• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.35.1-35.1
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• 2011

New photovoltaic (PV) materials and manufacturing approaches are needed for meeting the demand for lower-cost solar cells. The prototypal 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 ${\sim}10^4\;cm^{-1}$. 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 method for large area deposition of CZTS thin films that is potentially high throughput and inexpensive when used to produce monolithically integrated solar panel modules. Specifically, we have developed an aqueous chemical approach based on chemical bath deposition (CBD) with a subsequent sulfurization heat treatment. 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 good optical properties. A preliminary solar cell device was fabricated to demonstrate rectifying and photovoltaic behavior.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1997.07d
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• pp.1436-1438
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• 1997

In this paper, CdS thin films, which were widely used window layer of the CdS/CdTe and the CdS/$CuInSe_2$ heterojunction solar cell, were grown by chemical bath deposition, and The properties were investigated in detail. Cadmium acetate and thiourea were used as cadmium and sulfur source, respectively. And Ammonium acetate was used as the buffer solution. Also Ammonia was used for controlling pH concentration. The reaction velocity was increased with increasing reaction temperature and decreasing pH concentration. The crystal structure of CdS films grown with various pH concentration had the hexagonal structure with (002) plane peak. In the range of pH $9{\sim}9.5$, the intensity of the peak was highest, and as increasing pH concentration, decreased the intensity of the peak except pH12.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.481-488
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• 2022

The Cu₂ZnSn(S_xSe_1-x)₄ (CZTSSe) absorbers are promising thin film solar cells (TFSCs) materials, to replace existing Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) and CdTe photovoltaic technology. However, the best reported efficiency for a CZTSSe device, of 13.6 %, is still too low for commercial use. Recently, partially replacing the Zn²⁺ element with a Cd²⁺element has attracting attention as one of the promising strategies for improving the photovoltaic characteristics of the CZTSSe TFSCs. Cd²⁺ elements are known to improve the grain size of the CZTSSe absorber thin films and improve optoelectronic properties by suppressing potential defects, causing short-circuit current (J_sc) loss. In this study, the structural, compositional, and morphological characteristics of CZTSSe and CZCTSSe thin films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF), and Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), respectively. The FE-SEM images revealed that the grain size improved with increasing Cd²⁺ alloying in the CZTSSe thin films. Moreover, there was a slight decrease in small grain distribution as well as voids near the CZTSSe/Mo interface after Cd²⁺ alloying. The solar cells prepared using the most promising CZTSSe absorber thin films with Cd²⁺ alloying (8 min. 30 sec.) exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.33 %, J_sc of 34.0 mA/cm², and fill factor (FF) of 62.7 %, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.321.2-321.2
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• 2013

CdS는 2.42 eV의 밴드 갭을 가지는 직접 천이형 반도체로서 CdTe계와 CGIS계 태양전지의 접합 partner로 많이 이용되어 왔다. 태양전지의 광투과층으로 사용되는 CdS 박막의 필요한 물성으로는 높은 광투과도와 얇은 두께이다. 광투과층으로 사용되는 CdS 막의 광투과도가 높아야 많은 양의 빛이 손실 없이 투과하여 광흡수층인 CIGS에 도달할 수 있다. 특히, CdS막의 두께가 얇으면 밴드 갭 이상의 에너지를 가지는 파장의 빛도 투과시킬 수 있어 태양전지의 효율의 증가을 얻을 수가 있다. 그러나 CdS 막의 두께가 얇을 경우, pinhole이 생성되는 등 막의 균질성이 문제가 되기 때문에 얇으면서도 pinhole이 없는 CdS 박막을 만들기 위한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 높은 변환 효율을 갖는 CIGS 박막 태양전지 제작에 적합한 chemical bath depostion(츙)법을 이용하여 CdS 박막을 제조하였다. 또한 반응온도, Cd 및 S source 비, 반응용액의 pH와 같은 증착 조건에 따른 박막의 구조적, 광학적 특성을 조사하였다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.566-572
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• 2020

In the recent years, thin film solar cells (TFSCs) have emerged as a viable replacement for crystalline silicon solar cells and offer a variety of choices, particularly in terms of synthesis processes and substrates (rigid or flexible, metal or insulator). Among the thin-film absorber materials, SnS has great potential for the manufacturing of low-cost TFSCs due to its suitable optical and electrical properties, non-toxic nature, and earth abundancy. However, the efficiency of SnS-based solar cells is found to be in the range of 1 ~ 4 % and remains far below those of CdTe-, CIGS-, and CZTSSe-based TFSCs. Aside from the improvement in the physical properties of absorber layer, enormous efforts have been focused on the development of suitable buffer layer for SnS-based solar cells. Herein, we investigate the device performance of SnS-based TFSCs by introducing double buffer layers, in which CdS is applied as first buffer layer and ZnMgO films is employed as second buffer layer. The effect of the composition ratio (Mg/(Mg+Zn)) of RF sputtered ZnMgO films on the device performance is studied. The structural and optical properties of ZnMgO films with various Mg/(Mg+Zn) ratios are also analyzed systemically. The fabricated SnS-based TFSCs with device structure of SLG/Mo/SnS/CdS/ZnMgO/AZO/Al exhibit a highest cell efficiency of 1.84 % along with open-circuit voltage of 0.302 V, short-circuit current density of 13.55 mA cm^-2, and fill factor of 0.45 with an optimum Mg/(Mg + Zn) ratio of 0.02.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.69-74
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• 2015

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is being developed for thin film of the X-Ray detector recently. But a rough surface of the CdTe should be improved for resolution and signal speed. This paper shows the study on the improvement of surface roughness and removal rate by applying Chemical Mechanical Polishing. The conventional potassium hydroxide (KOH) based colloidal silica slurry could not realize a mirror surface without physical defects, resulting in low material removal rate and many scratches on surface. In order to enhance chemical reaction such as form oxidized layer on the surface of cadmium telluride, we used hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) as an oxidizer. Consequently, in case of 3 wt% concentration of hydrogen peroxide, the highest MRR (938 nm/min) and the lowest surface roughness ($R_{p-v}=10.69nm$, $R_a=0.8nm$) could be obtained. EDS was also used to confirm the generated oxide of cadmium telluride surface.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.31A no.10
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• pp.87-93
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• 1994

Ohmic contacts between Au and p-HgHg_{0.7}Cd_{0.3}Te$ with low specific contact resistance have been obtained. The contact region of the wafer is first pre-heated for 5 seconds in a rapid thermal processing equipment. The temperature reaches a maximum value of about 200$^{\circ}C$ at the end of the 5 seconds. Next, a thin Au film is formed on the contact region by immersing the sample in AuCl$_{3}$ solution. the sample is then post-annealed in the same condition as the pre-heating after Pb/In pad metals are deposited on the electroless Au contacts. The specific contact resistance measured by transmission line model is 5${\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}cm^{2}$ at 80K. RBS and differential Hall measurement data suggest that the above low resistance ohmic contact is ascribed to surface traps and increased gold diffusion rate.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.13 no.spc1
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• pp.140-144
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• 2012

Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) was a limit of application on the photovoltaic devices such as CIGS, CdTe and DSSC requiring high process temperature, because it's electrical resistivity is unstable above 300 ℃ at atmosphere. Therefore, ZTO (zinc tin oxide) was introduced in order to improve permeability and thermal stability of GZO film. The resistivity of GZO (300 nm) single layer increased remarkably from 1.8 × 10-3Ωcm to 5.5 × 10-1Ωcm, when GZO was post-annealed at 400 ℃ in air atmosphere. In the case of the ZTO (150 nm)/GZO (150 nm) double layer, resistivity showed relatively small change from 3.1 × 10-3Ωcm (RT) to 1.2 × 10-2Ωcm (400 ℃), which showed good agreement with change of carrier density. This result means that ZTO upper layer act as a barrier for oxygen at high temperature. Also ZTO (150 nm)/GZO (150 nm) double layer showed lower WVTR compared to GZO (300 nm) single layer. Because ZTO has lower WVTR compared to GZO, ZTO thin film acts as a barrier by preventing oxygen and water molecules to penetrate on top of GZO thin film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.305.2-305.2
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• 2016

Tin monosulfide (SnS) is one promising candidate absorber material which replace the current technology based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium sulfide selenide (CIGS) for its suitable optical band gap, high absorption coefficient, earth-abundant, non-toxic and cost-effective. During past years work, thin film solar cells based on SnS films had been improved to 4.36% certified efficiency. In this study, Tin monosul fide was obtained by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using the reaction of Tetrakis (dimethylamino) tin (TDMASn, [(CH3)2N]4Sn) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) at low temperatures (100 to 200 oC). The direct optical band gap and strong optical absorption of SnS films were observed throughout the Ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV VIS), and the properties of SnS films were analyzed by sanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD).

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.445-449
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• 1997

The complex refractive indices of $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ which show reversible phase change between the crystalline phase and an amorphous one depending upon the annealing process have been determined in the spectral range of 0.7-4.5 eV. The $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ films were DC sputter deposited on the crystalline silicon substrate. The spectro-ellipsometry data of a thick film were analyzed following the modelling procedure where the quantum mechanical dispersion relation were used for the complex refractive indices of both the cryastalline phase $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ and and amorphous phase $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$, respectively. On the other hand, with the surface micro-roughness layer whose effective thickness was determined from AFM analysis, the spectro-ellipsometry data were numerically inverted to yield the complex refractive index of $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ at each wavelength. With these set of complex refractive indices, the reflectance spectra were calculated and those spectra obtained from the numerical inversion showed better agreement with the experimental reflection spectra for both the cryastalline phase and an amorphous phase. Finally, the thin $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ film which has the optimum thickness of 26 nm as the medium for optical recording was also analyzed and the quantitative result of the film thickness and the surface microroughness has been reported.