• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.959-962
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• 2000

We have fabricated good quality superconducting YBa$_2$Cu$_3$$O_{7-x}$(YBCO) thin films on Hastelloy(Ni-Cr-Mo alloys) metallic substrates with CeO$_2$and BaTiO$_3$buffer layers in-situ by pulsed laser deposition in a multi-target processing chamber. YBCO film with CeO$_2$single buffer layer shows T$_{c}$ of 71.64 K and the grain size less than 0.1${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. When BaTiO$_3$ is used as a single buffer layer, the grain size of YBCO is observed to be larger than that of YBCO/CeO$_2$by 200 times and the transition temperature of the film is enhanced to be about 84 K. CeO$_2$/BaTiO$_3$double buffer layer has been adopted to enhance the superconducting properties, which results in the enhancement of the critical temperature and the critical current density to be about 85 K and 8.4$\times$10$^4$ A/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 77 K, respectively mainly due to the enlargement of the grain size of YBCO film.ilm.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2020

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a two-terminal tandem solar cell depends upon the tunnel-recombination junction (TRJ) between the top and bottom sub-cells. An optimized TRJ in a tandem cell helps improve its open-circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), fill factor (FF), and efficiency (PCE). One of the parameters that affect the TRJ is the buffer layer thickness. Therefore, we investigated various TRJs by varying the thickness of the buffer or intermediate layer (TRJ-buffer) in between the highly doped p-type and n-type layers of the TRJ. The TRJ-buffer layer was p-type nc-Si:H, with a doping of 0.06%, an activation energy (E_a) of 43 meV, an optical gap (E_g) of 2.04 eV, and its thickness was varied from 0 nm to 125 nm. The tandem solar cells we investigated were a combination of a heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) bottom sub-cell and an a-Si:H (amorphous silicon) top sub-cell. The initial cell efficiency without the TRJ buffer was 7.65% while with an optimized buffer layer, its efficiency improved to 11.74%, i.e., an improvement in efficiency by a factor of 1.53.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2011

In this study, the effects of an annealed buffer layer with different thickness on heterojunction diodes based on the ZnO/ZnO/p-Si(111) systems were reported. The effects of an annealed buffer layer with different thickness on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) films on p-Si(111) were also studied. Before zinc oxide (ZnO) deposition, different thicknesses of ZnO buffer layer, 10 nm, 30 nm, 50 nm and 70 nm, were grown on p-Si(111) substrates using a radio-frequency sputtering system; samples were subsequently annealed at $700^{\circ}C$ for 10 minutes in $N_2$ in a horizontal thermal furnace. Zinc oxide (ZnO) films with a width of 280nm were also deposited using a radio-frequency sputtering system on the annealed ZnO/p-Si (111) substrates at room temperature; samples were subsequently annealed at $700^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes in $N_2$. In this experiment, the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films were studied by XRD (X-ray diffraction), and room temperature PL (photoluminescence) measurements, respectively. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics were measured with a semiconductor parameter analyzer. The thermal tensile stress was found to decrease with increasing buffer layer thickness. Among the ZnO/ZnO/p-Si(111) diodes fabricated in this study, the sample that was formed with the condition of a 50 nm thick ZnO buffer layer showed a strong c-axis preferred orientation and I-V characteristics suitable for a heterojunction diode.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.432-438
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• 2011

In this study, chemical bath deposited (CBD) indium sulfide buffer layers were investigated as a possible substitution for the cadmium sulfide buffer layer in CIGS thin film solar cells. The performance of the $In_2S_3$/CIGS solar cell dramatically improved when the films were annealed at $300^{\circ}C$ in inert gas after the buffer layer was grown on the CIGS film. The thickness of the indium sulfide buffer layer was 80 nm, but decreased to 60 nm after annealing. From the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy it was found that the chemical composition of the layer changed to indium oxide and indium sulfide from the as-deposited indium hydroxide and sulfate states. Furthermore, the overall atomic concentration of the oxygen in the buffer layer decreased because deoxidation occurred during annealing. In addition, an In-thin layer was inserted between the indium sulfide buffer and CIGS in order to modify the $In_2S_3$/CIGS interface. The $In_2S_3$/CIGS solar cell with the In interlayer showed improved photovoltaic properties in the $J_{sc}$ and FF values. Furthermore, the $In_2S_3$/CIGS solar cells showed higher quantum efficiency in the short wavelength region. However, the quantum efficiency in the long wavelength region was still poor due to the thick buffer layer.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.84-89
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• 2006

Highly concentrated p-type ZnO thin films can be obtained by doping of N, P and As elements. In this study, undoped ZnO buffer layers were prepared on a (0001) sapphire substrate by a ultra high vaccum pulsed laser deposition(UHV-PLD) method. ZnO buffer layers were deposited with various deposition temperature($400{\sim}700^{\circ}C$) at 350 mtorr of oxygen working pressure. Arsenic doped(1 wt%) ZnO thin films were deposited on the ZnO buffer layers by UHV-PLD. Crystallinity of the samples were evaluated by X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscopy. Optical, electrical properties of the ZnO thin films were estimated by photoluminescence(PL) and Hall measurements. The optimal condition of the undoped ZnO buffer layer for the deposition of As-doped ZnO thin films was at $600^{\circ}C$ of deposition temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.491-495
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• 2012

The effects of various buffer layers on the $In_2O_3$ transparent conducting films grown on glass substrates by radio-frequency reactive magnetron sputtering were investigated. The $In_2O_3$ thin films were deposited at $400^{\circ}C$ of growth temperature and 100% of oxygen flow rate. The optical, electrical, and structural and morphological properties of the $In_2O_3$ thin films subjected to buffer layers were examined by using ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, Hall-effect measurements, and X-ray diffractometer, respectively. The properties of $In_2O_3$ thin films showed different results, depending on the type of buffer layer. As for the $In_2O_3$ thin film deposited on ZnO buffer layer, the average transmittance was 89% and the electrical resistivity was $7.4{\times}10^{-3}\;{\Omega}cm$. The experimental results provide a way for growing the transparent conducting film with the optimum condition by using an appropriate buffer layer.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.161-166
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• 2013

AlN buffer layers have been used for the growth of GaN layers on Si substrates. However, the doping of high concentration of carriers into AlN layers is still not easy, therefore it may cause the increase of series resistance when it is used for the electrical or optical devices. In this work, to improve such a problem, the growth of GaN layers on Si substrates were performed using metal buffer layers instead of AlN buffer layer. We tried combinations of Ti, Al, Cr and Au as metal buffer layers for the growth of GaN on Si substrates. Surface morphology was measured by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM), and optical properties and crystalline quality were measured by photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD), respectively. Electrical resistances for both cases of AlN and metal buffer layer were compared by current-voltage (I-V) measurement.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.461-467
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• 2008

It was studied the effect of a pre-deposited ultrathin Al layer as part of a buffer layer for the growth of GaN. AlN buffer layers were deposited on a Si(111) substrate using an RF sputtering technique, followed by GaN using hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Several atomic layers of Al were deposited prior to AlN sputtering and the samples were compared with the others grown without pre-deposition of Al. And it was also studied the influence of AlN buffer layer thickness on the growth of GaN. The peak wavelength of the photoluminescence (PL) was varied with increasing the thickness of the GaN and AlN layers. The optimum thickness of AlN on a Si(111) substrate with an ultrathin Al layer was about $260{\AA}$. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed coalescent surface morphology and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed a strongly oriented GaN(0002) peak.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.152-153
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• 2006

The new approach to buffer layer design for CIGS solar cells that permitted to reduce the buffer absorption losses in the short wavelength range and to overcome the disadvantages inherent to Cd-free CIGS solar cells was proposed. A chemical bath deposition method has been used to produce a high duality buffer layer that comprises thin film of CdS and Zn-based film. The double layer was grown on either ITO or CIGS substrates and its morphological, structural and optical properties were characterized. The Zn-based film was described as the ternary compound $ZnS_x(OH)_y$. The composition of the $ZnS_x(OH)_y$ layer was not uniform throughout its thickness. $ZnS_x(OH)_y$/CdS/substrate region was a highly intermixed region with gradually changing composition. The short wavelength cut-off of double layer was shifted to shorter wavelength (400nm) compared to that (520 nm) for the standard CdS by optimization of the double buffer design. The results show the way to improve the light energy collection efficiency of the nearly cadmium-free CIGS-based solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2020

In this research, 50 nm thick AlN thin films were deposited on the patterned sapphire (0001) substrate by using HVPE (Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy) system and then epitaxial layer structure was grown by MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition). The surface morphology of the AlN buffer layer film was observed by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and AFM (atomic force microscope), and then the crystal structure of GaN films of the epitaxial layer structure was investigated by HR-XRC (high resolution X-ray rocking curve). The XRD peak intensity of GaN thin film of epitaxial layer structure deposited on AlN buffer layer film and sapphire substrate was rather higher in case of that on PSS than normal sapphire substrate. In AFM surface image, the epitaxial layer structure formed on AlN buffer layer showed rather low pit density and less defect density. In the optical output power, the epitaxial layer structure formed on AlN buffer layer showed very high intensity compared to that of the epitaxial layer structure without AlN thin film.