• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.169-171
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• 2009

We have fabricated CIGS thin film absorber layers by the evaporation of CIGS powders which were synthesized by solutions with different atomic ratio compositions. We found that the polycrystalline structural properties and optical properties of the deposited CIGS thin films were strongly dependent on the CIGS powder synthesis solution compositions. For three different solution compositions, Cu:In:Ga:Se= 4:3:1:8, 8:3:1:8, 12:3:1,8, the deposited thin film crystalline structures were varied form InSe crystalline structure to CIGS chalcopyrite structures. Our results showed that CIGS powder evaporation is potential for the one step fabrication process for CIGS thin film absorber layer deposition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.440-440
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• 2012

Nanomaterials have emerged as new building blocks to construct light energy harvesting assemblies. Size dependent properties provide the basis for developing new and effective systems with semiconductor nanoparticles, quantized charging effects in metal nanoparticle or their combinations in 2 and 3 dimensions for expanding the possibility of developing new strategies for photovoltaic system. As top-down approach, we developed a simple and effective method for the large scale formation of self-assembled Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$ (CIGS) nanostructures by ion beam irradiation. The compositional changes and morphological evolution were observed as a function of the irradiation time. As the ion irradiation time increased, the nano-dots were transformed into a nano-ridge structure due to the difference in the sputtering yields and diffusion rates of each element and the competition between sputtering and diffusion processes during irradiation. As bottom-up approach, we developed the growth of CIGS nanowires using thermal-chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Vapor-phase synthesis is probably the most extensively explored approach to the formation of 1D nanostructures such as whiskers, nanorods, and nanowires. However, unlike binary or ternary chalcogenides, the synthesis of quaternary CIGS nanostructures is challenging because of the difficulty in controlling the stoichiometry and phase structure. We introduced a method for synthesis of the single crystalline CIGS nanowires in the form of chalcopyrite using thermal-CVD without catalyst. It was confirmed that the CIGS nanowires are epitaxially grown on a sapphire substrate, having a length ranged from 3 to 100 micrometers and a diameter from 30 to 500 nm.

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