• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.29-33
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• 2003

Tri-crystalline silicon wafers have three different orientations and three-grain boundaries. In this paper, tri-crystalline silicon (tri-Si) wafers have been used for the fabrication of buried contact solar cells. The optical and micro-structural properties of these cells after texturing in KOH solution have been investigated and compared with those of cast mult- crystalline silicon (multi-Si) wafers. We employed a cost effective fabrication process and achieved buried contact solar cell (BCSC) energy conversion efficiencies up to $15\%$ whereas the cast multi-Si wafer has efficiency around $14\%$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.230-230
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• 2013

In amorphous or microcrystalline thin-film silicon solar cells, p-i-n structure is used instead of p/n junction structure as in wafer-based Si solar cells. Hence, these p-i-n structured solar cells inevitably consist of many interfaces and the cell efficiency critically depends on the effective control of these interfaces. In this study, in-situ plasma treatment process of the interfaces was developed to improve the efficiency of a-Si:H solar cell. The p-i-n cell was deposited using a single-chamber VHF-PECVD system, which was driven by a pulsed-RF generator at 80 MHz. In order to solve the cross-contamination problem of p-i layer, high RF power was applied without supplying SiH4 gas after p-layer deposition, which effectively cleaned B contamination inside chamber wall from p-layer deposition. In addition to the p-i interface control, various interface control techniques such as thin layer of TiO2 deposition to prevent H2 plasma reduction of FTO layer, multiple applications of thin i-layer deposition and H2 plasma treatment, H2 plasma treatment of i-layer prior to n-layer deposition, etc. were developed. In order to reduce the reflection at the air-glass interface, anti-reflective SiO2 coating was also adopted. The initial solar cell efficiency over 11% could be achieved for test cell area of 0.2 $cm^2$.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.35-45
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• 2020

Photovoltaic (PV) power system prices have been steadily dropping in recent years due to their mass production and advances in relevant technology. Crystalline silicon (c-Si wafers) account for the largest share of the price of solar cells; reducing the thickness of these wafers is an essential part of increasing the price competitiveness of PV power systems. However, reducing the thickness of c-Si wafers is challenging; typically, phenomena such as bowing and cracking are encountered. While several approaches to address the bowing phenomenon of the c-Si solar cells exist, the only method to study the crack phenomenon (related to the strength of the c-Si solar cells) is the bending test method. Moreover, studies on determining the strength properties of the solar cells have focused largely on c-Si wafers, while those on the strength properties of front and rear-side electrodes and SiNx, the other components of c-Si solar cells, are scarce. In this study, we analyzed the strength characteristics of each layer of c-Si solar cells. The strength characteristics of the sawing mark direction produced during the production of c-Si wafers were also tested. Experiments were conducted using a 4bending tester for a specially manufactured c-Si solar cell. The results indicate that the back side electrode is the main component that experienced bowing, while the front electrode was the primary component regulating the strength of the c-Si solar cell.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.75-83
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• 2021

The tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) structure got more consideration for development of high performance solar cells by the introduction of a tunnel oxide layer between the substrate and poly-Si is best for attaining interface passivation. The quality of passivation of the tunnel oxide layer clearly depends on the bond of SiO in the tunnel oxide layer, which is affected by the subsequent annealing and the tunnel oxide layer was formed in the suboxide region (SiO, Si₂O, Si₂O₃) at the interface with the substrate. In the suboxide region, an oxygen-rich bond is formed as a result of subsequent annealing that also improves the quality of passivation. To control the surface morphology, annealing profile, and acceleration rate, an oxide tunnel junction structure with a passivation characteristic of 700 mV or more (V_oc) on a p-type wafer could achieved. The quality of passivation of samples subjected to RTP annealing at temperatures above 900℃ declined rapidly. To improve the quality of passivation of the tunnel oxide layer, the physical properties and thermal stability of the thin layer must be considered. TOPCon silicon solar cell has a boron diffused front emitter, a tunnel-SiO_x/n⁺-poly-Si/SiN_x:H structure at the rear side, and screen-printed electrodes on both sides. The saturation currents J_o of this structure on polished surface is 1.3 fA/cm² and for textured silicon surfaces is 3.7 fA/cm² before printing the silver contacts. After printing the Ag contacts, the J_o of this structure increases to 50.7 fA/cm² on textured silicon surfaces, which is still manageably less for metal contacts. This structure was applied to TOPCon solar cells, resulting in a median efficiency of 23.91%, and a highest efficiency of 24.58%, independently. The conversion efficiency of interdigitated back-contact solar cells has reached up to 26% by enhancing the optoelectrical properties for both-sides-contacted of the cells.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.11-17
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• 2013

Silicon nitride($SiN_x:H$) deposited by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(RF-PECVD) is commonly used for anti-reflection coating and passivation in crystalline silicon solar cell fabrication. In this paper, characteristics of the deposited silicon nitride was studied with change of working pressure, deposition temperature, gas ratio of $NH_3$ and $SiH_4$, and RF power during deposition. The deposition rate, refractive index and effective lifetime were analyzed. The (100) p-type silicon wafers with one-side polished, $660-690{\mu}m$, and resistivity $1-10{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ were used. As a result, when the working pressure increased, the deposition rate of SiNx was increased while the effective life time for the $SiN_x$-deposited wafer was decreased. The result regarding deposition temperature, gas ratio and RF power changes would be explained in detail below. In this paper, the optimized condition in silicon nitride deposition for silicon solar cell was obtained as 1.0 Torr for the working pressure, $400^{\circ}C$ for deposition temperature, 500 W for RF power and 0.88 for $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio. The silicon nitride layer deposited in this condition showed the effective life time of > $1400{\mu}s$ and the surface recombination rate of 25 cm/s. The crystalline silicon solar cell fabricated with this SiNx coating showed 18.1% conversion efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 1977

We have obtained a violet-sensitive photocell as a part of the developing project on such type of solar cell. The photocell has the structure of SnO2-SiO2-Si MOS coupled on Si n-p homojuction. It is not relevant to use as a solar cell because of its small photovoltaic power(0.25V, 150$mutextrm{A}$), however, since the spectral response of the cell is shifted toward the violet band region and its switching speed is fairly high in comparison with those of the Si p-n homojunction type solar cell, it is expected that we will be able to find mere novel utilities than the ordinary silicon photocell.

• Solar Energy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.12-18
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• 1988

The effect of surface recombination current density on the saturation current density in Si solar cell has been studied. Theoretical model for surface recombination current was set up from emitter transparent model of M.A. Shibib, and saturation current of Si solar cell made by ion implantation method was also measured by digital electrometer. The theoretical surface recombination current density which is the same as saturation surface recombination current density in Shibib model was $10^{-11}[A/cm^2]$ and the measured value was ranged from $8{\times}10^{-10}$ to $2{\times}10^{-9}[A/cm^2]$. Comparing with the ideal p-n junction of Shockley, transparent emitter model shows improved result by $10^2$ order of saturation current density. But there still exists $10^2$ order of difference of saturation current density between theoretical and actual values, which are assumed to be caused by 1) leakage current through solar cell edge, 2) recombination of carriers in the depletion layer, 3) the series resistance effect and 4) the tunneling of carriers between states in the band gap.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.597-600
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• 1999

A solar cell conversion efficiency was degraded by grain boundary effect in polycrystalline silicon To reduce grain boundary effect, we performed a preferential grain boundary etching, POC$_3$ n-type emitter doping, and then ITO film growth on poly- Si. Among the various preferential etchants, Schimmel etch solution exhibited the best result having grain boundary etch depth higher than 10 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. RF magnetron sputter grown ITO films showed a low resistivity of 10$^{-4}$ $\Omega$ -cm and high transmittance of 85 %. With well fabricated poly-Si solar cells, we were able to achieve as high as 15 % conversion efficiency at the input power of 20 mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$.

• Solar Energy
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 1999

This paper deals with a novel structure of poly-Si solar cell. A grain boundary(GB) of poly-Si acts as potential barrier and recombination center for photo-generated carriers. To reduce unwanted side effects at the GB of poly-Si, we employed physical GB removal of poly-Si using chemical solutions. Various chemical etchants such as Sirtl, Yang, Secco, and Schimmel were investigated for the preferential GB etching. Etch depth about 10 ${\mu}m$ was achieved by a Schimmel etchant. After a chemical etching of poly-Si, we used $POCl_3$ for emitter junction formation. This paper used an easy method of top electrode formation using a RF sputter grown ITO film. ITO films with thickness of 300 nm showed resistivity of $1.26{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}-cm$ and overall transmittance above 80%. Using a preferential GB etching and ITO top electrode, we developed a new fabrication procedure of poly-Si solar cells. Employing optimized process conditions, we were able to achieve conversion efficiency as high as 16.6% at an input power of 20 $mW/cm^2$. This paper investigates the effects of process parameters: etching conditions, ITO deposition factors, and emitter doping densities in a poly-Si cell fabrication procedure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.313.2-313.2
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• 2013

본 연구에서는 기존에 연구된 Solar Cell 보다 구조 및 제작이 단순한 $Al/Al_2O_3/Si$(100) Solar cell을 제작하여 평가하였다. 기판으로는 p-type Si(100), 0.5~2 ${\Omega}{\cdot}cm$을 사용하여 chemical cleaning 후 ALD(Atom Layer Deposition)법으로 Al2O3 터널링 절연막을 증착하였으며, 박막의 두께를 1~10 nm로 변화시켜 MIS 커패시터의 터널링 효과를 평가하였다. MIS 커패시터의 전기적 특성평가를 위해 누설전류 밀도-전계 특성은 pA meter/DC Voltage source를 사용하였고, 커패시턴스-전압특성, D-factor 특성은 precision LCR meter를 사용하였다. $Al/Al_2O_3/Si$(100) Solar cell의 특성평가를 위해 300~1100nm 파장영역에 따른 양자 효율을 평가하기 위해 Quantum Efficiency system (QE)을 사용하였고, Stanard Test Conditions 100 $mW/cm^2$, AM1.5, $25^{\circ}C$ 조건의 Voc, Isc, Jsc, FF (Fill Factor) 및 Efficiency(%)를 평가하기 위해 Solar simulator를 이용하였다.