• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.233-240
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• 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
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.11.1-11.1
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• 2010

As one of the non-vacuum, low temperature fabrication route, electrochemical synthesis has been focused for pursuing the cost-effective pathway to produce high efficiency photovoltaic devices. Especially the availability to form the thin film structure on flexible substrate would be the great advantage of electrochemical process. The successful synthesis of the most favorable absorber materials such as CdTe and CIGS has been reported by many researchers, however, the efficiency of electrochemically synthesized could not exceed that from vacuum process, because of microstructural controllability and compositional variation on devices. In this study, we represent the effect of process parameters on the microstructure and composition of compound semiconductor during the synthesis, and propose the photovoltaic characteristics of electrochemically synthesized solar cells.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.71.2-71.2
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• 2010

CIS(CuInSe2)계 화합물 태양전지는 높은 광흡수계수와 열적 안정성으로 고효율의 태양전지 제조가 가능하여 화합물 태양전지용 광흡수층으로서 매우 이상적이다. 또한 In 일부를 Ga으로 치환하여 밴드갭을 조절할 수 있는 장점이 있다. 미국 NREL에서는 Co-evaporation 방법을 이용해 20%의 에너지 변환 효율을 달성하였다고 보고된바가 있다. 본 연구에서는 미국의 NREL과 같은 3 stage 방식을 이용하여 광흡수층을 제조하고자 한다. 본 실험에서는 Se 증기압을 각각 $200^{\circ}C$, $230^{\circ}C$, $240^{\circ}C$, $245^{\circ}C$로 달리 하며 실험을 실시하였다. 이때 1st stage의 시간은 15분으로 고정하였으며 기판온도는 약 $250^{\circ}C$로 고정 하였다. 2nd stage는 실시간 온도 감지 장치를 이용하여 Cu와 In+Ga의 조성비가 1:1이 되는 시간을 기준으로 Cu의 조성을 30%더 높게 조절하였으며 기판 온도는 약 $520^{\circ}C$로 고정 후 실험을 실시하였다. 3rd stage의 경우 Cu poor 조성으로 조절하기 위해 모든 조건을 10분으로 고정 후 실험을 실시하였다. 각각의 Se 증기압에 따른 물리적, 전기적 특성을 알아보기 위해 FE-SEM, EDS, XRD 분석을 실시하였다. 본 연구에서 기판은 Na이 첨가되어있는 soda-lime glass를 사용 하였으며 후면 전극으로 약60nm 두께의 Mo를 DC Sputtering 방법을 이용해 증착 하였다.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.56-61
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• 2018

In this study, CIGS absorber layers were deposited on low-alkali glass and sodalime glass substrates and potasium floride (KF) of various thicknesses was supplied at an elevated temperature after the CIGS growth. The effect of KF post-deposition treatment on the two types of substrates was extremely different. On the low-alkali substrate, the open-circuit voltage (Voc) was improved but the fill-factor (FF) degradation was severe, whereas the sodalime substrate showed Voc deterioration and FF improvement. In the case of supplying 20 nm of KF on both substrates, the efficiency gain of 0.3~1.1%p was obtained. With increasing the KF thickness, a small protrusion-like microstructure developed on the surface of the absorber layer, and the microstructures that were not removed in the subsequent process were found to be the main cause of the FF loss.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.405-405
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• 2016

CIGS 박막 태양전지에서 완충층으로 사용되는 ZnS는 단파장 영역에서 높은 투과도와 CIGS 계면과의 좋은 접착을 가지고 친환경적이며 3.74eV의 에너지 밴드갭을 가지고 있기 때문에 CdS를 사용했을 때 보다 더 넓은 에너지 영역의 광자를 p-n 접합 경계 영역으로 통과 시킬 수 있고 Cd-free 물질이라는 점에서 기존의 CdS 완충층의 대체 물질로 각광 받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 CIGS 박막에 화학습식공정 방법을 이용하여 최적화된 ZnS 박막의 증착 조건을 찾기 위해 실험 변수인 시약의 농도, 실험온도, 열처리 조건 등의 다양한 변화를 통해 실험을 진행하였고, 박막의 갈라짐과 pin-hole 현상을 개선하고 균일한 막을 제조하기 위해 구연산 나트륨 농도에 따른 ZnS 박막의 특성을 연구하였다. 본 실험 결과로서 실험변수인 황산아연의 농도 0.15M, 암모니아는 0.3M, 티오요소 1M, 공정 온도 $80^{\circ}C$의 최적화 된 조건에서 가장 좋은 품질의 ZnS 박막을 제조하였지만, ZnS 박막의 열처리 후 산소의 양이 줄어감에 따라 박막의 표면이 갈라지고 pin-hole 현상이 발생하는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 박막의 품질을 개선하기 위해 구연산 나트륨을 첨가하여 실험한 결과 구연산 나트륨의 0.05M의 농도에서는 박막 표면에 90nm의 갈라짐의 크기와 pin-hole 현상이 남아있는 것을 확인하였고, 농도가 높아질수록 점차 크기가 줄어들면서 0.4M에서는 갈라짐이 거의 없는 표면과 pin-hole 현상도 없어지는 것을 확인하였고, 약 144nm의 박막 두께와 3.8eV의 에너지 밴드갭을 가지고, 약 81%의 높은 광투과율을 갖는 고품질의 ZnS 박막을 제작할 수 있었다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.339-342
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• 2007

$Cu(In_{1-x}Ga_{x})Se_2$(CIGS)는 매우 큰 광흡수계수를 가지고 있으므로 박막형 태양전지의 광흡수층 재료로서 많은 연구가 진행되고 있다. 박막이 태양전지의 광흡수층으로 이용되기 위해서는 큰 결정크기와 평탄한 표면, 적당한 전기적 특성을 가져야 한다. 이러한 특성들은 CIGS 박막의 조성에 큰 영향을 받고 있는 것으로 보고되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 동시증발법을 이용하여 Cu/(In+Ga) 비를 0.9로 고정한 후 Ga 조성(Ga/(In+Ga)의 비 : 0.32, 0.49, 0.69, 0.8, 1)을 변화시켜 Wide band gap CIGS 박막태양전지를 만들었다. 기판은 soda line glass를 사용하였고 뒷면 전극으로는 Mo를 스퍼터링법으로 증착하였다. 또한 버퍼층으로는 기존에 쓰이고 있는 CdS를 CBD(Chemical Bath Deposition)법으로 층착시켰으며, 윈도우층으로는 i-ZnO/n-ZnO를 스파터링 법으로 층착하였다. 그리고 앞면전극으로는 Al을 E-beam 으로 증착하였다. 분석은 XRD, SEM, QE로 분석하였다. 위 실험에서 얻은 결과로는 Ga/(In+Ga)비가 증가할수록 Cu(In,Ga)Se2 박막은 회절 peak들이 큰 회절각으로 이동하였고, 이것은 Ga 원자와 In 원자의 원자반경의 차이에서 기인된 것으로 사료된다. 또한 Ga 조성이 증가할수록 단파장 쪽으로 이동하는 것을 볼 수 있으며, Voc가 증가하다가 에너지 밴드캡이 1.62 eV 이상에서는 Voc가 감소하는 것을 볼 수 있는데 이것은 Ga 조성이 증가할수록 에너지 밴드캡이 커지면서 defect level 이 존재하기 때문인 것으로 사료된다. Ga/(In+Ga)비가 1일 때의 변환효율은 8.5 %이고， Voc : 0.74 (V), Jsc : 17.2 ($mA/cm^{2}$), F.F : 66.6(%) 이다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.85-87
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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. Effects of substrate temperature of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ absorber layer on the performance of thin films solar cells were investigated. As substrate temperature increased, the grain size of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ films increased presumably. At a optimal condition of substrate temperature is $320^{\circ}C$, the solar cell shows a conversion efficiency of 1.79% with $V_{OC}$ of 0.213V, JSC of $16.91mA/cm^2$ and FF of 49.7%.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.107-112
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• 2010

The Cu$(In_{1-x}Ga_x)Se_2$ is the absorber material for thin film solar cell with high absorption coefficient of $1{\times}10^5cm^{-1}$. In the case of CIGS, the movable energy band gap from $CuInSe_2$ (1.00 eV) to $CuGaSe_2$ (1.68 eV) can be acquired while controlling Ga contain ratio. Generally, the co-evaporator method have used for development and fabrication of the CIGS absorption layer. However, this method should need many steps and lengthy deposition time with high temperature. For these reasons, in this paper, a new growth method of CIGS layer was attempted to hydride vapor transport (HVT) method. The CIGS mixed-source material reacted for HCl gas in the source zone was deposited on the substrate after transporting to growth zone. c-plane $Al_2O_3$ and undoped GaN were used as substrates for growth. The characteristics of grown samples were measured from SEM and EDS.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2013

Recently, Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSS), which is one of the In- and Ga- free absorber materials, has been attracted considerable attention as a new candidate for use as an absorber material in thin film solar cells. The CZTSS-based absorber material has outstanding characteristics such as band gap energy of 1.0 eV to 1.5 eV, high absorption coefficient on the order of 104 cm-1, and high theoretical conversion efficiency of 32.2% in thin film solar cells. Despite these promising characteristics, research into CZTSS based thin film solar cells is still incomprehensive and related reports are quite few compared to those for CIGS thin film solar cells, which show high efficiency of over 20%. I will briefly overview the recent technological development of CZTSS thin film solar cells and then introduce our research results mainly related to sputter based process. CZTSS thin film solar cells are prepared by sulfurization of stacked both metallic and sulfide precursors. Sulfurization process was performed in both furnace annealing system and rapid thermal processing system using S powder as well as 5% diluted H2S gas source at various annealing temperatures ranging from $520^{\circ}C$ to $580^{\circ}C$. Structural, optical, microstructural, and electrical properties of absorber layers were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Hall-measurement, TRPL, etc. The effects of processing parameters, such as composition ratio, sulfurization pressure, and sulfurization temperature on the properties of CZTSS absorber layers will be discussed in detail. CZTSS thin film solar cell fabricated using metallic precursors shows maximum cell efficiency of 6.9% with Jsc of 25.2 mA/cm2, Voc of 469 mV, and fill factor of 59.1% and CZTS thin film solar cell using sulfide precursors shows that of 4.5% with Jsc of 19.8 mA/cm2, Voc of 492 mV, and fill factor of 46.2%. In addition, other research activities in our lab related to the formation of CZTS absorber layers using solution based processes such as electro-deposition, chemical solution deposition, nano-particle formation will be introduced briefly.

• Solar Energy
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.43-54
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• 2000

We prepared and characterized $Cu(In_{1-x}Ga_x)Se_2$(CIGS) films using a elemental co-evaporation method for absorbing layer of high efficiency thin film solar cells. The CIGS films deposited on a soda-lime glass exhibited low resistivity because of higher carrier concentration. Na was accumulated at the CIGS surface and the 0 and Se were also accumulated at the surface, suggesting that oxidation is a driving force of Na accumulation. The structure of CIGS film was modified or a secondary phase was formed in the Cu-poor CIGS bulk films probably due to the incorporation of Na into Cu vacancy sites. As the Ga/(In+Ga) ratio increased, the diffraction peaks of $Cu(In_{1-x}Ga_x)Se_2$ films were shifted to larger angle and splitted, and the grain size of $Cu_{0.91}(In_{1-x}Ga_x)Se_2$ films became smaller. All $Cu_{0.91}(In_{1-x}Ga_x)Se_2$ films showed the p-type conductivity regardless of the Ga/(In+Ga) ratio. Ag/n-ZnO/i-ZnO/CdS/$Cu_{0.91}(In_{0.7}Ga_{0.3})Se_2$/Mo solar cells were fabricated. The currently best efficiency in this study was 14.48% for $0.18cm^2$ area ($V_{oc}=581.5mV,\;J_{sc}=34.88mA$, F.F=0.714).