• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.13-13
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• 2010

The solar energy conversion will take 10 % global energy need by 2033. A thin film type solar cell has been considered as one of the promising candidates for a large area applicable solar cell fabrication at a low cost. The metal-assisted growth of microcrystalline Si (mc-Si) films has been reported for a quality Si film synthesis at a low temperature. It discusses the spontaneous growth of a Si film above a metal-layer for a thin film solar cell. Quite recently, a substantial demand of nanomaterials has been addressed for cost-effective solar cells. The nanostructure provides a large photoactive surface at a fixed volume, which is an advantage in the effective use of solar power. But the promising of nanostructure active solar cell has not been much fulfilled due mainly to the difficulty in architecture of nanostructures. We present here the Si nanowire (SiNW)-embedded Schottky solar cell. Multiple SiNWs were connected to two different metals to form a Schottky or an ohmic contact according to the metal work function values. It discusses the scheme of rectifying contact between metals and SiNWs and the SiNW-embedded Schottky solar cell performances.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.662-666
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• 2005

Silicon nitride $(SiN_x)$ film is a promising material for anti-reflection coating and passivation of multicrystalline silicon (me-Si) solar cells. In this work, a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system with batch-type reactor tube was used to prepare highly robust $SiN_x$ films for screen-printed mc-Si solar cells. The Gas flow ratio, $R=[SiH_4]/[NH_3]$, in a mixture of silane and ammonia was varied in the range of 0.0910.235 while maintaining the total flow rate of the process gases to 4,200 sccm. The refractive index of the $SiN_x$ film deposited with a gas flow ratio of 0.091 was measured to be 2.03 and increased to 2.37 as the gas flow ratio increased to 0.235. The highest efficiency of the cell was $14.99\%$ when the flow rate of $SiH_4$ was 350 sccm (R=0.091). Generally, we observed that the efficiency of the mc-Si solar cell decreased with increasing R. From the analysis of the reflectance and the quantum efficiency of the cell, the decrease in the efficiency was shown to originate mainly from an increase in the surface reflectance for a high flow rate of $SiH_4$ during the deposition of $SiN_x$ films.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.301-306
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• 2016

The effects of nanotexturing and post-etching on the reflection and quantum efficiency properties of diamond wire sawn (DWS) multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cell have been investigated. The chemical solutions, which are acidic etching solution (HF-$HNO_3$), metal assisted chemical etching (MAC etch) solutions ($AgNO_3$-HF-DI, HF-$H_2O_2$-DI) and post-etching solution (diluted KOH at $80^{\circ}C$), were used for micro- and nano-texturing at the surface of diamond wire sawn (DWS) mc-Si wafer. Experiments were performed with various post-etching time conditions in order to determine the optimized etching condition for solar cell. The reflectance of mc-Si wafer texturing with acidic etching solution showed a very high reflectance value of about 30% (w/o anti-reflection coating), which indicates the insufficient light absorption for solar cell. The formation of nano-texture on the surface of mc-Si contributed to the enhancement of light absorption. Also, post-etching time condition of 240 s was found adequate to the nano-texturing of mc-Si due to its high external quantum efficiency of about 30% at short wavelengths and high short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) of $35.4mA/cm^2$.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2011

Reactive ion etching (RIE) technique for maskless surface texturing of mc-silicon solar wafers has been applied and succeed in fabricating a grass-like black-silicon with an average reflectance of $4{\pm}1%$ in a wavelength range of 300~1,200 nm. In order to investigate the optimized texturing conditions for mass production of high quantum efficiency solar cell Surface characteristics such as the spatial distribution of average reflectance, micrscopic surface morphology and minority carrier lifetime were monitored for samples from saw-damaged $15.6{\times}15.6\;cm^2$ bare wafer to key-processed wafers as well as the mc-Si solar cells. We observed that RIE textured wafers reveal lower average reflectance along from center to edges by 1% and referred the origin to the non-uniform surface structures with a depth of 2 times deeper and half-maximum width of 3 times. Samples with anti-reflection coating after forming emitter layer also revealed longer minority carrier lifetime by 40% for the edge compared to wafer center due to size effects. As results, mc-Si solar cells with RIE-textured surface also revealed higher efficiency by 2% and better external quantum efficiency by 15% for edge positions with higher height.

• 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.7 no.4
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• pp.130-133
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• 2019

The Ag crystallite formed during the formation of the front electrode forms a contact between the metal of the electrode and the emitter of the cell. Contact between the electrode and emitter plays an important role in collecting electrons generated by the solar cell. Therefore, Ag crystallite formation is an important factor. In order for solar cells to have good characteristics, it is important to understand the factors influencing the Ag crystallite formation. Factors affecting the formation of Ag crystallites include Si emitter, morphology, Si defect and firing temperature. The influence of surface morphology on Ag crystallite formation was confirmed throughout this study. In the case of fine texturing, the Ag crystallites were formed at the pointed parts. The finer the texturing, the sharper areas and more Ag crystallites were formed. This was confirmed by SEM image and FF calculation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.243-243
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• 2010

This paper two different etching, HF : HNO3 :DI and RIE were used for etching in multi-crystalline Silicon(Mc-Si) solar cell fabrication. The wafers etched in RIE texture showed low reflectance compared to the wafers etched in Acid soultion after SiNx deposition. In light current-voltage results, the cells etched in RIE texture exhibited higher short circuit current and open circuit voltage than those of the cells etched in acid solution. We have obtained 15.1% conversion efficiency in large area($156cm^2$) Multi-Si solar cells etched in RIE texture.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.685-688
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• 2009

Surface Texturing is very important process for high cell efficiency in crystalline silicon solar cell. Anisotropic texturing with an alkali etchant was known not to be able to produce uniform surface morphology in multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si), because of its different etching rate with random crystal orientation. In order to reduce surface reflectance of mc-Si wafer, the general etching tendency was studied with HF/HN$O_3$/De-ionized Water acidic solution. And the surface structures of textured mc-Si in various HF/HN$O_3$ ratios were compared. The surface morphology and reflectance of textured silicon wafers were measured by FE-SEM and UVvisible spectrophotometer, respectively. We obtained average reflectance of $16{\sim}19$% for wavelength between 400 nm and 900 nm depending on different etching conditions.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.30-39
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• 2013

Multi-crystalline silicon solar cells is not exist a specific crystal direction different from single crystalline silicon solar cells. In functional materials, therefore, isotropic wet etching of mc-Si solar cell is easy the acid solution rather than the alkaline solution. The reflectance of wet texturing process is about 25% and the reflectance of RIE texturing process is achieved less than 10%. In addition, wet texturing has many disadvantages as well as reflectance. So wet texturing process has been replaced by a RIE texturing process. In order to apply BIPV, RIE and wet textured multi-crystalline silicon solar cell modules was manufactured by different kind of EVA sheet. Moreover, in case of BIPV, the short circuit current characteristics according to the angle of incidence is more important, because the installation of BIPV is fixed location. In this study, we has measured SEM image and I-V curve of RIE and wet textured silicon solar cell and PV module. Also we has analyzed quantum efficiency characteristics of RIE and wet textured silicon solar cell for PV modules depending on incidence angle.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.293-298
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• 2011

The most widely used method to form an electrode in industrial solar cells are screen printing. Screen printing is characterized by a relatively simple and well-known production sequence with high throughput rates. However the method is difficult to implement a fine line width of high-efficiency solar cells can not be made. The open circuit voltage(Voc) and the short circuit current density(Jsc) and fill factor(FF) need to be further improved to increase the efficiency of silicon solar cells. In this study, gravure offset printing method using the multicrystalline-silicon solar cells were fabricated. Gravure off-set printing method which can print the fine line width of finger electrode can have the ability reduce the shaded area and increase the Jsc. Moreover it can make a high aspect ratio thereby series resistance is reduced and FF is increased. Approximately $50{\mu}m$ line width with $35{\mu}m$ height was achieved. The efficiency of gravure off set was 0.7% higher compare to that of scree printing method.