• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2009

The influence of various surface morphologies on the mechanical strength of silicon substrates was investigated in this study. The yield for the solar cell industry is mainly related to the fracturing of silicon wafers during the manufacturing process. The flexural strengths of silicon substrates were influenced by the density of the pyramids as well as by the size and the rounded surface of the pyramids. To characterize and optimize the relevant texturing process in terms of mechanical stability and the fabrication yield, the mechanical properties of textured silicon substrates were investigated to optimize the size and morphology of random pyramids. Several types of silicon substrates were studied, including the planar type, a textured surface with large and small pyramids, and a textured surface with rounded pyramids. The surface morphology and a cross-section of the as-textured and fractured silicon substrates were investigated by scanning electron microscopy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.179.1-179.1
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• 2014

Si nanowires have exhibited unique optical characteristics, including nano-antenna effects due to the guided mode resonance, significant optical absorption enhancement in wide wavelength and incident angle range due to resonant optical modes, graded refractive index, and scattering. Since Si poor optical absorption coefficient due to indirect bandgap, all such properties have stimulated proposal of new optoelectronic devices whose performance can surpass that of conventional planar devices. We have carried out finite-difference time-domain simulation studies to design optimal Si nanowire array for solar cell applications. Optical reflectance, transmission, and absorption can be calculated for nanowire arrays with various diameter, length, and period. From the absorption, maximum achievable photocurrent can be estimated. In real devices, serious recombination loss occurring at the surface states is known to limit the photovoltaic performance of the nanowire-based solar cells. In order to address such issue, we will discuss how the geometric parameters of the array can influence the spatial distribution of the optical field (resulting optical generation rate) in the nanowires.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.336-336
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• 2011

Over the past decades, organic semiconductors have been investigated intensely for their potential in a wide range of optoelectronic device applications since the organic materials have advantages for very light, flexible and low cost device fabrications. In this study, we fabricated small-molecule organic solar cells (OSCs) based on chloro[subphthalocyaninato]boron(III) (SubPc) as an electron donor and $C_{60}$ as an electron acceptor material. Recently SubPc, a cone-shaped molecule with $14{\pi}$-electrons in its aromatic system, has attracted growing attention in small-molecule OSC applications as an electron-donating material for its greater open-circuit voltage (VOC), extinction coefficient and dielectric constant compared to conventional planar metal phthalocyanines. In spite of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) enhancement of small-molecule OSC using SubPc and $C_{60}$, however, the study on the interface between donor-acceptor heterojunction of this system is limited. In this work, SubPc thin films at various thicknesses were deposited by organic molecular beam deposition (OMBD) and the evolution of surface morphology was observed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). We also investigated the influence of film thickness and surface morphology on the PCE of small-molecule OSC devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.458.1-458.1
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• 2014

An effective light-managing structure has been achieved by using a nano-imprint method. A transparent conductor of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) was periodically nanodome-shaped to have a height of 200 nm with a diameter of 340 nm on a p-type Si substrate. This spontaneously formed a heterojunction between the ITO layer and Si substrate and effectively reduced the light-reflection. The ITO nanodome device response was significantly enhanced to 6010 from the value of 72.9 of a planar ITO film. The transparent conducting ITO nanodome structure efficiently manipulates the incident light driving into the light-absorber and can be applied in various photoelectric applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.73-73
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• 2011

We will report a few methods to improve the efficiency and stability in small molecule based organic solar cells, including the formation of bulk heterojunctions (BHJs) through alternative thermal deposition (ATD), the use of a micro-cavity structure and interface modifications. By ATD which is a simple modification of conventional thermal evaporation, the thicknesses of alternative donor and acceptor layers were precisely controlled down to 0.1 nm, which is critical to form BHJs. The formation of a BHJ in copper(II) phthalocyanine (CuPc) and fullerene (C60) systems was confirmed by AFM, GISAXS and absorption measurements. From analysis of the data, we found that the CuPc|C60 films fabricated by ATD were composed of the nanometer sized disk shaped CuPc nano grains and aggregated C60, which explains the phase separation of CuPc and C60. On the other hand, the co-deposited CuPc:C60 films did not show the existence of separated CuPc nano grains in the CuPc:C60 matrix. The OPV cells fabricated using the ATD method showed significantly enhanced power conversion efficiency compared to the co-deposited OPV cells under a same composition [1]. We will also present by numerical simulation that adoption of microcavity structure in the planar heterojunction can improve the short circuit current in single and tandem OSCs [2]. Interface modifications also allowed us to achieve high efficiency and high stability OSCs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.417-417
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• 2016

Global environmental deterioration has become more serious year by year and thus scientific interests in the renewable energy as environmental technology and replacement of fossil fuels have grown exponentially. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell consisting of semiconductor photoelectrodes that can harvest light and use this energy directly to split water, also known as photoelectrolysis or solar water splitting, is a promising renewable energy technology to produce hydrogen for uses in the future hydrogen economy. A major advantage of PEC systems is that they involve relatively simple processes steps as compared to many other H2 production systems. Until now, a number of materials including TiO2, WO3, Fe2O3, and BiVO4 were exploited as the photoelectrode. However, the PEC performance of these single absorber materials is limited due to their large charge recombinations in bulk, interface and surface, leading low charge separation/transport efficiencies. Recently, coupling of two materials, e.g., BiVO4/WO3, Fe2O3/WO3 and CuWO4/WO3, to form a type II heterojunction has been demonstrated to be a viable means to improve the PEC performance by enhancing the charge separation and transport efficiencies. In this study, we have prepared a triple-layer heterojunction BiVO4/WO3/SnO2 photoelectrode that shows a comparable PEC performance with previously reported best-performing nanostructured BiVO4/WO3 heterojunction photoelectrode via a facile solution method. Interestingly, we found that the incorporation of SnO2 nanoparticles layer in between WO3 and FTO largely promotes electron transport and thus minimizes interfacial recombination. The impact of the SnO2 interfacial layer was investigated in detail by TEM, hall measurement and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. In addition, our planar-structured triple-layer photoelectrode shows a relatively high transmittance due to its low thickness (~300 nm), which benefits to couple with a solar cell to form a tandem PEC device. The overall PEC performance, especially the photocurrent onset potential (Vonset), were further improved by a reactive-ion etching (RIE) surface etching and electrocatalyst (CoOx) deposition.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2014

In this paper, it is about to non-contact wireless power transmission according to various conditions of self induction principle between the two planar coils at a transmission unit and a receiving unit based on the theory of wireless power transmission. The experiments are occurred in order to power transfer of noncontact method from designed wireless circuits in the primely coil and secondary coil, and the applying to Half Bridge Resonant converter transmission unit and receiving unit. and that were able to prepared circumstance to calculate of the output voltage and power source. The main power of the inductive coupling the resonant converter at the transmission unit is converted electrical energy using the solar cell module and artificial light source (halogen lamp) as a replace light and received 24 V power supply from solar power was used a input power source for the wireless power transmission device. Experimental results, to received of power is used to illuminate the lighting and to charge the battery in receiving circuit.And the wireless power transmission efficiency measured at the output side of the transmission unit is obtained about 70% to 89% compared to input power of receiving unit.In addition, efficiency were tested through ID verification method and comparing the phase difference between the voltage when foreign substances interfere with wireless power transmission.