• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.231-231
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• 2003

I-III-Ⅵ족 CuInGaSe$_2$(CIGS)계 화합물 태양전지는 1 eV 이상의 직접 천이형 에너지 밴드갭을 가지며, 전기 광학적으로 매우 안정하여 태양전지의 광흡수층으로 매우 이상적이다. CIGS 광흡수층제조를 위하여 용매열법 (solvothermal method)으로 CIGS나노입자를 합성하였다. 용매열법은 진공장비를 사용하던 기존의 방법에 비해 저온, 저압에서 저가로 합성할 수 있다는 장점을 가지고 있다. Copper, indium selenium 및 gallium 분말과 유기용매 ethylenediarnine을 autoclave안에서 반응시켜 CIGS 나노입자를 제조하였다. 280 에서 14시간동안 반응시켜 직경이 30-80 nm인 구형에 가까운 CIGS 나노입자를 얻었다. 이것은 용매열법에 의한 4성분계의 CIGS 나노입자의 최초 합성이다. diehyleneamine을 용매로 사용한 경우에 한하여 구형의 CIS 입자를 합성할 수 있다고 보고되었으나, Cu와 이중 N-chelation이 형성되는 ethylenediamine 용매임에도 불구하고 구형의 CIGS 나노분말이 형성된 것은 solution-liquid-solid (SLS) 기구로 설명할 수 있었다. HRSEM, TEM, XRD. EDS으로 나노분말의 형상 크기 및 조성을 조사하여 chalcopyrite 구조의 CuInGaSe$_2$ 임을 확인하였다.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.39-44
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• 2015

$Cu(In,Ga)_3Se_5$ (${\beta}-CIGS$) has a band gap of 1.35 eV which is an optimum value for high solar-energy conversion efficiency. However, ${\beta}-CIGS$ film was not well characterized yet due to lower efficiency compared to $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ (${\alpha}-CIGS$). In this work, ${\beta}-CIGS$ films were fabricated by a three-stage co-evaporation of elemental sources with various Se fluxes. As the Se flux increased, the crystallinity of ${\beta}-CIGS$ phase was improved from the analysis of Raman spectroscopy and a deep-level defect was reduced from the analysis of photoluminescence spectroscopy. A Se treatment of the ${\beta}-CIGS$ film at $200^{\circ}C$ increased Ga content and decreased Cu content at the surface of the film. With the Se treatment at $200^{\circ}C$, the cell efficiency was greatly improved for the CIGS films prepared with low Se flux due to the increase of short-circuit current and fill factor. It was found that the main reason of performance improvement was lower Cu content at the surface instead of higher Ga content.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.69-72
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• 2014

We investigated current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance (C)-V characteristics of solution-processed thin film solar cells, consisting of $Cu(In,Ga)S_2$ and $CuInS_2$ stacked absorber layers. The ideality factors, extracted from the temperature-dependent I-V curves, showed that the tunneling-mediated interface recombination was dominant in the cells. Rapid increase of both series- and shunt-resistance at low temperatures would limit the performance of the cells, requiring further optimization. The C-V data revealed that the carrier concentration of the $CuInS_2$ layer was about 10 times larger than that of the $Cu(In,Ga)S_2$ layer. All these results could help us to find strategies to improve the efficiency of the solution-processed thin film solar cells.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.85.2-85.2
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• 2010

$Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ (CZTSe) is one of candidate to alternate $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ as solar absorber material for solar cell. The expensive elements of In and Ga are replaced by Zn and Sn, respectively to lower the material cost. In this study we fabricated CZTSe thin film by selenization of single precursor layer consisted metallic constituent. Precursor compositions ratio were selected to have Cu-poor and Zn-rich content and prepared by RF magnetron sputtering. Thermal processing was applied to introduce selenium into as-deposited films at temperatures ranging from 350 to 500 for time up to 120 minutes. Single precursor films showed amorphous structure and consist of individual elements of Cu, Zn, and Sn. It was confirmed by XRD analysis that synthesis of CZTSe compound is occurred from lower temperature process, although concurrently additional phases such as binary cooper selenides are also existed. The quality of CZTSe crystal was improved as temperature increased. We also investigated the optical and electrical properties of as-selenized CZTSe as well.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.1129-1134
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• 2015

In this article, a study of a flower like nanostructured CdS buffer layer for improving the performance of a submicron-thick $CuIn_{1-x}Ga_xSe_2$ (CIGS) solar cell (SC) is presented. Both its synthesis and properties are discussed in detail. The surface reflectance of the device is dramatically decreased. SCs with flower like nanostructured CdS buffer layers enhance short-circuit current density, fill factor, and open-circuit voltage. These enhancements contribute to an increase in power conversion efficiency of about 55% on average compared to SCs that don't have a flower like nanostructured CdS buffer layer, despite them both having the same CIGS light absorbing layer.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.99.1-99.1
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• 2010

Many efforts on the surface sulfurization of $Cu(InGa)Se_2$ (CIGS)thin films have been reported as techniques to improve CIGS solar cell performance. We have investigated the sulfurization technique using the sulfur vapor. The co-evaporated $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ tin film was used for sulfurization. A thin $Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)_2$ layer was grown on the surface of the CIGS thin film after high-temperature annealing in sulfur vapor. The structural and compositional properties of the thin films were studied by XRD, EDS and AES analysis. The obtained results revealed that the surface modification technique is promising method to S incorporated into CIGS absorber.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.321-325
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• 2010

We analyze the current density - voltage (J - V) curve of a Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$ (CIGS) thin-film solar cell measured at different irradiation power densities. For the solar-cell sample investigated in this study, the fill factor and power conversion efficiency decreased as the irradiation power density (IPD) increased in the range of 2 to 5 sun. Characteristic parameters of solar cell including the series resistance ($r_s$), the shunt resistance ($r_{sh}$), the photocurrent density ($J_L$), the saturation current density ($J_s$) of an ideal diode, and the coefficient ($C_s$) of the diode current due to electron-hole recombination via ionized traps at the p-n interface are determined from a theoretical fit to the experimental data of the J - V curve using a two-diode model. As IPD increased, both $r_s$ and $r_{sh}$ decreased, but $C_s$ increased.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.102-107
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• 2003

This study puts focus on the optimization of growth temperature of CIGS absorber layer which affects severely the performance of solar cells. The CIGS absorber layers were prepared by three-stage co-evaporation of metal elements in the order of In-Ga-Se. The effect of the growth temperature of 1st stage was found not to be so important, and 350$^{\circ}C$ to be the lowest optimum temperature. In the case of growth temperature at 2nd/3rd stage, the optimum temperature was revealed to be 550$^{\circ}C$. The XRD results of CIGS films showed a strong (112) preferred orientation and the Raman spectra of CIGS films showed only the Al mode peak at 173cm$\^$-1/. Scanning electron microscopy results revealed very small grains at 2nd/3rd stage growth temperature of 480$^{\circ}C$. At higher temperatures, the grain size increased together with a reduction in the number of the voids. The optimization of experimental parameters above mentioned, through the repeated fabrication and characterization of unit layers and devices, led to the highest conversion efficiency of 15.4% from CIGS-based thin film solar cell with a structure of Al/ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/glass.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.431-431
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• 2016

Typical Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS)-based solar cells have a buffer layer between CIGS absorber layer and transparent ZnO front electrode, which plays an important role in improving the cell performance. Among various buffer materials, chemical bath deposition (CBD)-ZnS is being steadily studied to alternative to conventional CdS and the efficiency of CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell shows the comparable values with that of CdS/CIGS solar cell. The intriguing thing is that reversible changes occur after exposure to illumination due to the metastable defect states in completed ZnS/CIGS solar cell, which induces an improvement of solar cell performance. Thus, it implies that the understanding of metastable defects in CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell is important issue. In this study, we fabricate the ITO/i-ZnO/CBD-ZnS/CIGS/Mo/SLG solar cells by controlling the NH4OH mole concentration (from 2 M to 3.5 M) of CBD-ZnS buffer layer and observe their conversion efficiency with and without light soaking for 1 hr. From the results, NH4OH mole concentration and light exposure can significantly affect the CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell performance. In order to investigate that which layer can contain metastable defect states to influence on solar cell performance, impedance spectroscopy and capacitance profiling technique with exposure to illumination have been applied to CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell. These techniques give a very useful information on the density of states within the bandgap of CIGS, free carriers density, and light-induced metastable effects. Here, we present the rearranged charge distribution after exposure to illumination and suggest the origin of the metastable defect states in CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell.