• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.47.1-47.1
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• 2011

We report on a direct measurement of two-dimensional chemical and electrical distribution on the surface of photovoltaic Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$ thin-films using a nano-scale spectroscopic and electrical characterization, respectively. The Raman measurement reveals non-uniformed surface phonon vibration which comes from different compositional distribution and defects in the nature of polycrystalline thin-films. On the other hand, potential analysis by scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy shows a higher surface potential or a small work function on grain boundaries of the thin-films than on the grain surfaces. This demonstrates the grain boundary is positively charged and local built-in potential exist on grain boundary, which improve electron-hole separation on grain boundary. Local electrical transport measurements with scanning probe microscopy on the thin-films indicates that as external bias is increases, local current is started to flow from grain boundary and saturated over 0.3 V external bias. This accounts for carrier behavior in the vicinity of grain boundary with regard to defect states. We suggest that electron-hole separation at the grain boundary as well as chemical and electrical distribution of polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$ thin-films.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.69-72
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• 2014

We investigated current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance (C)-V characteristics of solution-processed thin film solar cells, consisting of $Cu(In,Ga)S_2$ and $CuInS_2$ stacked absorber layers. The ideality factors, extracted from the temperature-dependent I-V curves, showed that the tunneling-mediated interface recombination was dominant in the cells. Rapid increase of both series- and shunt-resistance at low temperatures would limit the performance of the cells, requiring further optimization. The C-V data revealed that the carrier concentration of the $CuInS_2$ layer was about 10 times larger than that of the $Cu(In,Ga)S_2$ layer. All these results could help us to find strategies to improve the efficiency of the solution-processed thin film solar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.131-135
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• 2020

Silver nanowire (AgNW) networks have been adopted as a front electrode in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells due to their low cost and compatibility with the solution process. When an AgNW network is applied to a CIGS thin film solar cell, reflection loss can increase because the CdS layer, with a relatively high refractive index (n ~ 2.5 at 550 nm), is exposed to air. To resolve the issue, we apply solution-processed ZnO nanorods to the AgNW network as an anti-reflective coating. To obtain high performance of the optical and electrical properties of the ZnO nanorod and AgNW network composite, we optimize the process parameters - the spin coating of AgNWs and the concentration of zinc nitrate and hexamethylene tetramine (HMT - to fabricate ZnO nanorods. We verify that 10 mM of zinc nitrate and HMT show the lowest reflectance and 10% cell efficiency increase when applied to CIGS thin film solar cells.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 2015

We applied KF on CIGS film to modify CIGS surface with a wider-bandgap surface layer. With the KF deposition the surface of CIGS film had fine particle on the CIGS surface at 350 and $300^{\circ}C$. No fine particle was detected at 500 and $250^{\circ}C$. With the KF treatment, the Ga and O content increased at the surface, while the In and Cu content decreased. The valence band maximum was lowered with KF treatment. The composition profile and band structure were positive side of applying KF on the CIGS surface. However, the efficiency decreased with the KF treatment due to high series resistance, probably due to too thick surface layer. A smaller amount of KF should be supplied and more systematic analysis is necessary to obtain a reproducible higher efficiency CIGS solar cells.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.109-112
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• 2005

Cu계$I-III-VI_2$화합물은 직접천이형 반도체로 광흡수계수가 매우 높아 박막형 태양전지 제조에 매우 유리하다 또한 화학적으로 안정하며 Ga, A1등을 첨가하면 에너지 금지대폭을 조절할 수 있어 Wide Bandgap 태양전지 및 탠덤구조 태양전지를 제조하기에도 용이하다. $CuInSe_2(CIS)$ 물질에서 In을 $20-30\%$ 정도 치환한 $Cu(In,\;Ga)Se_2(CIGS)$ 태양전지의 경우 $19.5\%$의 세계 최고 효율을 보고하고 있으며 이는 다결정 실리콘 태양전지의 효율과 비슷한 수준이다. 본 연구에서는 동시 진공증발법을 이용하여 증착한 CIGS 박막 및 $CuGaSe_2(CGS)$ 박막을 이용하여 태양전지를 제조하였다. 공정의 재현성 및 결정립계가 큰 광흡수층 제조를 위하여 실시간 기판 온도 모니터링 시스템을 도입하였으며 버퍼층으로는 용액성장한 CdS 박막을 사용하였다. SLG/MO/CIGS(CGS)/CdS/ZnO/Al구조의 태양전지를 제조하여 면적 $0.5cm^2$에서 각각 $15\%$(CIGS)와 $7\%(CGS)$의 효율을 얻었다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.400-400
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• 2009

Despite the success of Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$ (CIGS) based PV technology now emerging in several industrial initiatives, concerns about the cost of In and Ga are often expressed. It is believed that the cost of those elements will eventually limit the cost reduction of this technology. One candidate to replace CIGS is $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ (CZTSe), fabricated by co-evaporation technique. Co-evaporation technique will be one of the best methods to control film composition. This type of absorber derives from the $CuInSe^2$ chalcopyrite structure by substituting half of the indium atoms with zinc and other half with tin. Energy bandgap of this material has been reported to range from 0.8eV for selenide to 1.5eV for the sulfide and large coefficient in the order of $10^{14}cm^{-1}$, which means large possibility of commercial production of the most suitable absorber by using the CZTSe film. In this work, Effects of substrate temperature of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ absorber layer on the performance of thin films solar cells were investigated. We reported on some of the absorber properties and device results.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.1 no.2 s.2
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• pp.6-10
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• 2005

[ $CulnSe2$ ]계 화합물은 직접천이형 반도체로 광흡수계수가 매우 높아 박막형 태양전지 제조에 매우 유리하다. 또한 화학적으로 안정하며 Ga, Al 등을 첨가하면 에너지 금지대폭을 조절할 수 있어 Wide Bandgap 태양전지 및 탠덤구조 태양전지를 제조하기에도 용이하다. CIS 물질에서 In을 $20-30\%$ 정도 치환한 $Cu(In,\;Ga)Se_2(CIGS)$ 태양전지의 경우 19.5%의 세계 최고 효율을 보고하고 있으며 이는 다결정 실리콘 태양전지의 효율과 비슷한 수준이다. 본 연구에서는 동시 질공증발법을 이용하여 증착한 CIGS 박막 및 $CuGaSe_2(CGS)$ 박막을 이용하여 태양전지를 제조하였다. 공정의 재현성 및 결정립계가 큰 광흡수층 제조를 위하여 실시간 기판 온도 모니터링 시스템을 도입하였으며 버퍼층으로는 용액성장한 CdS 박막을 사용하였다. SLG/MO/CIGS(CGS)/CdS/ZnO/Al 구조의 태양전지를 제조하여 면적 $0.5cm^2$에서 각각 $17\%(CIGS)$와 $7\%(CGS)$의 효율을 얻었다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.19-22
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• 2009

A non-vacuum process for fabrication of $CuIn_xGa_{1-x}Se_2$ (CIGS) absorber layer from the corresponing Cu, In, Ga solution precursors was described. Cu, In, Ga precursor solution was prepared by a room temperature colloidal route by reacting the starting materials $Cu(NO_3)_2$, $InCl_3$, $Ga(NO_3)$ and methanol. The Cu, In, Ga precursor solution was mixed with ethylcellulose as organic binder material for the rheology of the mixture to be adjusted for the doctor blade method. After depositing the mixture of Cu, In, Ga solution with binder on Mo/glass substrate, the samples were preheated on the hot plate in air to evaporate remaining solvents and to burn the organic binder material. Subsequently, the resultant CIG/Mo/glass sample was selenized in Se evaporation in order to get a solar cell applicable dense CIGS absorber layer. The CIGS absorber layer selenized at $530^{\circ}C$ substrate temperature for 1h with various metal organic ratio.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.149-152
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• 2012

$Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ (CIGS) is one of the most promising photovoltaic materials because of large conversion efficiency which has been achieved with an optimum Ga/(In+Ga) composition in $CuIn_{1-x}Ga_xSe_2$ (X~0.3). The Ga/(In+Ga) content is important to determine band gap, solar cell performances and carrier behaviors at grain boundary (GB). Effects of Ga/(In+Ga) content on physical properties of the CIGS layers have been extensively studied. In previous research, it is reported that GB is not recombination center of CIGS thin-film solar cells. However, GB recombination and electron-hole pair behavior studies are still lacking, especially influence of with different X on CIGS thin-films. We obtained the GB surface potential, local current and I-V characteristic of different X (00.7 while X~0.3 showed higher potential than 100 mV on GBs. Higher potential on GBs appears positive band bending. It can decrease recombination loss because of carrier separation. Therefore, we suggest recombination and electron-hole behaviors at GBs depending on composition of X.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.755-759
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• 2011

$Cu(In_{1-x},Ga_x)Se_2$ thin films have been considered as an effective absorber material for high efficient solar cells. In this paper, the CIGS thin films with varied Ga content were prepared using a co-evaporation process of three stage. We carry out structure and electrical optical property on the thin film in varied Ga content. CIGS thin films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy(EDS), four-point probe measurement, and the Hall measurement. To optimize Ga contents, Ga/(In+Ga) ratio were changed from 0.13 to 0.72. At this time the carrier concentrations were varied from $1.22{\times}10^{11}\;cm^{-3}$ to $5.07{\times}10^{16}\;cm^{-3}$, and electrical resistivity were varied from $1.11{\times}10^0\;{\Omega}-cm$ to $1.08{\times}10^2\;{\Omega}-cm$. A strong <220/204> orientation and a lager grain size were obtained at a Ga/(In+Ga) of 0.3. We were able to achieve conversion efficiency as high as 15.95% with a Ga/(In+Ga) of 0.3.