• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.254-261
• /
• 2010

Polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) films are fabricated and characterized for application to pc-Si thin film solar cells as a seed layer. The amorphous silicon films are crystallized by the aluminum-induced layer exchange (ALILE) process with a structure of glass/Al/$Al_2O_3$/a-Si using various thicknesses of $Al_2O_3$ layers. In order to investigate the effects of the oxide layer on the crystallization of the amorphous silicon films, such as the crystalline film detects and the crystal grain size, the $Al_2O_3$ layer thickness arc varied from native oxide to 50 nm. As the results, the defects of the poly crystalline films are increased with the increase of $Al_2O_3$ layer thickness, whereas the grain size and crystallinity are decreased. In this experiments, obtained the average pc-Si sub-grain size was about $10\;{\mu}m$ at relatively thin $Al_2O_3$ layer thickness (${\leq}$ 16 nm). The preferential orientation of pc-Si sub-grain was <111>.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.65 no.10
• /
• pp.1694-1696
• /
• 2016

Present thin film solar cells with hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO:H) as an absorber suffer from low fill factor(FF) of 61~64 [%] in spite of its benefits related to high open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$). Since degraded quality of a-SiO:H absorber by alloying with oxygen can affect the FF, we aimed to achieve high photosensitivity by minimizing $CO_2$ gas addition. Improving optical gap($E_{opt}$) has been attained by strong hydrogen dilution combined with lowering substrate temperature down to 100 [$^{\circ}C$]. Small amount of the $CO_2$ was added in order to disturb microcrystalline formation by high hydrogen dilution. The developed a-SiO:H has high photosensitivity (${\sim}2{\times}10^5$) and high $E_{opt}$ of 1.85 [eV], which contributed to attain remarkable FF of 74 [%] and high $V_{oc}$ (>1 [V]). As a result, high power conversion efficiency of 7.18 [%] was demonstrated by using very thin absorber layer of only 100 [nm], even though we processed all experiment at extremely low temperature of 100 [$^{\circ}C$].

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.06a
• /
• pp.456-456
• /
• 2009

Boron doping on an n-type Si wafer is requisite process for IBC (Interdigitated Back Contact) solar cells. Fiber laser annealing is one of boron doping methods. For the boron doping, uniformly coated or deposited film is highly required. Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method provides a uniform dopant film or layer which can facilitate doping. Because amorphous silicon layer absorption range for the wavelength of fiber laser does not match well for the direct annealing. In this study, to enhance thermal affection on the existing p-a-Si:H layer, a ${\mu}c$-Si:H intrinsic layer was deposited on the p-a-Si:H layer additionally by PECVD. To improve heat transfer rate to the amorphous silicon layer, and as heating both sides and protecting boron eliminating from the amorphous silicon layer. For p-a-Si:H layer with the ratio of $SiH_4$ : $B_2H_6$ : $H_2$ = 30 : 30 : 120, at $200^{\circ}C$, 50 W, 0.2 Torr for 30 minutes, and for ${\mu}c$-Si:H intrinsic layer, $SiH_4$ : $H_2$ = 10 : 300, at $200^{\circ}C$, 30 W, 0.5 Torr for 60 minutes, 2 cm $\times$ 2 cm size wafers were used. In consequence of comparing the results of lifetime measurement and sheet resistance relation, the laser condition set of 20 ~ 27 % of power, 150 ~ 160 kHz, 20 ~ 50 mm/s of marking speed, and $10\;{\sim}\;50 {\mu}m$ spacing with continuous wave mode of scanner lens showed the correlation between lifetime and sheet resistance as $100\;{\Omega}/sq$ and $11.8\;{\mu}s$ vs. $17\;{\Omega}/sq$ and $8.2\;{\mu}s$. Comparing to the singly deposited p-a-Si:H layer case, the additional ${\mu}c$-Si:H layer for doping resulted in no trade-offs, but showed slight improvement of both lifetime and sheet resistance, however sheet resistance might be confined by the additional intrinsic layer. This might come from the ineffective crystallization of amorphous silicon layer. For the additional layer case, lifetime and sheet resistance were measured as $84.8\;{\Omega}/sq$ and $11.09\;{\mu}s$ vs. $79.8\;{\Omega}/sq$ and $11.93\;{\mu}s$. The co-existence of $n^+$layeronthesamesurfaceandeliminating the laser damage should be taken into account for an IBC solar cell structure. Heavily doped uniform boron layer by fiber laser brings not only basic and essential conditions for the beginning step of IBC solar cell fabrication processes, but also the controllable doping concentration and depth that can be established according to the deposition conditions of layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.346.2-346.2
• /
• 2016

The rear side contact recombination in the crystalline silicon solar cell could be reduced by back surface field. We formed polycrystalline silicon as a back surface field through crystallization of amorphous silicon. A thin silicon oxide applied to the passivation layer. We used quasi-steady-state photoconductance measurement to analyze electrical properties with various annealing condition. And, blister formed on surface of wafer during the annealing process. We observed the blister after varied annealing process with wafer of various surface. Shape and density of blister is influenced by various annealing temperature and process time. As the annealing temperature became higher, the average diameter of blister is decreased and total number of blister is increased. The sample with the $600^{\circ}C$ annealing temperature and 1 min annealing time exhibited the highest implied open circuit voltage and lifetime. We predicted that the various shape and density of blister affects the lifetime and implied open circuit voltage.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.145-148
• /
• 2006

The protocrystalline silicon (pc-Si:H) multilayer solar cell is very promising owing to its fast stabilization with low degradation against light irradiation. However, the pc-Si:H multi layers have not extensively been investigated in detail on its material characteristics yet. We present the material characteristics of pc-Si:H multilayer using a transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, we present the superior light-soaking behavior of the pc-Si:H mutt i layer solar cell. A TEM micrograph shows that a pc-Si:H multilayer has a repeatedly layered structure and crystalline-like objects in a-Si:H matrix. A Raman spectra introduces improved short-range-order and medium-range-order in pc-Si:H multilayer. As a result the excellent metastability of the pc-Si:H multilayer solar cell is primarily due to the repeatedly layered structure that improves a structural order in absorber layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2014.02a
• /
• pp.351.2-351.2
• /
• 2014

Indium tin oxide (ITO) has a lot of variations of its properties because it is basically in an amorphous state. Therefore, the differences in composition ratio of ITO can result in alteration of electrical properties. Normally, ITO is considered as transparent conductive oxide (TCO), possessing excellent properties for the optical and electrical devices. Quantitatively, TCO has transparency over 80 percent within the range of 380nm to 780nm, which is visible light although its specific resistance is less than $10-3{\Omega}/cm$. Thus, the solar cell is the best example for which ITO has perfectly matching profile. In addition, when ITO is used as transparent conductive electrode, this material essentially has to have a proper work function with contact materials. For instance, heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cell could have both front ITO and backside ITO. Because each side of ITO films has different type of contact materials, p-type amorphous silicon and n-type amorphous silicon, work function of ITO has to be modified to transport carrier with low built-in potential and Schottky barrier, and approximately requires variation from 3 eV to 5 eV. In this study, we examine the change of work function for different sputtering conditions using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). Structure of ITO films was investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Optical transmittance of the films was evaluated by using an ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometer

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.37-44
• /
• 2018

Solar panels are modules made up of many cells, like the N-type monosilicon, P-type monosilicon, P-type multisilicon, amorphous thin-film silicon, and CIGS solar cells. An efficient photovoltaic (PV) power is important to use to determine what kind of cell types are used because residential solar systems receive attention. In this study, we used 3-type solar panels - such as N-type monosilicon, P-type monosilicon, and CIGS solar cells - to investigate what kind of solar panel on a house or building performs the best. PV systems were composed of 3-type solar panels on the roof with each ~1.8 kW nominal power. N-type monosilicon solar panel resulted in the best power generation when monitored. Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF) and Performance Ratio (PR) of the N-type Si solar panel were 14.6% and 75% respectively. In comparison, N-type monosilicon and CIGS solar panels showed higher performance in power generation than P-type monosilicon solar power with increasing solar irradiance.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.75-79
• /
• 2009

An intrinsic silicon thin film passivation layer is deposited by the microwave remote-plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition at temperature of $175^{\circ}C$ and various gas ratios for solar cell applications. The good quality amorphous silicon films were formed at silane $(SiH_4)$ gas flow rates above 15 seem. The highest effective carrier lifetime was obtained at the $SiH_4$, flow rate of 20 seem and the value was about 3 times higher compared with the bulk lifetime of 5.6 ${\mu}s$ at a fixed injection level of ${\Delta}n\;=\;5{\times}10^{14}\;cm^{-3}$. An annealing treatment was performed and the carrier life times were increased approximately 5 times compared with the bulk lifetime. The optimal annealing temperature and time were obtained at 250 $^{\circ}C$ and 60 sec respectively. This indicates that the combination of the deposition of an amorphous thin film at a low temperature and the annealing treatment contributes to the excellent surface and bulk passivation.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.461-465
• /
• 2011

An aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) film for front contacts of thin film solar cells, in this work, were deposited by r.f. magnetron sputtering, and then etched in diluted hydrochloric acid solution for different times. Effects of surface texturing on the electro-optical properties of AZO films were investigated. Also, to clarify the light trapping of textured AZO film, amorphous silicon thin film solar cells were fabricated on the textured AZO/glass substrate and the performance of solar cells were studied. After texturing, the spectral haze at the visible range of 400 ~750 nm increased substantially with the etching time, without a change in the resistivity. The conversion efficiency of amorphous Si solar cells with textured AZO film as a front electrode was improved by the increase of short-circuit current density ($J_{sc}$), compared to cell with flat AZO films.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.103-103
• /
• 2008