• Advances in nano research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-56
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• 2014

The significant growth of the Si photovoltaic industry has been so far limited due to the high cost of the Si photovoltaic system. In this regard, the most expensive factors are the intrinsic cost of silicon material and the Si solar cell fabrication processes. Conventional Si solar cells have p-n junctions inside for an efficient extraction of light-generated charge carriers. However, the p-n junction is normally formed through very expensive processes requiring very high temperature (${\sim}1000^{\circ}C$). Therefore, several systems are currently under study to form heterojunctions at low temperatures. Among them, carbon nanotube (CNT)/Si hybrid solar cells are very promising, with power conversion efficiency up to 15%. In these cells, the p-type Si layer is replaced by a semitransparent CNT film deposited at room temperature on the n-doped Si wafer, thus giving rise to an overall reduction of the total Si thickness and to the fabrication of a device with cheaper methods at low temperatures. In particular, the CNT film coating the Si wafer acts as a conductive electrode for charge carrier collection and establishes a built-in voltage for separating photocarriers. Moreover, due to the CNT film optical semitransparency, most of the incoming light is absorbed in Si; thus the efficiency of the CNT/Si device is in principle comparable to that of a conventional Si one. In this paper an overview of several factors at the basis of this device operation and of the suggested improvements to its architecture is given. In addition, still open physical/technological issues are also addressed.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.76-84
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• 2019

Silicon heterojunction solar cells (SHJ) have dominated the photovoltaic market up till now but their conversion performance is practically limited to around 26% compared with the theoretical efficiency limit of 29.4%. A silicon based multi-junction devices are expected to overcome this limitation. In this report, we briefly review the state-of-art characteristic of wide-gap materials which has played a role as top sub-cells in silicon based multi-junction solar cells. In addition, we indicate significantly practical challenges and key issues of these multi-junction combination. Finally, we focus to some characteristics of III-V/c-Si tandem configuration which are reaching highly record performance in multi-junction silicon solar cells.

• Solar Energy
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 1986

The PECVD $SiN_x:H$ films were made from the $SiH_4-N_2$ gas mixtures under such deposition conditions as 0.01 to 1.0 of $SiH_4/N_2$ volume ratio, 0.1 to $0.8W/cm^2$ of RF power, and 100 to $400^{\circ}C$ of substrate temperature. The deposition rate, refractive index, hydrogen concentration, N/Si composition, optical gap and electric conductivity were measured, and the thermal stability and the optimum deposition conditions were investigated for the application of these films to the solar cell materials.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.28-35
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• 2013

The recycling of the Si/SiC mixture sludge obtained from solar cell industry is very significant, environmentally and economically. The sintering characteristics of Si/SiC mixture sludge was studied for the purpose of recycling. In this study, to understand sintering behavior, SiC content in the Si/SiC mixture was controlled using an air separator. Various Si/SiC mixtures having different SiC contents were sintered using carbon black, clay and aluminum hydroxide as sintering aids. Physical properties of Si/SiC mixture and sintered bodies have been characterized using SEM, XRD, particle size analyzer and apparent density measurement. SEM and particle size analysis result confirmed that the fine particles less than 1 ${\mu}m$ decreased or removed more effectively through the air separator in the case of 95% SiC sample compared than the case of 75% SiC sample or original SiC sample. Further, with addition of the Aluminum Hydroxide, ${\beta}$-cristobalite phase gradually decreased while mullite phase gradually increased. The addition of the carbon black improved the sintering characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.211.2-211.2
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• 2013

ITO (indium tin oxide)는 스마트폰을 비롯한 여러전자제품의 터치패널 투명전극으로 가장 많이 쓰이고 있는 물질이다. 산화 인듐(In2O3)과 산화 주석(SnO2)의 화합물로 우수한 전기적 특성과 광학적 특성을 지녀 태양전지 분야에서도 그 활용가능성이 높다. 또한 최근 고효율 태양전지인 HIT (heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer) solar cell의 경우 Si 기판의 두께가 얇고, 소자의 양면에서 태양광을 흡수하여 효율을 증가 시키데, 특히 투명 전극의 물리적 특성들과 계면의 트랩의 상태가 효율에 영향을 미친다. 본 연구에서는 HIT Si 기판의 태양전지 구조에 전극으로 쓰일 ITO 박막을 sputtering 방법으로 증착하여 물리적 특성을 연구하였다. ITO 타겟을 활용한 radio frequency magnetron sputtering 방법으로 Si 기판에 ITO 박막을 증착하였다. 50W의 방전전력과 Ar 10 sccm 분위기에서 성장시킨 ITO 박막을 Transmission Electron Microscope 로 측정하였다. X-ray Diffraction 측정으로 ITO 결정의 방향성을 확인하고 Photoluminescence 측정으로 성장된 ITO 박막의 밴드갭 에너지를 확인하였다. $100^{\circ}C$, $200^{\circ}C$, $300^{\circ}C$, $400^{\circ}C$에서 후열처리한박막의 광 투과율, 비저항, 이동도를 측정 비교하여 적절한 후열처리 온도를 찾는 연구를 진행하였다. Sputtering 방법으로 성장시킨 ITO 박막의 전기적, 광학적 특성을 측정하여 HIT solar cell에 활용될 가능성을 확인하였다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.94-99
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• 2017

Dinickel-silicide $(Ni_2Si)/glass$ was employed as a counter electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) device. $Ni_2Si$ was formed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at $700^{\circ}C$ for 15 seconds of a 50 nm-Ni/50 nm-Si/glass structure. For comparison, $Ni_2Si$ on quartz was also prepared through conventional electric furnace annealing (CEA) at $800^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. XRD, XPS, and EDS line scanning of TEM were used to confirm the formation of $Ni_2Si$. TEM and CV were employed to confirm the microstructure and catalytic activity. Photovoltaic properties were examined using a solar simulator and potentiostat. XRD, XPS, and EDS line scanning results showed that both CEA and RTA successfully led to tne formation of nano $thick-Ni_2Si$ phase. The catalytic activity of $CEA-Ni_2Si$ and $RTA-Ni_2Si$ with respect to Pt were 68 % and 56 %. Energy conversion efficiencies (ECEs) of DSSCs with $CEA-Ni_2Si$ and $RTA-Ni_2Si$catalysts were 3.66 % and 3.16 %, respectively. Our results imply that nano-thick $Ni_2Si$ may be used to replace Pt as a reduction catalytic layer for a DSSCs. Moreover, we show that nano-thick $Ni_2Si$ can be made available on a low-cost glass substrate via the RTA process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.321-322
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• 2009

Al doped ZnO films deposited on glass substrate using RF magnetron sputtering in Ar and $Ar+H_2$ gas ambient at $100^{\circ}C$. The films deposited in $Ar+H_2$ were hydrogen-annealed at the temperature of $150\sim300^{\circ}C$ for 1hr. The lowest resistivity of $4.25\times10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ was obtained for the AZO film deposited in $Ar+H_2$ after hydrogen annealing at $300^{\circ}C$ for 1hr. The average transmittance is above 85% in the range of 400-1000 nm for all films. The absorption efficiency of solar cell was improved by using the optimized AZO films as a top electrode.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2006

ZnO:Al(AZO) films prepared by rf magnetron sputtering on glass substrate and textured by post-deposition chemical etching were applied as front contact and back reflectors for ${\mu}c$-Si:H thin film solar cells. For the front transparent electrode contact, AZO films were prepared at various working pressures and substrate temperature and then were chemically etched in diluted HCl(1%). The front AZO films deposited at low working pressure(1 mTorr) and low temperature ($240^{\circ}C$) exhibited uniform and high transmittance ($\geq$80%) and excellent electrical properties. The solar cells were optimized in terms of optical and electrical properties to demonstrate a high short-circuit current.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2013

Crystalline silicon solar cells with $SiN_x/SiN_x$ and $SiN_x/SiO_x$ double layer anti-reflection coatings(ARC) were studied in this paper. Optimizing passivation effect and optical properties of $SiN_x$ and $SiO_x$ layer deposited by PECVD was performed prior to double layer application. When the refractive index (n) of silicon nitride was varied in range of 1.9~2.3, silicon wafer deposited with silicon nitride layer of 80 nm thickness and n= 2.2 showed the effective lifetime of $1,370{\mu}m$. Silicon nitride with n= 1.9 had the smallest extinction coefficient among these conditions. Silicon oxide layer with 110 nm thickness and n= 1.46 showed the extinction coefficient spectrum near to zero in the 300~1,100 nm region, similar to silicon nitride with n= 1.9. Thus silicon nitride with n= 1.9 and silicon oxide with n= 1.46 would be proper as the upper ARC layer with low extinction coefficient, and silicon nitride with n=2.2 as the lower layer with good passivation effect. As a result, the double layer AR coated silicon wafer showed lower surface reflection and so more light absorption, compared with $SiN_x$ single layer. With the completed solar cell with $SiN_x/SiN_x$ of n= 2.2/1.9 and $SiN_x/SiO_x$ of n= 2.2/1.46, the electrical characteristics was improved as ${\Delta}V_{oc}$= 3.7 mV, ${\Delta}_{sc}=0.11mA/cm^2$ and ${\Delta}V_{oc}$=5.2 mV, ${\Delta}J_{sc}=0.23mA/cm^2$, respectively. It led to the efficiency improvement as 0.1% and 0.23%.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.28-30
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• 2009

이종접합태양전지에서 p a-Si:H/c-Si의 p a-Si:H의 증착 조건인 $H_2/SiH_4$ 비율, $B_2H_6$의 농도를 변화 시키며 실험하여 이 따라 계면 특성 변화를 연구하였다. pa-Si:H의 $H_2/SiH_4$ 비율이 상승할수록 carrier lifetime이 증가하다 다시 감소하는 경향을 나타내었다. 이는 $H_2/SiH_4$의 비율 중 효과적으로 웨이퍼표면을 효과적으로 passivation하는 지점이 있는 것으로 보인다. $B_2H_6$의 농도는 상승할수록 carrier lifetime이 줄어드는 경향을 보였다. $B_2H_6$에서 농도가 올라감에 웨이퍼 표면의 defect로 작용했을 것으로 생각된다. 이에서 몇몇의 조건으로 태양전지를 제작한 결과 $H_2/SiH_4$ 비율에 따라서는 carrier lifetime은 효율에 그 영향이 미미한 것으로 조사되었고, $B_2H_6$의 농도가 낮을수록 개방전압은 상승하는 결과를 얻어 도핑 농도가 효율에 직접적인 형향을 주는 것으로 나타났다.