KR101092922B1

KR101092922B1 - Solar cell including color layer

Info

Publication number: KR101092922B1
Application number: KR1020090080211A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김경호; 이유진; 김동제
Original assignee: 주식회사 티지솔라
Priority date: 2009-08-28
Filing date: 2009-08-28
Publication date: 2011-12-12
Also published as: KR20110022785A

Abstract

A solar cell having a color layer is disclosed. A solar cell having a color layer according to the present invention includes a substrate 100; A color layer 200 formed on the substrate 100 and reflecting light having a different wavelength band according to the thickness; A lower electrode 300 formed on the color layer 200; An optoelectronic device 400 having a plurality of semiconductor layers 410, 420, and 430 formed on the lower electrode 300 stacked thereon; And an upper electrode 600 formed on the optoelectronic device 400.

Color layer, thickness, wavelength, solar cell

Description

Solar cell with color layer {SOLAR CELL INCLUDING COLOR LAYER}

The present invention relates to a solar cell having a color layer. More specifically, the present invention relates to a solar cell having a color layer representing various colors by reflecting light of a predetermined wavelength band according to thickness.

The energy generally used today is limited to fossil energy such as petroleum, coal and natural gas, and has a problem of emitting pollutants. Therefore, the development of alternative energy that can replace this has been important, the most attention among them is the solar cell using the solar light. Solar power generation technology is a principle that can easily obtain power by receiving light and converting it into electrical energy. Therefore, it is a clean power generation technology that can change the pollution-free sunlight into electric energy indefinitely, and there is no pollution such as air pollution, noise, heat generation, vibration, etc. In addition, it can have a semi-permanent life almost no need for transportation of fuel and maintenance of the power generation equipment.

On the other hand, general solar cells have a blue-black or red-brown color. Therefore, when the solar cell is installed to be exposed to the outside of a building or a vehicle, and particularly when used as a power source for a portable home appliance, solar cells of various colors are required in terms of aesthetics to suit consumer's taste.

In order to solve this problem, a predetermined color may be implemented by providing a thin film layer in which a separate coloring material is colored in the solar cell. However, when using a coloring material, there is a problem that the transparency decreases according to the characteristics of the coloring material itself, thereby reducing the amount of incident light of the solar cell, thereby lowering the photoelectric conversion efficiency. Therefore, the choice of color is inevitably limited.

As another solution, a color may be coated on the surface of the film (lamination film) by laminating the front surface of the solar cell to realize a predetermined color. However, when using the lamination method, a coating process for imparting color to the lamination film and a lamination process for attaching to the solar cell may be required, which may increase time and cost. In particular, when the coated film is laminated to the solar cell, it may be discolored by external scratches or sunlight, and may cause a problem that the film is peeled from the solar cell due to the decrease in adhesiveness of the adhesive.

In addition, such a lamination method can also reduce the amount of incident light of the solar cell, it is difficult to solve the problem that the photoelectric conversion efficiency is lowered.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a solar cell having a color layer capable of preventing the above problems of the prior art, which can prevent external interference and a decrease in photoelectric conversion efficiency.

In addition, the present invention has another object to provide a solar cell that can exhibit a variety of colors.

The object of the present invention is a substrate; A color layer formed on the substrate and reflecting light having a different wavelength band according to the thickness; A lower electrode formed on the color layer; An optoelectronic device in which a plurality of semiconductor layers are formed on the lower electrode; And it is achieved by a solar cell comprising an upper electrode formed on the optoelectronic device.

In this case, the color layer may be a transparent insulating material.

The transparent insulating material may be silicon oxide (SiO _x ) or silicon nitride (SiN _x ).

At least one of the substrate and the color layer may have an uneven pattern formed on an upper surface thereof.

The uneven pattern for texturing may be formed on the substrate based on uniformity of color coordinates of light reflected from the color layer.

According to the solar cell of the present invention, a transparent material is formed between the substrate and the lower electrode and is provided with a color layer having an antireflection function, thereby preventing external interference and a decrease in photoelectric conversion efficiency.

In addition, according to the solar cell of the present invention, by providing a color layer between the substrate and the lower electrode, it is possible to accurately measure the uniformity of the solar cell (particularly, the substrate).

In addition, according to the solar cell of the present invention, it is possible to implement a variety of colors by having a color layer for reflecting light of various wavelength bands according to the thickness.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. It should be understood that the various embodiments of the present invention are different but need not be mutually exclusive. For example, certain features, structures, and characteristics described herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in connection with an embodiment. It is also to be understood that the position or arrangement of the individual components within each disclosed embodiment may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention, if properly described, is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to the same or similar functions throughout the several aspects, and length, area, thickness, and the like may be exaggerated for convenience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present invention.

[Preferred Embodiments of the Invention]

1 to 3 are diagrams showing a sequential cross section of a solar cell having a color layer 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, referring to FIG. 1, a substrate 100 is provided. The material of the substrate 100 may be a transparent material capable of transmitting light, for example, glass or plastic. In this case, the surface of the substrate 100 may be textured. Texturing in the present invention is intended to prevent the phenomenon that the characteristics of the light is reduced by reflecting the light incident on the substrate surface of the solar cell is optically lost. In other words, the surface of the substrate is roughened to form an uneven pattern (not shown) on the surface of the substrate. If the surface of the substrate is roughened by texturing, the light reflected once from the surface may be reflected back to the solar cell, thereby reducing the loss of light and increasing the amount of light trapping, thereby improving the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cell. .

Sand blasting can be used as a representative texturing method. Sand blasting in the present invention includes both dry blasting for etching by etching the etching particles with compressed air and wet blasting for etching by spraying the etching particles together with the liquid. On the other hand, the etching particles used in the sand blasting of the present invention can be used without limitation, particles that can form irregularities on the substrate by physical impact, such as sand, small metal.

Subsequently, the color layer 200 may be formed on the substrate 100. The color layer 200 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may perform a function of displaying color by reflecting sunlight incident through the substrate 100 at a predetermined wavelength according to the thickness. In this case, the material of the color layer 200 may be silicon oxide (SiO _x ) or silicon nitride (SiN _x ) which are transparent insulating films, but is not limited thereto.

The color layer 200 may include low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD), plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), or the like.

In more detail, the color layer 200 may be formed of a material that transmits light such as silicon oxide (SiO _x ) and silicon nitride (SiN _x ) while reflecting light of a predetermined wavelength band according to the thickness of the thin film layer. Can perform a function of displaying various colors. At this time, in order to understand the correlation between the thickness and the thickness of the thin film of silicon oxide (SiO _x ), silicon nitride (SiN _x ), for example, the color according to the thickness (um: micrometer) of the thin film of silicon oxide (SiO _x ) Table 1 below shows (color).

TABLE 1

Thickness (um) Color 0.07 Brown 0.31 Blue 0.39 Yellow

If Referring to Table 1, there can be seen the various colors appears depending on the thickness (um) of the thin film of silicon oxide (SiO _x), for example, the film thickness of the silicon oxide (SiO _x), the brown 0.07um You can get the color of Brown. The same principle applies to silicon nitride (SiN _x ), and the optical properties according to the thickness of the thin film of the transparent insulating material are already known, and thus detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

In addition, the color layer 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention is the solar light incident through the substrate 100 is not absorbed by the photovoltaic device in which the semiconductor layer is stacked directly reflected to the outside, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cell The function of the antireflection layer which prevents this deterioration phenomenon can be performed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, an uneven pattern may be formed on an upper surface of any one or more of the substrate 100 or the color layer 200. In this case, when the concave-convex pattern is formed on the substrate 100 by the above-described texturing, the same concave-convex pattern is formed on the upper surface of the color layer 200 formed on the substrate 100 to reduce the reflected light without a separate texturing process. Can be.

In addition, the color layer 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention has a function of measuring the uniformity (particularly, the uniformity of the uneven pattern of the substrate) of the solar cell including the substrate 100 and the color layer 200. A more detailed description will be apparent from the following detailed description with reference to FIG. 4.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, a lower electrode 300 of a conductive material may be formed on the color layer 200. The material of the lower electrode 300 may be a transparent conductive oxide (TCO), which is a transparent electrode having a low contact resistance and having a transparent property. For example, AZO (ZnO: Al), ITO (Indium-Tin-Oxide), and GZO (ZnO: Ga), BZO (ZnO: B), and SnO ₂ (SnO ₂ : F) may be any one, but are not limited thereto, and a conventional conductive material may be used without limitation.

Formation methods of the lower electrode 300 include physical vapor deposition (PVD), LPCVD, PECVD, metal organic chemistry such as thermal evaporation, E-beam evaporation, and sputtering. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), such as Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD).

Next, referring to FIG. 3, p-type and n-type or p-type, i-type, and n-type semiconductor layers may be stacked and formed on the lower electrode 300. A case in which n-type silicon layers 400: 410, 420, and 430 are formed in order will be described. The silicon layer 400 may be formed by a CVD method such as PECVD or LPCVD, and the silicon layer 400 may perform a function of the optoelectronic device 400 that may receive power and produce power by a subsequent process. .

Subsequently, the upper electrode 600 may be formed on the silicon layer 400. The upper electrode 600 is preferably any one of molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W), and molybdenum (MoW) or an alloy thereof having a low contact resistance, but is not limited thereto. Copper, aluminum, Titanium and the like and alloys thereof. The transparent conductive material may be any one of ITO, ZnO, IZO, AZO (ZnO: Al), and FSO (SnO: F).

The upper electrode 600 may be formed by physical vapor deposition (PVD), such as thermal evaporation, e-beam evaporation, or sputtering, and LPCVD, PECVD, and metal organic chemistry. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), such as Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD).

As described above, the solar cell of the present invention includes the color layer 200 between the substrate 100 and the lower electrode 300 to protect the color layer 200 from external physical and chemical interference, and Since the functions can be performed simultaneously, photoelectric conversion efficiency can be prevented from being lowered, and light can be reflected in a predetermined wavelength band according to the thickness, so that various colors (colors) can be easily implemented.

Color layer Uniformity of Solar Cell

In the following detailed description, other functions of the color layer 200 of the present invention will be described.

4 is a view for briefly explaining a method of measuring color coordinate uniformity in a solar cell having a color layer 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, color coordinate uniformity may be measured using five points including an edge portion and a center portion in the entire area of the color layer 200. For example, although not shown, when a light is irradiated to a solar cell using a separate light source, a predetermined wavelength band indicated by the color layer 200 may be measured by a luminance meter. In this case, the chromatic uniformity may be calculated using the color coordinates measured at each of five points including the edges A, B, D, and E, and the center C for accurate measurement. The uniformity can be calculated by calculating the difference in the color coordinates at the edges A, B, D, and E compared to (C), but the present invention is not limited thereto, and more points for more accurate measurement. Can also be measured.

Therefore, the color coordinate uniformity of the color layer 200 formed on the substrate 100 can be easily confirmed. In particular, the uniformity of the color coordinates may indirectly indicate the uniformity of the uneven pattern of the substrate 100. Accordingly, the substrate 100 having the uneven pattern having the best uniformity may be implemented by adjusting process conditions (eg, pressure of the nozzle spraying the etching particles, nozzle speed, etc.) in the texturing process based on the color coordinate uniformity. Can be. That is, after measuring the uniformity of the color coordinates by producing the substrate 100 on which the color layer 200 is formed for a test, an uneven pattern may be formed on the substrate 100 under optimized texturing process conditions based on the measured color coordinate uniformity. Of course, the measurement process can check the color of the color layer 200 even when mass production of the solar cell can easily detect the uniformity of the solar cell.

As such, measuring the color coordinate uniformity using the color layer 200 of the present invention, the uniformity of the substrate 100 can be associated with the overall characteristics of the solar cell and the photoelectric conversion efficiency, the interface between the other thin film layer laminated This is because it is an important factor that affects characteristics.

Color layer Equipped Polycrystalline Silicon solar cells

5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an optoelectronic device 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the optoelectronic device 400 may be formed of a silicon layer, for example, three amorphous silicon layers 410, 420, and 430.

In more detail, the first amorphous silicon layer 410 is formed on the lower electrode 300, and then the second amorphous silicon layer 420 is formed on the first amorphous silicon layer 410, and then the second amorphous silicon layer 420 is formed. The third amorphous silicon layer 430 may be formed on the silicon layer 420 to form one optoelectronic device 400. In this case, the first, second, and third amorphous silicon layers 410, 420, and 430 may be formed using a CVD method such as PECVD or LPCVD.

Subsequently, a process of crystallizing the first, second, and third amorphous silicon layers 410, 420, and 430 by high temperature treatment may be performed. That is, the first amorphous silicon layer 410 is the first polycrystalline silicon layer 411, the second amorphous silicon layer 420 is the second polycrystalline silicon layer 421, and the third amorphous silicon layer 430 is made of Each of the three polycrystalline silicon layers 431 may be crystallized. As a result, the polycrystalline optoelectronic device 400 including the first, second, and third polycrystalline silicon layers 411, 421, and 431 is formed.

The optoelectronic device 400 is a structure in which a polycrystalline silicon layer is stacked and a pin diode in which p-type, i-type, and n-type polycrystalline silicon layers are stacked in order to generate power with photovoltaic power generated by light reception. Can be. Type i here means intrinsic without impurities. In addition, n-type or p-type doping is preferably doped with impurities in situ (in situ) when forming the amorphous silicon layer. Boron (B) is used as an impurity in p-type doping, and phosphorus (P) or arsenic (As) is used as an impurity in n-type doping, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and known techniques may be used without limitation.

In this case, the crystallization methods of the first, second, and third amorphous silicon layers 410, 420, and 430 may include Solid Phase Crystallization (SPC), Excimer Laser Annealing (ELA), Sequential Lateral Solidification (SLS), and Metal Induced Crystallization (MIC). ) And MILC (Metal Induced Lateral Crystallization) can be used. Since the crystallization method of the amorphous silicon is a known technique, a detailed description thereof will be omitted herein.

In the above description, the first, second, and third amorphous silicon layers 410, 420, and 430 are all formed, but the crystallization is performed simultaneously. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the crystallization process may be performed separately for each amorphous silicon layer, and the two amorphous silicon layers may be simultaneously crystallized and the other amorphous silicon layer may be separately crystallized.

Although not shown, the first polycrystalline silicon layer 411, the second polycrystalline silicon layer 421, and the third polycrystalline silicon layer 431 may further perform a defect removal process to further improve the properties of the polycrystalline silicon. Can be. In the present invention, the polycrystalline silicon layer may be subjected to high temperature heat treatment or hydrogen plasma treatment to remove defects (eg, impurities and dangling bonds) present in the polycrystalline silicon layer.

6 is a view showing the configuration of an optoelectronic device (400, 500) according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, another optoelectronic device 400 may be further formed on the polycrystalline optoelectronic device 400 including the first, second, and third polycrystalline silicon layers 411, 421, and 431 described above. The optoelectronic device may be an amorphous optoelectronic device 500 in which first, second, and third amorphous silicon layers 510, 520, and 530, which are amorphous silicon layers, are stacked. As such, in another embodiment of the present invention, the optoelectronic devices 400 and 500 may have a tandem structure. In addition, such a tandem structure may mean a structure in which an optoelectronic device is stacked in triple or more.

In the foregoing detailed description, the present invention has been described by specific embodiments such as specific components and the like, but the embodiments and drawings are provided only to help a more general understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is limited to the above embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications and variations from this description.

Therefore, the spirit of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the above-described embodiments, and all of the equivalents or equivalents of the claims, as well as the following claims, I will say.

100: substrate

200: color layer

300: lower electrode

400, 500: photoelectric device

600: upper electrode

Claims

Board;

A color layer formed on the substrate and composed of a transparent insulating material reflecting light having different wavelength bands according to thickness;

A lower electrode formed on the color layer;

An optoelectronic device in which a plurality of semiconductor layers are formed on the lower electrode; And

An upper electrode formed on the optoelectronic device

Solar cell comprising a.

delete

The method of claim 1,

The transparent insulating material is a silicon oxide (SiO _x ) or silicon nitride (SiN _x ) characterized in that the solar cell.

The method of claim 1,

At least one of the substrate or the color layer is a solar cell, characterized in that the concave-convex pattern is formed on the upper surface.

5. The method of claim 4,

And a concave-convex pattern for texturing on the substrate based on uniformity of color coordinates of light reflected from the color layer.