• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.75.2-75.2
• /
• 2010

We studied the fabrication of polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) films as seed layers for application of pc-Si thin film solar cells, in which amorphous silicon (a-Si) films in a structure of glass/Al/$Al_2O_3$/a-Si are crystallized by the aluminum-induced layer exchange (ALILE) process. The properties of pc-Si films formed by the ALILE process are strongly determined by the oxide layer as well as the various process parameters like annealing temperature, time, etc. In this study, the effects of the oxide film thickness on the crystallization of a-Si in the ALILE process, where the thickness of $Al_2O_3$ layer was varied from 4 to 50 nm. For preparation of the experimental film structure, aluminum (~300 nm thickness) and a-Si (~300 nm thickness) layers were deposited using DC sputtering and PECVD method, respectively, and $Al_2O_3$ layer with the various thicknesses by RF sputtering. The crystallization of a-Si was then carried out by the thermal annealing process using a furnace with the in-situ microscope. The characteristics of the produced pc-Si films were analyzed by optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman spectrometer, and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). As results, the crystallinity was exponentially decayed with the increase of $Al_2O_3$ thickness and the grain size showed the similar tendency. The maximum pc-Si grain size fabricated by ALILE process was about $45{\mu}m$ at the $Al_2O_3$ layer thickness of 4 nm. The preferential crystal orientation was <111> and more dominant with the thinner $Al_2O_3$ layer. In summary, we obtained a pc-Si film not only with ${\sim}45{\mu}m$ grain size but also with the crystallinity of about 75% at 4 nm $Al_2O_3$ layer thickness by ALILE process with the structure of a glass/Al/$Al_2O_3$/a-Si.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.13-19
• /
• 2013

It is expected that progress in building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, improving the functionality and design of buildings, will be accelerated in the coming years. While the dye sensitized solar cell is considered one of the most important technologies in the BIPV field, the transparent silicon based thin film solar cell fabricated by thin film processes has drawn attention as a novel alternative. When the selective transmitting layer is applied to the solar cell, the conversion efficiency is improved due to the re-reflection of infrared light into an absorber layer with the transmission of visible light through the solar cell. In this work, we prepared Al-Ti based oxide thin films using cost-effective sputter deposition and examined their selective transmitting characteristics with various compositions. The transmittance and reflectance of the Al-Ti based oxide thin film changed with the variation of its composition, and the selective transmitting property was observed in the sample with the 25 nm-thick AlTiO layer. It is considered that the realization of transparent solar cells and the improvement of their conversion efficiency can be achieved by introducing the Al-Ti based selective transmitting layer.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.11a
• /
• pp.390-390
• /
• 2009

마그네트론 스퍼터링법을 이용하여 n-i-p 구조의 플렉서블 실리콘 박막태양전지용 ZnO/Ag 후면전극을 stainless steel 기판위에 제조하고 증착온도와 Ag 박막의 두께 변화에 따른 광학적 특성변화를 조사하였다. ZnO/Ag 구조의 후면전극은 RF와 DC 마그네트론 스퍼터링으로 Ag 금속 및 ZnO:Al($Al_2O_3$ 2.5%) 세라믹 타겟을 이용하여 각각 제조하였으며 증착온도는 상온 ${\sim}500^{\circ}C$로, Ag 박막두께는 100 ~ 500 nm로 변화시켰다. 증착조건 변화에 따라 제조된 후면전극의 표면거칠기 및 형상변화를 Atomic Force Mircroscope (AFM)와 Scanning electron miroscopy (SEM)으로 분석하였으며 이에 따른 반사도 변화를 UV-visible-nIR spectrometry 측정을 통하여 조사하였다. 증착온도가 증가함에 따라 Ag 박막의 표면 거칠기는 점차로 증가하였으며 증착된 후면전극의 반사도도 함께 증가함을 알 수 있었다. Ag 박막의 두께 변화에 따른 반사도 변화와 n-i-p 구조의 플렉서블 실리콘 박막태양전지에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.190-194
• /
• 2012

The formation of high-quality polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) on relatively low cost substrate has been an important issue in the development of thin film solar cells. Poly-Si seed layers were fabricated by an inverse aluminum-induced crystallization (I-AIC) process and the properties of the resulting layer were characterized. The I-AIC process has an advantage of being able to continue the epitaxial growth without an Al layer removing process. An amorphous Si precursor layer was deposited on Corning glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering system with Ar plasma. Then, Al thin film was deposited by thermal evaporation. An $SiO_2$ diffusion barrier layer was formed between Si and Al layers to control the surface orientation of seed layer. The crystallinity of the poly-Si seed layer was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The grain size and orientation of the poly-Si seed layer were determined by electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) method. The prepared poly-Si seed layer showed high volume fraction of crystalline Si and <100> orientation. The diffusion barrier layer and processing temperature significantly affected the grain size and orientation of the poly Si seed layer. The shorter oxidation time and lower processing temperature led to a better orientation of the poly-Si seed layer. This study presents the formation mechanism of a poly seed layer by inverse aluminum-induced crystallization.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.210-216
• /
• 2010

This paper investigates the dependence of a-Si:H/c-Si passivation and heterojunction solar cell performances on various cleaning processes of silicon wafers. It is observed that the passivation quality of a-Si:H thin-films on c-Si wafers depends highly on the initial H-termination properties of the wafer surface. The effective minority carrier lifetime (MCLT) of highly H-terminated wafer is beneficial for obtaining high quality passivation of a-Si:H/c-Si. The wafers passivated by p(n)-doped a-Si:H layers have low MCLT regardless of the initial H-termination quality. On the other hand, the MCLT of wafers incorporating intrinsic (i) a-Si:H as a passivation layer shows sensitive variation with initial cleaning and H-termination schemes. By applying the improved cleaning processes, we can obtain an MCLT of $100{\mu}sec$ after H-termination and above $600{\mu}sec$ after i a-Si:H thin film deposition. By adapting improved cleaning processes and by improving passivation and doped layers, we can fabricate a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells with an active area conversion efficiency of 18.42%, which cells have an open circuit voltage of 0.670V, short circuit current of $37.31\;mA/cm^2$ and fill factor of 0.7374. These cells show more than 20% pseudo efficiency measured by Suns-$V_{oc}$ with an elimination of series resistance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.06a
• /
• pp.436-436
• /
• 2009

현재 상용화되어 있는 결정질 태양전지의 경우 높은 실리콘 가격으로 인해 저가화에 어려움을 격고 있다. 따라서 태양전지 저가화의 한 방법으로 박막태양전지가 주목을 받고 있다. P-I-N 구조의 박막태양전지에서 각 층의 thickness, activation energy, energy bandgap은 고효율 달성을 위한 중요한 요소이다. 본 논문에서는 박막태양전지 P-I-N layer의 가변을 통하여 고효율을 달성하기 위한 simulation을 수행하였다. 가변 조건으로는 p-layer의 thickness, activation energy 그리고 energy bandgap을 단계별로 변화시켰고 i-layer는 thickness를 n-layer는 thickness와 activation energy를 가변하여 최적의 조건을 찾아 분석하였다. 최종 simulation 결과 p-layer의 thickness 5nm, activation energy 0.3eV 그리고 energy bandgap 1.8eV에서, i-layer thickness 400nm, n-layer thickness 30nm, activation energy 0.2eV에서 최고 효율 11.08%를 달성하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.06a
• /
• pp.437-437
• /
• 2009

현재 상용화되어 있는 결정질 태양전지의 경우 높은 실리콘 가격으로 인해 저가화에 어려움을 격고 있다. 따라서 태양전지 저가화의 한 방법으로 박막태양전지가 주목을 받고 있다. P-I-N 구조의 박막태양전지에서 I-layer 각 층의 thickness, activation energy, energy bandgap은 고효율 달성을 위한 중요한 요소이다. 본 논문에서는 박막태양전지 P-I-N layer의 가변을 통하여 고효율을 달성하기 위한 simulation을 수행하였다. 가변 조건으로는 p-layer의 thickness, activation energy 그리고 energy bandgap을 단계별로 변화시켰고 i-layer는 thickness를 n-layer는 thickness와 activation energy를 가변하여 최적의 조건을 찾아 분석하였다. 최종 simulation 결과 p-layer의 thickness 5nm, activation energy 0.3eV 그리고 energy bandgap 1.8eV에서, i-layer thickness 400nm, n-layer thickness 30nm, activation energy 0.2eV에서 최고 효율 11.08%를 달성하였다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.11a
• /
• pp.398-398
• /
• 2009

텐덤 구조의 양자점 태양전지에서 양자점의 크기에 따라 에너지 밴드갭이 달라 넓은 대역의 태양광을 이용할 수 있다. 이러한 양자점의 크기는 증착 두께의 제어로 조절이 가능하다. Si과 C target을 이용한 RF Co-sputtering 법으로 각각 증착시간을 다르게 하여, SiC/$Si_{1-x}C_x$(x~0.20)인 실리콘 양자점 초격자 박막을 제조하고, $1000^{\circ}C$에서 20분간 질소 분위기에서 열처리를 하였다. Grazing incident X-ray diffraction(GIXRD)를 통해서 Si(111)과 $\beta$-SiC (111)이 생성되었음을 확인하였고, High resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM) 사진으로 양자점의 크기와 분포 밀도를 확인할 수 있었다. Photoluminescence(PL)에서 1.4, 1.5, 1.7, 1.9eV의 Peak이 확인되었다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.21 no.10
• /
• pp.573-579
• /
• 2011

Highly textured Ag, Al and Al:Si back reflectors for flexible n-i-p silicon thin-film solar cells were prepared on 100-${\mu}m$-thick stainless steel substrates by DC magnetron sputtering and the influence of their surface textures on the light-scattering properties were investigated. The surface texture of the metal back reflectors was influenced by the increased grain size and by the bimodal distribution that arose due to the abnormal grain growth at elevated deposition temperatures. This can be explained by the structure zone model (SZM). With an increase in the deposition temperatures from room temperature to $500^{\circ}C$, the surface roughness of the Al:Si films increased from 11 nm to 95 nm, whereas that of the pure Ag films increased from 6 nm to 47 nm at the same deposition temperature. Although Al:Si back reflectors with larger surface feature dimensions than pure Ag can be fabricated at lower deposition temperatures due to the lower melting point and the Si impurity drag effect, they show poor total and diffuse reflectance, resulting from the low reflectivity and reflection loss on the textured surface. For a further improvement of the light-trapping efficiency in solar cells, a new type of back reflector consisting of Ag/Al:Si bilayer is suggested. The surface morphology and reflectance of this reflector are closely dependent on the Al:Si bottom layer and the Ag top layer. The relationship between the surface topography and the light-scattering properties of the bilayer back reflectors is also reported in this paper.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.190-196
• /
• 2007

Dye sensitized solar cells(DSSC) are the most promising future energy resource due to their high energy efficiency, low production cost, and simple manufacturing process. But one problem in DSSC is short life time compared to silicon solar cells. This problem occurred from photocatalytic degradation of dye material by nanometer sized $TiO_2$ particles. To prevent dye degradation as well as to increase its life time, the transparent coating film is needed for UV blocking. In this study, we synthesized nanometer sized $TiO_2$ particles in sols by increasing its internal pressure up to 200 bar in autoclave at $120^{\circ}C$ for 10 hrs. The synthesized $TiO_2$ sols were all formed with brookite phase and their particle size was several nm to 30 nm. Synthesized $TiO_2$ sols were coated on the backside of fluorine doped tin oxide(FTO) glass by ink jet printing method. With increasing coating thickness by repeated ink jet coating, the absorbance of UV region (under 400 nm) also increases reasonably. Decomposition test of titania powders dispersed in 0.1 mM amaranth solution covered with $TiO_2$ coating glass shows more stable dye properties under UV irradiation, compared to that with as-received FTO glass.