• 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.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.291-296
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• 2021

Recently, there has been increasing demand for advancing photocatalytic techniques that are capable of the efficient removal of organic pollutants in water. TiO₂, a representative photocatalytic material, has been commonly used as an effective photocatalyst, but it is rather expensive and an alternative is required that will fulfill the requirements of both high performing photocatalytic activities and cost-effectiveness. In this work, ZnO, which is more cost effective than TiO₂, was synthesized by using a microreactor-assisted nanomaterials (MAN) process. The process enabled a continuous production of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with a flower-like structure with high uniformity. In order to resolve the limited light absorption of ZnO arising from its large band gap, Ag NPs were uniformly decorated on the flower-like ZnO surface by using the MAN process. The plasmonic effect of Ag NPs led to a broadening of the absorption range toward visible wavelengths. Ag NPs also helped inhibit the electron-hole recombination by drawing electrons generated from the light absorption of the flower-like ZnO NPs. As a result, the Ag-ZnO nanocomposites showed improved photocatalytic activities compared with the flower-like ZnO NPs. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed the successful synthesis of Ag-ZnO nanocomposites with high uniformity. Ag-ZnO nanocomposites synthesized via the MAN process offer the potential for cost-effective and scalable production of next-generation photocatalytic materials.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.29-34
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• 2019

Silicon carbide is considered to be a potentially useful material for high-temperature electronic devices, as its large energy band gap and the p-type and/or n-type conduction can be controlled by impurity doping. Particularly, electric conductivity of porous n-type SiC semiconductors fabricated from ${\beta}-SiC$ powder at $2000^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ atmosphere was comparable to or even larger than the reported values of SiC single crystals in the temperature region of $800^{\circ}C$ to $1000^{\circ}C$, while thermal conductivity was kept as low as 1/10 to 1/30 of that for a dense SiC ceramics. In this work, for the purpose of decreasing sintering temperature, it was attempted to fabricate porous reaction-sintered bodies at low temperatures ($1400-1600^{\circ}C$) by thermal decomposition of polycarbosilane (PCS) impregnated in n-type ${\beta}-SiC$ powder. The repetition of the impregnation and sintering process ($N_2$ atmosphere, $1600^{\circ}C$, 3h) resulted in only a slight increase in the relative density but in a great improvement in the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity. However the power factor which reflects the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of the present work is 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than that of the porous SiC semiconductors fabricated by conventional sintering at high temperature, it can be stated that thermoelectric properties of SiC semiconductors fabricated by the present reaction-sintering process could be further improved by precise control of microstructure and carrier density.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2000.02a
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• pp.174-174
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• 2000

A strong antiferromagnetic coupling in Fe/Si multilayered films (MLF) had been recently discovered and much consideration has been given to whether the coupling in the Fe/Si MLF system has the same origin as the metal/metal MLF. Nevertheless, the nature of the interfacial ron silicide is still controversial. On one hand, a metal/ semiconductor structure was suggested with a narrow band-gap semiconducting $\varepsilon$-FeSi spacer that mediates the coupling. However, some features show that the nature of coupling can be well understood in terms of the conventional metal/metal multilayered system. It is well known that both magneto-optical (MO) and optical properties of a metal depend strongly on their electronic structure that is also correlated with the atomic and chemical ordering. In this study, the nature of the interfacial regions is the Fe/Si multilayers has been investigated by the experimental and computer-simulated MO and optical spectroscopies. The Fe/Si MLF were prepared by rf-sputtering onto glass substrates at room temperature with the number of repetition N=50. The thickness of Fe sublayer was fixed at 3.0nm while the Si sublayer thickness was varied from 1.0 to 2.0 nm. The topmost layer of all the Fe/Si MLF is Fe. In order to carry out the computer simulations, the information on the MO and optical parameters of the materials that may constitute a real multilayered structure should be known in advance. For this purpose, we also prepared Fe, Si, FeSi2 and FeSi samples. The structural characterization of Fe/Si MLF was performed by low- and high -angle x-ray diffraction with a Cu-K$\alpha$ radiation and by transmission electron microscopy. A bulk $\varepsilon$-FeSi was also investigated. The MO and optical properties were measured at room temperature in the 1.0-4.7 eV energy range. The theoretical simulations of MO and optical properties for the Fe/Si MLF were performed by solving exactly a multireflection problem using the scattering matrix approach assuming various stoichiometries of a nonmagnetic spacer separating the antiferromagnetically coupled Fe layers. The simulated spectra of a model structure of FeSi2 or $\varepsilon$-FeSi as the spacer turned out to fail in explaining the experimental spectra of the Fe/Si MLF in both intensity and shape. Thus, the decisive disagreement between experimental and simulated MO and optical properties ruled out the hypothesis of FeSi2 and $\varepsilon$-FeSi as the nonmagnetic spacer. By supposing the spontaneous formation of a metallic ζ-FeSi, a reasonable agreement between experimental and simulated MO and optical spectra was obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.351-361
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• 2023

The purpose of this paper is to help those who research and develop solar cells in university laboratories and industrial sites understand the most basic and important quantum efficiency measurement and analysis method in analyzing solar cell performance. Starting with the definition of quantum efficiency, we calculate the theoretical current density according to the band gap of the solar cell material from the solar spectrum, along with a detailed introduction to the measurement and analysis methods, and measure and analyze the theoretical current density and quantum efficiency. We discuss in depth how to analyze the performance of solar cells through Quantum efficiency measurement and analysis of solar cells is a very useful method that can give intuition to solar cell performance analysis as it can analyze solar cells according to depth (front emitter, bulk, rear surface). Students and researchers who study solar cells with a deep understanding of theoretical current density and quantum efficiency measurement analysis are expected to use it as a basis for analyzing solar cell performance.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.397-406
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• 2015

ZnO, II-VI group inorganic compound semi-conductor, has been receiving much attention due to its wide applications in various fields. Since the ZnO has 3.37 eV of a wide band gap and 60 meV of big excitation binding energy, it is well-known material for various uses such the optical property, a semi-conductor, magnetism, antibiosis, photocatalyst, etc. When applied in the field of photocatalyst, many research studies have been actively conducted regarding magnetic materials and the core-shell structure to take on the need of recycling used materials. In this paper, magnetic core-shell ZnFe₂O₄@SiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) have been successfully synthesized through three steps. In order to analyze the structural characteristics of the synthesized substances, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used. The spinel structure of ZnFe₂O₄ and the wurtzite structure of ZnO were confirmed by XRD, and ZnO production rate was confirmed through the analysis of different concentrations of the precursors. The surface change of the synthesized materials was confirmed by SEM. The formation of SiO₂ layer and the synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄@ZnO@SiO₂ NPs were finally verified through the bond of Fe-O, Zn-O and Si-O-Si by FT-IR. The magnetic property of the synthesized materials was analyzed through the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The increase and decrease in the magnetism were respectively confirmed by the results of the formed ZnO and SiO₂ layer. The photocatalysis effect of the synthesized ZnFe₂O₄ @ZnO@SiO₂ NPs was experimented in a black box (dark room) using methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.375-375
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• 2010

CdTe as an absorber material is widely used in thin film solar cells with the heterostructure due to its almost ideal band gap energy of 1.45 eV, high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, low cost and stable performance. The deposition methods and preparation conditions for the fabrication of CdTe are very important for the achievement of high solar cell conversion efficiency. There are some rearranged reports about the deposition methods available for the preparation of CdTe thin films such as close spaced sublimation (CSS), physical vapor deposition (PVD), vacuum evaporation, vapor transport deposition (VTD), closed space vapor transport, electrodeposition, screen printing, spray pyrolysis, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and RF sputtering. The RF sputtering method for the preparation of CdTe thin films has important advantages in that the thin films can be prepared at low growth temperatures with large-area deposition suitable for mass-production. The authors reported that the optical and electrical properties of CdTe thin film were closely connected by the thickness-uniformity of the film in the previous study [1], which means that the better optical absorbance and the higher carrier concentration could be obtained in the better condition of thickness-uniformity for CdTe thin film. The thickness-uniformity could be controlled and improved by the some process parameters such as vacuum level and RF power in the sputtering process of CdTe thin films. However, there is a limitation to improve the thickness-uniformity only in the preparation process [1]. So it is necessary to introduce the external or additional method for improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film because the cell size of thin film solar cell will be enlarged. Therefore, the authors firstly applied the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process to improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin films with a G&P POLI-450 CMP polisher [2]. CMP process is the most important process in semiconductor manufacturing processes in order to planarize the surface of the wafer even over 300 mm and to form the copper interconnects with damascene process. Some important CMP characteristics for CdTe were obtained including removal rate (RR), WIWNU%, RMS roughness, and peak-to-valley roughness [2]. With these important results, the CMP process for CdTe thin films was performed to improve the thickness-uniformity of the sputtering-deposited CdTe thin film which had the worst two thickness-uniformities of them. Some optical properties including optical transmittance and absorbance of the CdTe thin films were measured by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer (Varian Techtron, Cary500scan) in the range of 400 - 800 nm. After CMP process, the thickness-uniformities became better than that of the best condition in the previous sputtering process of CdTe thin films. Consequently, the optical properties were directly affected by the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film. The absorbance of CdTe thin films was improved although the thickness of CdTe thin film was not changed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2011

Poly[2,3-dimethyl-5,8-dithiophene-2-yl-quinoxaline-alt-9,9-dihexyl-9H-fluorene] (PFTQT) and poly[2,3-dimethyl-5,8-dithiophen-2-yl-quinoxaline-alt-10-hexyl-10H-phenothiazine (PPTTQT) based on 2,3-dimethyl-5,8-dithiophen-2-yl-quinoxaline weresynthesized by Suzuki coupling reaction. All polymers were soluble in common organic solvents such as chloroform, chlorobenzene, o-dichlorobenzene, tetrahydrofuran (THF) and toluene. The maximum absorption wavelength and band gap of PFTQT were 440 nm and 2.30 eV, and PPTTQT were 445 nm and 2.23 eV, respectively. The HOMO and LUMO energy level of PFTQT were -6.05 and -3.75 eV, and PPTTQT were -5,89 and -3.66 eV, respectively. The organic photovoltaic devices based on the blend of polymer and PCBM (1 : 2 by weight ratio) were fabricated. Efficiencies of devices were 0.24% (PFTQT) and 0.16% (PPTTQT), respectively. The short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$), fill factor (FF), and open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) of the device with PFTQT were $0.97mA/cm^2$, 29% and 0.86 V, and the device based on PPTTQT were $0.80mA/cm^2$, 28% and 0.71 V, 31% and 0.71 V, respectively, under air mass (AM) 1.5 G and 1 sun condition ($100mA/cm^2$).