• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.38-50
• /
• 2012

박막 태양전지 기술은 현재 가장 큰 시장점유율을 보이고 있는 결정질 Si 태양전지와 비교되는 차세대 태양전지 기술로서 큰 관심을 받고 있다. 결정질 Si 태양전지의 효율보다 높은 효율로서, 훨씬 저가로 생산할 수 있는 수준을 목표로 하여 다양한 종류의 박막 태양전지들이 개발되고 있는데, 본고에서는 그 중에서 가장 많이 연구개발되고 있는 세 종류의 박막 태양전지, 즉, 화합물 반도체 박막 태양전지 중 가장 대표적인 CIGS(Cu(InGa)Se2) 태양전지, 지구상에 가장 풍부한 무기 소재인 Si를 기반으로 하는 비정질 Si 박막 태양전지, 그리고 유기물 기반 태양전지 중 가장 높은 효율을 나타내는 DSSC에 대해서 중점적으로 기술하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2010.08a
• /
• pp.237-237
• /
• 2010

We investigated physical properties of CuIn1-xGaxSe2 thin films grown by co-evaporator under various Cu environments. To study the effect of the Cu environments on absorber layer properties, thin films were fabricated under various reaction periods for different Cu flux on 2 stage process. We find the structural and electrical characteristics were affected by the reaction period on 2 stage process. The correlation between Cu flux variation on 2 stage process and solar cell performance was studied. The structural and electrical properties for various Cu flux were discussed.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2012.05a
• /
• pp.63.1-63.1
• /
• 2012

In recent years, the functional inks for printed electronics that can be combined with a variety of printing techniques have attracted increasingly significant interest for use in low cost, large area, high performance integrated electronics and microelectronics. In particular, the development of solution-processable conductor, semiconductor and insulator materials is of great importance as such materials have decisive impacts on the electrical performance of various electronic devices, and, therefore, need to meet various requirements including solution processability, high electrical performance, and environmental stability. Semiconductor inks such as IGO, CIGS are synthesized by chemical solution method and microwave reaction method for TFT and solar cell application. Fine circuit pattern with high conductivity, which is valuable for flexible electrode for PCB and TSP devices, can be printed with highly concentrated and stabilized conductor inks such as silver and copper. Solution processed insulator such as polyimide derivatives can be use to all printed TFT device. Our research results of functional inks for printed electronics provide a recent trends and issues on this area.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.78.2-78.2
• /
• 2010

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS)박막태양전지는 간단한구조와 가격경쟁력 및 고효율화 가능성에 대한 기대감에 의해 많은 연구가 수행되어오고 있다. 특히 높은 흡수계수와 적절한 밴드갭, 큰 결정크기와 같은 물질의 특성들이 장점으로 작용하고 있기 때문이다. 또한 CIGS박막태양전지는 다른 태양전지에 비해 광열화가 적다는 장점도 가지고 있다. CIGS 박막은 CuInSe2내의 In 사이트에 Ga을 도핑함으로서 형성이 되는데 그때의 밴드갭은 약 1.4eV이며 이를 형성하기 위해 많은 방법들이 제안되고 있는데, CIGS박막 형성 시 가장 중요시 여겨야 될 인자는 구성원소로부터 최적화된 조성비를 찾는 것이다. 이러한 관점에서 볼때 evaporation법이나 sputtering법같은 진공방식의 공정법이 비진공방식에 비해 최적의 조성비를 찾는 것이 수월할 것으로 생각된다. selenization을 하기전에, 동시증착이나 다층박막형성을 통해 Cu-In-Se의 조합이 일반적으로 이루어진다. 어떤방법이든 Se의 부가적인 공급이 이루어지는데 시작 전구체의 조합에서 그 해법을 제시하는 것에 대한 논의가 많이 부족한 현실로서, CuInSe2의 단일전구체에 의한 박막형성과 특성평가에 대해 구체적인 논의가 필요하다. 본 실험에서는 Cu-In-Se 전구체를 CuInSe2 단일 타겟에서부터 RF 마그네트론 스퍼터링법을 이용하여 박막증착을 하여 Se의 Rapid Thermal Process(RTA)법을 통해 Se이 순차적으로 공급되었다. 이때 형성되는 박막의 태양전지 흡수층 적용을 위한 광학적, 전기적 및 구조적에 대한 논의된다. Soda lime glass(SLG)와 Corning 1737 유리를 기판으로 하여 아세톤-에탄올을 이용, 초음파세척을 실시하였다. 스퍼터 공정을 하기전에 흡착된 물분자를 제거하기 위하여 약 30분간 $120^{\circ}C$로 열을 가해주었으며, 공정을 위한 총 아르곤 가스의 양은 약 50sccm이며 이때의 공정압력은 20mtorr로 고정하였다. 우선 RF power와 기판온도에 따른 단일전구체 형성을 관찰하기 위하여 각각 30~80W, RT~$400^{\circ}C$로 변화를 주어 박막을 형성한 후 모든 sample에 대하여 $500^{\circ}C$분위기에 effusion cell을 이용하여 Se 분위기에서 결정화를 실시하였다. 샘플의 두께는 Surface profiler로 측정하였고 단면은 전자주사현미경으로 관찰되었다. 동시에 SEM이미지를 통하여 morphology와 grain size 및 EDX를 통하여 조성분석을 하였다. 밴드갭, 투과율 및 흡수계수는 UV-VIS-NIR분광분석법을 통하여 수행되었으며, 전기적 특성분석을 위해 4-point-probe와 Hall effect측정을 수행하였다. 공정변수에 따른 단일타겟으로 얻어 결정화된 CuInSe2박막의 자세한 결과와 논의에 대하여 발표한다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2014.02a
• /
• pp.398.1-398.1
• /
• 2014

The $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ (CZTSe) thin films solar cell is one of the next generation candidates for photovoltaic materials as the absorber of thin film solar cells because it has optimal bandgap (Eg=1.0eV) and high absorption coefficient of $10^4cm^{-1}$ in the visible length region. More importantly, CZTSe consists of abundant and non-toxic elements, so researches on CZTSe thin film solar cells have been increasing significantly in recent years. CZTSe thin film has very similar structure and properties with the CIGS thin film by substituting In with Zn and Ga with Sn. In this study, As-deposited CZTSe thin films have been deposited onto soda lime glass (SLG) substrates at different deposition condition using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique without post-annealing process. The effects of deposition conditions (deposition time, deposition temperature) onto the structural, compositional and optical properties of CZTSe thin films have been investigated, without experiencing selenization process. The XRD pattern shows that quaternary CZTSe films with a stannite single phase. The existence of (112), (204), (312), (008), (316) peaks indicates all films grew and crystallized as a stannite-type structure, which is in a good agreement with the diffraction pattern of CZTSe single crystal. All the films were observed to be polycrystalline in nature with a high (112) predominant orientation at $2{\theta}{\sim}26.8^{\circ}$. The carrier concentration, mobility, resistivity and optical band gap of CZTSe thin films depending on the deposition conditions. Average energy band gap of the CZTSe thin films is about 1.3 eV.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.31 no.11
• /
• pp.619-625
• /
• 2021

Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) based thin-film solar cells have attracted growing attention because of their earth-abundant and non-toxic elements. However, because of their large open-circuit voltage (V_oc)-deficit, CZTSSe solar cells exhibit poor device performance compared to well-established Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ (CIGS) and CdTe based solar cells. One of the main causes of this large V_oc-deficit is poor absorber properties for example, high band tailing properties, defects, secondary phases, carrier recombination, etc. In particular, the fabrication of absorbers using physical methods results in poor surface morphology, such as pin-holes and voids. To overcome this problem and form large and homogeneous CZTSSe grains, CZTSSe based absorber layers are prepared by a sputtering technique with different RTA conditions. The temperature is varied from 510 ℃ to 540 ℃ during the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Further, CZTSSe thin films are examined with X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, IPCE, Energy dispersive spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy techniques. The present work shows that Cu-based secondary phase formation can be suppressed in the CZTSSe absorber layer at an optimum RTA condition.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.233-240
• /
• 2021

For the production of neodymium-doped zinc sulfide thin films in various amounts, zinc sulfide and neodymium were simultaneously deposited using an RF magnetron sputtering equipment to form a thin films, and rapid thermal annealing was performed at 400℃ for 30 minutes as a post-treatment process. The structure, shape, and optical properties of ZnS thin films having various neodymium doping contents (0.35at.%, 1.31at.%, 1.82at.% and 1.90at.%) were studied. The X-ray diffraction pattern was grown to a (111) cubic structure in all thin films. The surface and structural morphology of the thin films due to the neodymium doping content was explained through SEM and AFM images. Only elements of Zn, S, and Nd that do not contain other impurities were identified through EDAX. The transmittance and band gap of the prepared thin films were confirmed using the UV-vis spectrum.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2012.05a
• /
• pp.99.1-99.1
• /
• 2012

The thin-film photovoltaic absorbers (CdTe and $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$) can achieve solar conversion efficiencies of up to 20% and are now commercially available, but the presence of toxic (Cd,Se) and expensive elemental components (In, Te) is a real issue as the demand for photovoltaics rapidly increases. To overcome these limitations, there has been substantial interest in developing viable alternative materials, such as $Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ (CZTS) is an emerging solar absorber that is structurally similar to CIGS, but contains only earth abundant, non-toxic elements and has a near optimal direct band gap energy of 1.4 - 1.6 eV and a large absorption coefficient of ~104 $cm^{-1}$. The CZTS absorber layers are grown and investigated by various fabrication methods, such as thermal evaporation, e-beam evaporation with a post sulfurization, sputtering, non-vacuum sol-gel, pulsed laser, spray-pyrolysis method and electrodeposition technique. In the present work, we report an alternative aqueous chemical approach based on chemical bath deposition (CBD) method for large area deposition of CZTS thin films. Samples produced by our method were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, absorbance and photoluminescence. The results show that this inexpensive and relatively benign process produces thin films of CZTS exhibiting uniform composition, kesterite crystal structure, and some factors like triethanolamine, ammonia, temperature which strongly affect on the morphology of CZTS film.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2012.05a
• /
• pp.65-65
• /
• 2012

Copper zinc tin sulfide ($Cu_2ZnSnS_4$, CZTS) is a very promising material as a low cost absorber alternative to other chalcopyrite-type semiconductors based on Ga or In because of the abundant and economical elements. In addition, CZTS has a band-gap energy of 1.4~1.5eV and large absorption coefficient over ${\sim}10^4cm^{-1}$, which is similar to those of $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$(CIGS) regarded as one of the most successful absorber materials for high efficient solar cell. Most previous works on the fabrication of CZTS thin films were based on the vacuum deposition such as thermal evaporation and RF magnetron sputtering. Although the vacuum deposition has been widely adopted, it is quite expensive and complicated. In this regard, the solution processes such as sol-gel method, nanocrystal dispersion and hybrid slurry method have been developed for easy and cost-effective fabrication of CZTS film. Among these methods, the hybrid slurry method is favorable to make high crystalline and dense absorber layer. However, this method has the demerit using the toxic and explosive hydrazine solvent, which has severe limitation for common use. With these considerations, it is highly desirable to develop a robust, easily scalable and relatively safe solution-based process for the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer with a thickness of 1.5~2.0 ${\mu}m$ and micrometer-scaled grains using two different non-vacuum approaches. The first solution-processing approach includes air-stable non-toxic solvent-based inks in which the commercially available precursor nanoparticles are dispersed in ethanol. Our readily achievable air-stable precursor ink, without the involvement of complex particle synthesis, high toxic solvents, or organic additives, facilitates a convenient method to fabricate a high quality CZTS absorber layer with uniform surface composition and across the film depth when annealed at $530^{\circ}C$. The conversion efficiency and fill factor for the non-toxic ink based solar cells are 5.14% and 52.8%, respectively. The other method is based on the nanocrystal dispersions that are a key ingredient in the deposition of thermally annealed absorber layers. We report a facile synthetic method to produce phase-pure CZTS nanocrystals capped with less toxic and more easily removable ligands. The resulting CZTS nanoparticle dispersion enables us to fabricate uniform, crack-free absorber layer onto Mo-coated soda-lime glass at $500^{\circ}C$, which exhibits a robust and reproducible photovoltaic response. Our simple and less-toxic approach for the fabrication of CZTS layer, reported here, will be the first step in realizing the low-cost solution-processed CZTS solar cell with high efficiency.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.377-382
• /
• 2012

CdS thin films have been widely used as a buffer layer of CIGS semiconductor solar cells to reduce the lattice mismatch between transparent electrode and absorber layer. In order to prepare the CdS films with high transparency and low resistivity, they were deposited by varying Cd concentration with the constant S concentration in the solution using chemical bath deposition method. They were analyzed in terms of structural, optical and electrical properties of CdS films according to the $[S^{2-}]/[Cd^{2+}]$ ratio. In the case of Cd concentration higher than S concectration, CdS thin films were formed mainly by cluster- by-cluster formation due to the homogeneous reaction between Cd and S in the solution. Therefore the grain size increased and the transmittance decreased. On the other hand, in the case of Cd concentration lower than S concentration, CdS films were formed by heterogeneous reaction on the substrate rather than in the solution. The CdS films have the grains with the uniform circular shape of a few hundreds ${\AA}$. As the Cd concentration increased in the solution, the $[S^{2-}]/[Cd^{2+}]$ ratio decreased and the resistivity decreased by the increase in the carrier concentration due to the formation S vacancy by the excess Cd.