• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 2014

Fe-based amorphous coatings were fabricated on a soda-lime glass substrate by the vacuum kinetic spray method. The effect of the gas flow rate, which determines particle velocity, on the deposition behavior of the particle and microstructure of the resultant films was investigated. The as-fabricated microstructure of the film was studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Although the activation energy for transformation from the amorphous phase to crystalline phase was lowered by severe plastic deformation and particle fracturing under a high strain rate, the crystalline phases could not be found in the coating layer. Incompletely fractured and small fragments 100~300 nm in size, which are smaller than initial feedstock material, were found on the coating surface and inside of the coating. Also, some pores and voids occurred between particle-particle interfaces. In the case of brittle Fe-based amorphous alloy, particles fail in fragmentation fracture mode through initiation and propagation of the numerous small cracks rather than shear fracture mode under compressive stress. It could be deduced that amorphous alloy underwent particle fracturing in a vacuum kinetic spray process. Also, it is considered that surface energy caused by the formation of new surfaces and friction energy contributed to the bonding of fragments.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.503-509
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• 2013

In this study, $Cu(In_{1-x},Ga_x)Se_2$ (CIGS) thin films were prepared on the Mo coated soda-lime glass by the DC magnetron sputtering and a subsequent selenization process. For the selenization process, selenization rapid thermal process(RTP) with cracker cell, which was helpful to smaller an atomic of Se, was adopted. To make CIGS layer, they were then annealed with the cracked Se. Based on this selenization method, we made several CIGS thin film and investigated the effects of In deposition time, and selenization time. Through x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM), it is found that the Mo/In/CuGa structure and the high sputtering power shows the dominant chalcopyrite structure and have a uniform distribution of the grain size. The CIGS films with the In deposition time of 5 min has the best structure due to the smooth surface. And CIGS films with the selenization time of 50 min show good crystalline growth without any voids.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.33-38
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• 2005

Submicron-scale patterns made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were fabricated on silicon-wafer using a capillarity-directed soft lithographic technique. Polyurethane acrylate (PUA) stamps (Master molds) were used to fabricate the patterns. Patterns with three different aspect ratios were fabricated by varying the holding time. The patterns fabricated were the negative replica of the master mold. The patterns so obtained were investigated for their adhesion and friction properties at nano-scale using AFM. Friction tests were conducted in the range of 0-80 nN. Glass (Borosilicate) balls of diameter 1.25 mm mounted on cantilever (Contact Mode type NPS) were used as tips. Further, micro-friction tests were performed using a ball-on-flat type micro-tribe tester, under reciprocating motion, using a soda lime ball (1 mm diameter) under a normal load of 3,000 mN. All experiments were conducted at ambient temperature ($24{\pm}1^{\circ}C$) and relative humidity ($45{\pm}5\%$). Results showed that the patterned samples exhibited superior tribological properties when compared to the silicon wafer and non-patterned sample (PMMA thin film) both at the nano and micro-scales, owing to their increased hydrophobicity and reduced real area of contact. In the case of patterns it was observed that their morphology (shape factor and size factor) was decisive in defining the real area of contact.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.298-299
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• 2010

Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) 박막 태양전지는 Soda lime glass/Mo/CIGS/CdS/ZnO/ITO/Al 의 구조를 가지고 있다. CIGS 화합물은 direct bandgap 구조를 하고 있으며, 광흡수율이 다른 어떤 물질들 보다 뛰어나 박막으로도 충분히 태양광을 흡수할 수 있다. 또한 Ga의 도핑 농도에 따른 밴드갭 조절도 가능하다. 이러한 성질들로 인해 현재 박막태양전지로서 20.1%의 최고효율을 가지고 있다.[1] CIGS 박막 태양전지에서 p-CIGS layer와 스퍼터링으로 증착되는 n-ZnO layer사이의 buffer 층으로 chemical bath deposition (CBD)-CdS 박막을 주로 사용한다. CBD-CdS 박막은 n-ZnO 스퍼터로 증착 시킬 때, CIGS 층의 손상을 최소화하고, 이 두 층 사이에서의 격자상수와 밴드갭의 차이를 줄여주어 CIGS 박막태양전지의 효율을 증가 시키는 역할을 한다. 하지만, Cd (카드뮴)의 심각한 독성과 낮은 밴드갭(2.4eV)으로 인해 CIGS 층에서의 광흡수율을 줄여, CdS를 대체할 새로운 buffer 층의 필요성이 대두되었다.[2] 그 대안으로 ZnS, Zn(O, S, OH), (Zn, Mg)O, In2S3 같은 물질이 연구되고 있다. 현재 CBD-ZnS를 buffer 층으로 사용한 CIGS 박막태양전지의 효율은 최고 18.6%로 CBD-CdS의 최고효율보다는 약 1.5% 낮지만, ZnS가 높은 밴드갭(3.7~3.8eV)과 Cd-free 물질이라는 점에서 CdS를 대체할 물질로 각광받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 기존의 CdS 박막을 제조하는 방법과 같은 방법인 CBD를 이용하여 ZnS 박막을 제조하였다. ZnS 박막을 제조하기 위해서는 Zinc sulfate, Thiourea, 암모니아가 사용된다. 암모니아의 mol 농도에 따른 CBD-ZnS/CIGS 박막태양전지의 효율 변화를 관찰하기 위해 암모니아의 mol 농도는 1 mol, 2 mol, 3 mol, 4 mol, 5 mol, 6 mol, 그 이상의 과량을 사용하여 실험하였다. 실험 결과, 암모니아농도 5 mol에서 효율 13.82%를 확인할 수 있었다. 최고효율을 보인 조건인 암모니아 농도가 5 mol 일 때, Voc는 0.602V, Jsc는 33.109mA/cm2, FF는 69.4%를 나타내었다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.553-558
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• 2019

$Cu_2ZnSn(S,Se)_4(CZTSSe)$ thin film solar cells areone of the most promising candidates for photovoltaic devices due to their earth-abundant composition, high absorption coefficient and appropriate band gap. The sputtering process is the main challenge to achieving high efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells for industrialization. In this study, we fabricated CZTSSe absorbers on Mo coated soda lime glass using different pressures during the annealing process. As an environmental strategy, the annealing process is performed with S and Se powder, without any toxic $H_2Se$ and/or $H_2S$ gases. Because CZTSSe thin films have a very narrow stable phase region, it is important to control the condition of the annealing process to achieve high efficiency of the solar cell. To identify the effect of process pressure during the sulfo-selenization, we experiment with varying initial pressure from 600 Torr to 800 Torr. We fabricate a CZTSSe thin film solar cell with 8.24 % efficiency, with 435 mV for open circuit voltage($V_{OC}$) and $36.98mA/cm^2$ for short circuit current density($J_{SC}$), under a highest process pressure of 800 Torr.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.150-155
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• 2021

Zinc oxide (ZnO) based transparent conducting oxides (TCO) thin films, are used in many applications such as solar cells, flat panel displays, and LEDs due to their wide bandgap nature and excellent electrical properties. In the present work, fluorine and aluminium-doped ZnO targets are prepared and thin films are deposited on soda-lime glass substrate using a RF magnetron sputtering unit. The aluminium concentration is fixed at 2 wt%, and the fluorine concentration is adjusted between 0 to 2.0 wt% with five different concentrations, namely, Al2ZnO98(AZO), F0.5AZO97.5(FAZO1), F1AZO97(FAZO2), F1.5AZO96.5(FAZO3), and F2AZO96(FAZO4). Thin films are deposited with an RF power of 40 W and working pressure of 5 m Torr at 270 ℃. The morphological analysis performed for the thin film reveals that surface roughness decreases in FAZO1 and FAZO2 samples when doped with a small amount of fluorine. Further, optical and electrical properties measured for FAZO1 sample show average optical transmissions of over 89 % in the visible region and 82.5 % in the infrared region, followed by low resistivity and sheet resistance of 3.59 × 10-4 Ωcm and 5.52 Ω/sq, respectively. In future, these thin films with excellent optoelectronic properties can be used for thin-film solar cell and other optoelectronics applications.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.56-62
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• 2021

In this study, we created a DBD plasma device and a MnO2 catalyst mesh filter for evaluating ozone reduction of devices via the catalyst method. The DBD plasma device was manufactured by applying Ag paste to soda lime glass via the screen-printing method. The MnO2 catalyst mesh filter was manufactured by mixing MnO2 powder with binder with a 10% difference in concentration from 10% to 50% and then applying it using the dip-coating method. Finally, we sintered a MnO2 catalyst mesh filter in an electric furnace. We evaluated the characteristics of ozone generation according to the Ar gas flow of DBD plasma devices, the opening ratio, and ozone reduction performance of the MnO2 catalyst filters. Ozone reduction performance was approximately 20.4% at MnO2 10 wt%, 37.8% at MnO2 30 wt% and 50% at MnO2 50 wt%.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.8-12
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• 2023

In this work, we investigated the thickness of Ag precursor layer to improve the performance of flexible CIGSe solar cells grown on stainless steel (STS) substrates through three-stage co-evaporation with Ga grading followed by alkali treatments. The small amount of incorporated Ag in CIGSe films showed enhancement in the grain size and device efficiency. With an optimal 6 nm-thick Ag layer, the best cell on the STS substrate yielded more than 16%, which is comparable to the soda-lime glass (SLG) substrate. Thus, the addition of controlled Ag combined with alkali post-deposition treatment (PDT) led to increased open-circuit voltage (VOC), accompanied by the increased built-in potential as confirmed by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. It is related to a reduction of charge recombination at the depletion region. The results suggest that Ag alloying and alkali PDT are essential for producing highly efficient flexible CIGSe solar cells.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.127.1-127.1
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• 2011

In this paper, ZnO:Al thin films with c-axis preferred orientation were prepared on Soda lime glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering technique. AZO thin film were prepared in order to clarify optimum conditions for growth of the thin film depending upon process, and then by changing a number of deposition conditions and substrate temperature conditions variously, structural and electrical characteristics were measured. For the manufacture of the AZO were vapor-deposited in the named order. It is well-known that post-annealing is an important method to improve crystal quality. For the annealing process, the dislocation nd other defects arise in the material and adsorption/decomposition occurs. The XRD patterns of the AZO films deposited with grey theory prediction design, annealed in a vacuum ambient($2.0{\times}10-3$Torr)at temperatures of 200, 300, 400 and $500^{\circ}C$ for a period of 30min. The diffraction patterns of all the films show the AZO films had a hexagonal wurtzite structure with a preferential orientation along the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. As can be seen, the (002)peak intensities of the AZO films became more intense and sharper when the annealing temperature increased. On the other hand, When the annealing temperature was $500^{\circ}C$ the peak intensity decreased. The surface morphologies and surface toughness of films were examined by atomic force microscopy(AFM, XE-100, PSIA). Electrical resistivity, Gall mobility and carrier concentration were measured by Hall effect measuring system (HL5500PC, Accent optical Technology, USA). The optical absorption spectra of films in the ultraviolet-visibleinfrared( UV-Vis-IR) region were recorder by the UV spectrophotometer(U-3501, Hitachi, Japan). The resistivity, carrier concentration, and Hall mobility of ZnS deposited on glass substrate as a function of post-annealing.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.78.2-78.2
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• 2010

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS)박막태양전지는 간단한구조와 가격경쟁력 및 고효율화 가능성에 대한 기대감에 의해 많은 연구가 수행되어오고 있다. 특히 높은 흡수계수와 적절한 밴드갭, 큰 결정크기와 같은 물질의 특성들이 장점으로 작용하고 있기 때문이다. 또한 CIGS박막태양전지는 다른 태양전지에 비해 광열화가 적다는 장점도 가지고 있다. CIGS 박막은 CuInSe2내의 In 사이트에 Ga을 도핑함으로서 형성이 되는데 그때의 밴드갭은 약 1.4eV이며 이를 형성하기 위해 많은 방법들이 제안되고 있는데, CIGS박막 형성 시 가장 중요시 여겨야 될 인자는 구성원소로부터 최적화된 조성비를 찾는 것이다. 이러한 관점에서 볼때 evaporation법이나 sputtering법같은 진공방식의 공정법이 비진공방식에 비해 최적의 조성비를 찾는 것이 수월할 것으로 생각된다. selenization을 하기전에, 동시증착이나 다층박막형성을 통해 Cu-In-Se의 조합이 일반적으로 이루어진다. 어떤방법이든 Se의 부가적인 공급이 이루어지는데 시작 전구체의 조합에서 그 해법을 제시하는 것에 대한 논의가 많이 부족한 현실로서, CuInSe2의 단일전구체에 의한 박막형성과 특성평가에 대해 구체적인 논의가 필요하다. 본 실험에서는 Cu-In-Se 전구체를 CuInSe2 단일 타겟에서부터 RF 마그네트론 스퍼터링법을 이용하여 박막증착을 하여 Se의 Rapid Thermal Process(RTA)법을 통해 Se이 순차적으로 공급되었다. 이때 형성되는 박막의 태양전지 흡수층 적용을 위한 광학적, 전기적 및 구조적에 대한 논의된다. Soda lime glass(SLG)와 Corning 1737 유리를 기판으로 하여 아세톤-에탄올을 이용, 초음파세척을 실시하였다. 스퍼터 공정을 하기전에 흡착된 물분자를 제거하기 위하여 약 30분간 $120^{\circ}C$로 열을 가해주었으며, 공정을 위한 총 아르곤 가스의 양은 약 50sccm이며 이때의 공정압력은 20mtorr로 고정하였다. 우선 RF power와 기판온도에 따른 단일전구체 형성을 관찰하기 위하여 각각 30~80W, RT~$400^{\circ}C$로 변화를 주어 박막을 형성한 후 모든 sample에 대하여 $500^{\circ}C$분위기에 effusion cell을 이용하여 Se 분위기에서 결정화를 실시하였다. 샘플의 두께는 Surface profiler로 측정하였고 단면은 전자주사현미경으로 관찰되었다. 동시에 SEM이미지를 통하여 morphology와 grain size 및 EDX를 통하여 조성분석을 하였다. 밴드갭, 투과율 및 흡수계수는 UV-VIS-NIR분광분석법을 통하여 수행되었으며, 전기적 특성분석을 위해 4-point-probe와 Hall effect측정을 수행하였다. 공정변수에 따른 단일타겟으로 얻어 결정화된 CuInSe2박막의 자세한 결과와 논의에 대하여 발표한다.