solar cells. Substrate A consisted of FTO (300 nm)/$SiO_2$ (24 nm)/intrinsic $SnO_2$ (30 nm)/borosilicate glass (2.2 mm), and substrate B consisted of FTO (700 nm)/intrinsic $SnO_2$ (30nm)/borosilicate glass (1.8 mm). The overall thickness of the FTO/glass substrates was about 2.5 mm. The total light transmittance of substrate B was much higher than that of substrate A throughout the whole spectral region, even though the thickness of the FTO in substrate B was twice larger than that of the FTO in the substrate A. The short-circuit current greatly increased in substrate B and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) increased over the whole wavelength range. This study shows that the diffuse optical transmittance played a key role in the large EQE value in the blue wavelength region, and the direct transmittance played a key role in the large EQE value in the red wavelength region. The higher transmittance is due to the rough surface generated by the thicker FTO on glass. The conversion efficiency of the CdTe solar cell increased from 12.4 to 15.1% in combination of rough FTO substrate and Cu solution back contact.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.606-610
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• 2010

Films consisting of a silicon quantum dot superlattice were fabricated by alternating deposition of silicon rich silicon nitride and $Si_3N_4$ layers using an rf magnetron co-sputtering system. In order to use the silicon quantum dot super lattice structure for third generation multi junction solar cell applications, it is important to control the dot size. Moreover, silicon quantum dots have to be in a regularly spaced array in the dielectric matrix material for in order to allow for effective carrier transport. In this study, therefore, we fabricated silicon quantum dot superlattice films under various conditions and investigated crystallization behavior of the silicon quantum dot super lattice structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra showed an increased intensity of the $840\;cm^{-1}$ peak with increasing annealing temperature due to the increase in the number of Si-N bonds. A more conspicuous characteristic of this process is the increased intensity of the $1100\;cm^{-1}$ peak. This peak was attributed to annealing induced reordering in the films that led to increased Si-$N_4$ bonding. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that peak position was shifted to higher bonding energy as silicon 2p bonding energy changed. This transition is related to the formation of silicon quantum dots. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis also confirmed the formation of silicon quantum dots. This study revealed that post annealing at $1100^{\circ}C$ for at least one hour is necessary to precipitate the silicon quantum dots in the $SiN_x$ matrix.

• Solar Energy
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.60-65
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• 1990

[ $n^+-p^+$ ] InP homojunction solar cells were fabricated by thermal diffusion of sulphur into a $p^+$-InP wafer($p=4{\times}10^{18}cm^{-3}$), and a SiO film($600{\AA}$ thick) was coated on the $n^+$ layer as an antireflection(AR) coating by an e-beam evaporator. The volume of the cells were $5{\times}5{\times}0.3mm^3$. The front contact grids of the cells with 16 finger pattern of which width and space were $20{\mu}m$ and $300{\mu}m$ respectively, were formed by photo-lithography technique. The junction depth of sulphur were as shallow as about 0.4r m We found out the fabricated solar cells that, with increasing the diffusion time, short circuit current densities($J_{sc}$), series resistances($R_s$) and energy conversion efficiencies(${\eta}$) were increased. The cells show good spectral responses in the region of $5,000-9,000{\AA}$. The short circuit current density, the open circuit voltage( $V_{oc}$), the fill factor(F.F) and the energy conversion efficiency of the cell were $13.16mA/cm^2$, 0.38V, 53.74% and 10.1% respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.454-454
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• 2014

Silicon microwire array is one of the promising platforms as a means for developing highly efficient solar cells thanks to the enhanced light trapping efficiency. Among the various fabrication methods of microstructures, deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process has been extensively used in fabrication of high aspect ratio microwire arrays. In this presentation, we show precisely controlled Si microwire arrays by tuning the DRIE process conditions. A periodic microdisk arrays were patterned on 4-inch Si wafer (p-type, $1{\sim}10{\Omega}cm$) using photolithography. After developing the pattern, 150-nm-thick Al was deposited and lifted-off to leave Al microdisk arrays on the starting Si wafer. Periodic Al microdisk arrays (diameter of $2{\mu}m$ and periodic distance of $2{\mu}m$) were used as an etch mask. A DRIE process (Tegal 200) is used for anisotropic deep silicon etching at room temperature. During the process, $SF_6$ and $C_4F_8$ gases were used for the etching and surface passivation, respectively. The length and shape of microwire arrays were controlled by etching time and $SF_6/C_4F_8$ ratio. By adjusting $SF_6/C_4F_8$ gas ratio, the shape of Si microwire can be controlled, resulting in the formation of tapered or vertical microwires. After DRIE process, the residual polymer and etching damage on the surface of the microwires were removed using piranha solution ($H_2SO_4:H_2O_2=4:1$) followed by thermal oxidation ($900^{\circ}C$, 40 min). The oxide layer formed through the thermal oxidation was etched by diluted hydrofluoric acid (1 wt% HF). The surface morphology of a Si microwire arrays was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, Hitachi S-4800). Optical reflection measurements were performed over 300~1100 nm wavelengths using a UV-Vis/NIR spectrophotometer (Cary 5000, Agilent) in which a 60 mm integrating sphere (Labsphere) is equipped to account for total light (diffuse and specular) reflected from the samples. The total reflection by the microwire arrays sample was reduced from 20 % to 10 % of the incident light over the visible region when the length of the microwire was increased from $10{\mu}m$ to $30{\mu}m$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.59.1-59.1
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• 2010

Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) is studied with the structure of a glass/Al/$SiO_2$/a-Si, in which the $SiO_2$ layer has micron-sized laser holes in the stack. An oxide layer between aluminum and a-Si thin films plays a significant role in the metal-induced crystallization (MIC) process determining the properties such as grain size and preferential orientation. In our case, the crystallization of a-Si is carried out only through the key hole because the $SiO_2$ layer is substantially thick enough to prevent a-Si from contacting aluminum. The crystal growth is successfully realized toward the only vertical direction, resulting a crystalline silicon grain with a size of $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$ under the hole. Lateral growth seems to be not occurred. For the AIC experiment, the glass/Al/$SiO_2$/a-Si stacks were prepared where an Al layer was deposited on glass substrate by DC sputter, $SiO_2$ and a-Si films by PECVD method, respectively. Prior to the a-Si deposition, a $30{\times}30$ micron-sized hole array with a diameter of $1{\sim}2{\mu}m$ was fabricated utilizing the femtosecond laser pulses to induce the AIC process through the key holes and the prepared workpieces were annealed in a thermal chamber for 2 hours. After heat treatment, the surface morphology, grain size, and crystal orientation of the polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) film were evaluated by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, and energy dispersive spectrometer. In conclusion, we observed that the vertical crystal growth was occurred in the case of the crystallization of a-Si with aluminum by the MIC process in a small area. The pc-Si grain grew under the key hole up to a size of $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$ with the workpiece.