• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.619-625
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• 1995

Polycrystalline CdTe thin film has been studied for photovoltaic application due to the 1.45 eV band gap energy ideal for solar energy conversion and high absorption coefficient. The formation of low resistance contact to p-CdTe is difficult because of large work function(>5.5eV). Common methods for ohmic contact to p-CdTe are to form a p+ region under the contact by in-diffusion of contact material to reduce the barrier height and modify a p-CdTe surface layer using chemical treatment. In this study, the surface chemical treatment of p CdTe was carried out by H$\_$3/PO$\_$4/+HNO$\_$3/ or K$\_$2/Cr$\_$2/O$\_$7/+H$\_$2/SO$\_$4/ solution to provide a Te-rich surface. And various thin film contact materials such as Cu, Au, and Cu/Au were deposited by E-beam evaporation to form ohmic contact to p-CdTe. After the metallization, post annealing was performed by oven heat treatment at 150.deg. C or by RTA(Rapid Thermal Annealing) at 250-350.deg. C. Surface chemical treatments of p-CdTe thin film improved metal/p-CdTe interface properties and post heat treatment resulted in low contact resistivity to p-CdTe.Of the various contact metal, Cu/Au and Cu show low contact resistance after oven and RTA post-heat treatments, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2006

Recently, new dispersed sources (DSG) such as Photovoltaic, Wind Power, fuel cell etc. are interconnected with distribution systems as national projects for alternative energy preparing for oil crisis. This paper deals with the optimal evaluation algorithms in the case where new dispersed sources are operated in distribution systems. It is very difficult and complicated to handle the interconnection issues for proper voltage managements, because professional skills and enormous amounts of data for the evaluations are required. The typical evaluation algorithms mainly depending on individual ability and quality of data acquired, inevitably cause the different results f3r the same issue, so unfair and subjective evaluations are unavoidable. In order to overcome these problems, this paper proposes reasonable and general algorithms based on the standard model system and proper criterion, which offers the fair and objective evaluations in any case.

• KIEE International Transaction on Electrical Machinery and Energy Conversion Systems
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• v.3B no.3
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• pp.147-154
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• 2003

This paper presents a high-frequency boost type ZVS-PWM chopper-fed DC-DC power converter with a single active auxiliary edge-resonant snubber at the load stage which can be designed for power conditioners such as solar photovoltaic generation, fuel cell generation, battery and super capacitor energy storages. Its principle operation in steady-state is described in addition to a prototype setup. The experimental results of boost type ZVS-PWM chopper proposed here, are evaluated and verified with a practical design model in terms of its switching voltage and current waveforms, the switching v-i trajectory and the temperature performance of IGBT module, the actual power conversion efficiency, and the EMI of radiated and conducted emissions, and then discussed and compared with the hard switching scheme from an experimental point of view. Finally, this paper proposes a practical method to suppress parasitic oscillation due to the active auxiliary resonant switch at ZCS turn-off mode transition with the aid of an additional lossless clamping diode loop, and can be reduced the EMI conducted emission.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.179-182
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• 2006

The effect of electron beam irradiation on dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been studied to examine degradation of DSSC. The high-energy electron beam irradiation affects on the materials and performance of dye sensitized solar cells. We have checked the effects of electron beam irradiation of $TiO_2$ substrate with and without dye adsorption on the photovoltaic performances of resulting DSSCS and also studied the structural and electrical properties of polymers after irradiation. All solar cells materials were irradiated by electron beams with an energy source of 2MeV at different dose rates of 60 kGy, 120 kGy 240 kGy and 900 kGy and then their photoelectrical parameters were measured at 1 sun $(100 mW/cm^2)$. It was shown that the efficiency of DSSC was decreased as increasing the dose of e-beam irradiation due to lowering in $TiO_2$ crystallinity, decomposition of dye and oxidation of FTO glasses. On the other hand, the performance of solid-state DSSC with polyethylene oxide based electrolyte was improved after irradiation of e-beam due to enhancement of its conductivity and breakage of crosslinking.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2011

We devised a procedure for the recovery of silicon and tempered glass from waste photovoltaic (PV) modules using optimized conditions. The tempered glass was recovered without any damage using organic solvents. The surface material is removed by applying an acid solution on the surface of the PV cell. Through our proposed method, we offer a much more efficient approach for recycling solar cells with a surfactant than the conventional method. This process, we obtained pure silicon with a yield of 90% by chemical treatment with the surfactant at room temperature for 18 min. The silicon yield was characterized using an inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.254-261
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• 2019

Distinct from conventional energy-harvesting (EH) technologies, such as the use of photovoltaic, piezoelectric, and thermoelectric effects, betavoltaic energy conversion can consistently generate uniform electric power, independent of environmental variations, and provide a constant output of high DC voltage, even under conditions of ultra-low-power EH. It can also dramatically reduce the energy loss incurred in the processes of voltage boosting and regulation. This study realized betavoltaic cells comprised of p-i-n junctions based on silicon carbide, fabricated through a customized semiconductor recipe, and a Ni foil plated with a Ni-63 radioisotope. The betavoltaic energy converter (BEC) includes an array of 16 parallel-connected betavoltaic cells. Experimental results demonstrate that the series and parallel connections of two BECs result in an open-circuit voltage $V_{oc}$ of 3.06 V with a short-circuit current $I_{sc}$ of 48.5 nA, and a $V_{oc}$ of 1.50 V with an $I_{sc}$ of 92.6 nA, respectively. The capacitor charging efficiency in terms of the current generated from the two series-connected BECs was measured to be approximately 90.7%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.585-588
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• 2014

This paper presents a self-powered sensor node circuit using photovoltaic and vibration energy harvesting. The harvested energy from a solar cell and a vibration device(PZT) is stored in a storage capacitor. The stored energy is managed by a PMU(Power Management Unit). In order to supply a stable voltage to the sensor node, an LDO(Low Drop Out Regulator) is used. The LDO drives a temperature sensor and a SAR ADC(Successive Approximate Register Analog-to-Digital Converter), and 10-bit digital output data corresponding to current temperature is obtained. The proposed circuit is designed in a 0.35um CMOS process, and the designed chip size including PADs is $1.1mm{\times}0.95mm$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.619-625
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• 2021

Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) based thin-film solar cells have attracted growing attention because of their earth-abundant and non-toxic elements. However, because of their large open-circuit voltage (V_oc)-deficit, CZTSSe solar cells exhibit poor device performance compared to well-established Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ (CIGS) and CdTe based solar cells. One of the main causes of this large V_oc-deficit is poor absorber properties for example, high band tailing properties, defects, secondary phases, carrier recombination, etc. In particular, the fabrication of absorbers using physical methods results in poor surface morphology, such as pin-holes and voids. To overcome this problem and form large and homogeneous CZTSSe grains, CZTSSe based absorber layers are prepared by a sputtering technique with different RTA conditions. The temperature is varied from 510 ℃ to 540 ℃ during the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Further, CZTSSe thin films are examined with X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, IPCE, Energy dispersive spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy techniques. The present work shows that Cu-based secondary phase formation can be suppressed in the CZTSSe absorber layer at an optimum RTA condition.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2022

The most prevalent cause of solar cell efficiency loss is reduced recombination at the metal electrode and silicon junction. To boost efficiency, a a SiO_X/poly-Si passivating interface is being developed. Poly-Si for passivating contact is formed by various deposition methods (sputtering, PECVD, LPCVD, HWCVD) where the ploy-Si characterization depends on the deposition method. The sputtering process forms a dense Si film at a low deposition rate of 2.6 nm/min and develops a low passivation characteristic of 690 mV. The PECVD process offers a deposition rate of 28 nm/min with satisfactory passivation characteristics. The LPCVD process is the slowest with a deposition rate of 1.4 nm/min, and can prevent blistering if deposited at high temperatures. The HWCVD process has the fastest deposition rate at 150 nm/min with excellent passivation characteristics. However, the uniformity of the deposited film decreases as the area increases. Also, the best passivation characteristics are obtained at high doping. Thus, it is necessary to optimize the doping process depending on the deposition method.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2023

In this study, crystallization was effectively suppressed in Al-based metallic glasses (Al-MGs) during pulverization by cryo-milling by applying an extremely low processing temperature and using a surfactant. Before Al-MGs can be used as an additive in Ag paste for solar cells, the particle sizes of the Al-MGs must be reduced by milling. However, during the ball milling process crystallization of the Al-MG is a problem. Once the Al-MG is crystallized, they no longer exhibit glass-like behavior, such as thermoplastic deformation, which is critical to decrease the electrical resistance of the Ag electrode. The main reason for crystallization during the ball milling process is the heat generated by collisions between the particles and the balls, or between the particles. Once the heat reaches the crystallization temperature of the Al-MGs, they start crystallization. Another reason for the crystallization is agglomeration of the particles. If the initially fed particles become severely agglomerated, they coalesce instead of being pulverized during the milling. The coalesced particles experience more collisions and finally crystallize. In this study, the heat generated during milling was suppressed by using cryo-milling with liquid-nitrogen, which was regularly fed into the milling jar. Also, the MG powders were dispersed using a surfactant before milling, so that the problem of agglomeration was resolved. Cryo-milling with the surfactant led to D50 = 10 um after 6 h milling, and we finally achieved a specific contact resistance of 0.22 mΩcm² and electrical resistivity of 2.81 μΩcm using the milled MG particles.