Tandem or multijunction solar cells (MJSCs) can convert sunlight into electricity with higher efficiency (η) than single junction solar cells (SJSCs) by dividing the solar irradiance over sub-cells having distinct bandgaps. The efficiencies of various common SJSC materials are close to the edge of their theoretical efficiency and hence there is a tremendous growing interest in utilizing the tandem/multijunction technique. Recently, III-V materials integration on a silicon substrate has been broadly investigated in the development of III-V on Si tandem solar cells. Numerous growth techniques such as heteroepitaxial growth, wafer bonding, and mechanical stacking are crucial for better understanding of high-quality III-V epitaxial layers on Si. As the choice of growth method and substrate selection can significantly impact the quality and performance of the resulting tandem cell and the terminal configuration exhibit a vital role in the overall proficiency. Parallel and Series-connected configurations have been studied, each with its advantage and disadvantages depending on the application and cell configuration. The optimization of both growth mechanisms and terminal configurations is necessary to further improve efficiency and lessen the cost of III-V on Si tandem solar cells. In this review article, we present an overview of the growth mechanisms and terminal configurations with the areas of research that are crucial for the commercialization of III-V on Si tandem solar cells.

N-type crystalline silicon solar cells have high metal impurity tolerance and higher minority carrier lifetime that increases conversion efficiency. However, junction quality between the boron diffused layer and the n-type substrate is more important for increased efficiency. In this paper, the current status and prospects for boron diffused layers in N-type crystalline silicon solar cell applications are described. Boron diffused layer formation methods (thermal diffusion and co-diffusion using a-SiO_X:B), boron rich layer (BRL) and boron silicate glass (BSG) reactions, and analysis of the effects to improve junction characteristics are discussed. In-situ oxidation is performed to remove the boron rich layer. The oxidation process after diffusion shows a lower B-O peak than before the Oxidation process was changed into SiO₂ phase by FTIR and BRL. The a-SiO_X:B layer is deposited by PECVD using SiH₄, B₂H₆, H₂, CO₂ gases in N-type wafer and annealed by thermal tube furnace for performing the P+ layer. MCLT (minority carrier lifetime) is improved by increasing SiH₄ and B₂H₆. When a-SiO_X:B is removed, the Si-O peak decreases and the B-H peak declines a little, but MCLT is improved by hydrogen passivated inactive boron atoms. In this paper, we focused on the boron emitter for N-type crystalline solar cells.

Ni ink for electrohydrodynamic (EHD) continuous jet printing has been developed by using Ni nanoparticles mixed with conhesiveness provider. EHD continuous jet printing was used in order to realize 20 μm pattern width. Ink stability was investigated by using Turbi-scan which monitors agglomeration and precipitation of nanoparticles in the ink for three days. The Turbi-scan results showed that the formulated Ni ink had been stable for 3 days without any indication of precipitation across the entire ink. Antireflection coating (ARC) layer in crystalline solar cell wafers was removed by laser ablation technique leading to the formation of 84 grooves where the Ni ink was printed by EHD continuous jet printing. The printability and microstructure of EHD-jet-printed Ni lines were investigated by using optical and electron microscopes. 84 Ni lines with the width less than 20 μm were successfully printed by one-time printing without any misalignment and fill the laser-ablated ARC grooves.

A New Ag-pastes were developed for integrating the high efficiency mono-Si solar cell. The pastes were the mixture of 84 wt% Ag, 2 wt% glass frit, 11 wt% solvent of buthyl cabitol acetate, and 3 wt% additives. After fabricating the Ag-pastes by using a 3-roll mill, they were coated on a SiN_x/n+/p- stacks of a commercial mono-Si solar cell. And the post-thermal process was also optimized by varying the process conditions of peak temperature. The optimized solar cell efficiency on a 6-inch mono-Si wafer was 18.28%, which was the one of the world best performances. It meaned that the newly developed Aa-paste could be adopted to fabricate a commercial bulk Si solar cell.

Crystalline silicon solar cells with SiNx/SiNx and SiNx/SiOx double layer anti-reflection coatings(ARC) were studied in this paper. Optimizing passivation effect and optical properties of SiNx and SiOx 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 ㎛. 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 SiNx single layer. With the completed solar cell with SiNx/SiNx of n= 2.2/1.9 and SiNx/SiOx of n= 2.2/1.46, the electrical characteristics was improved as ΔVoc= 3.7 mV, ΔJsc= 0.11 mA/cm2 and Δ Voc= 5.2 mV, ΔJsc= 0.23 mA/cm2, respectively. It led to the efficiency improvement as 0.1% and 0.23%.

Limiting thermal exposure time using rapid thermal processing(RTP) has emerged as promising simplified process for manufacturing of solar cell in a continuous way. This paper reports the simplification of co-firing using RTP. Actual temperature profile for co-firing after screen printing is a key issue for high-quality metal-semiconductor contact. The plateau time during the firing process were varied at 450℃ for 10~16 sec. Glass frit in Ag paste etch anti-reflection layer with plateau time. Glass frit in Ag paste is important for the Ag/Si contact formation and performances of crystalline Si solar cell. We achieved 17.14% efficiency with optimum conditions.

Two kind of Ag-pastes were prepared for integrating the bulk Si solar cell. One is the Ag-paste with Pb-based glass frit and the other is that with Bi-based glass frit. The pastes were the mixture of 84 wt% Ag, 2 wt% glass frit, 11 wt% solvent of buthyl cabitol acetate, and 2 wt% additives. After fabricating the Ag-pastes, they was coated on a SiN(x)/n+/p- stacks of a commercial mono-Si solar cell. The solar cell efficiency was 17.6% in the case of the Pb-based Ag-paste. However that was 16.2% in the solar cell integrated with the Bi-based Ag-paste. The lower performance in Bi-based Ag-paste was caused by the higher series resistance and the lower shunt resistance in comparison with the Pb-based Ag-paste.

This paper was investigated the electrical properties for optimal operating conditions of monocrystalline silicon solar cell. The output of electricity for monocrystalline solar cell was investigated according to the distances between solar cell and halogen lamp and to the resistances by the variable resistor.