• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 한국진공학회 2013년도 제45회 하계 정기학술대회 초록집
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• pp.318.1-318.1
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• 2013

Nowadays Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) solar cell is attracting a lot of attention as a strong alternative to CIGS solar cell due to nontoxic and inexpensive constituent elements of CZTS. From various processes for the fabrication of CZTS solar cell, solution-based deposition of CZTS thin films is well-known non-vacuum process and many researchers are focusing on this method because of large-area deposition, high-throughput, and efficient material usage. Typically the solution-based process consists of two steps, coating of precursor solution and annealing of the precursor thin films. Unlike vacuum-based deposition, precursor solution contains unnecessary elements except Cu, Zn, Sn, and S in order to form high quality precursor thin films, and thus the precise control of precursor thin film preparation is essential for achieving high efficient CZTS solar cells. In this work, we have investigated the effect of preparation condition of CZTS precursor thin films on the performance of CZTS solar cells. The composition of CZTS precursor solution was controlled for obtaining optimized chemical composition of CZTS absorber layers for high-efficiency solar cells. Pre-annealing process of the CZTS precursor thin films was also investigated to confirm the effect of thermal treatment on chemical composition and carbon residues of CZTS absorber layers. The change of the morphology of CZTS precursor thin film by the preparation condition was also observed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2008년도 추계학술대회 논문집 Vol.21
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• pp.235-236
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• 2008

Wet etched ZnO:Al films for thin film solar cells were prepared by Facing Target sputtering(FTS) method. Wet etching has been used to produce a rough TCO surface that enables light trapping in the absorber. The ZnO:Al films for thin film solar cells were etched by HCl 0.5%. The etching performance of ZnO:Al films can be tuned by changing etching time. The etched ZnO:Al films compared to a smooth ZnO:Al thin film structure. From the results, the lowest resistivity of deposited films was $5.67\times10^{-4}$ [$\Omega$-cm] and the transmittance of all ZnO:Al thin films were over 80% in visible range.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 한국진공학회 2012년도 제43회 하계 정기 학술대회 초록집
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• pp.171-171
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• 2012

We have studied the effects of plasma treatments on CdS buffer layers in CIGS thin film solar cells. The CdS layers were deposited on CIGS films by chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The RF plasma treatments of the CdS thin films were performed with Ar, $O_2 and $N_2 gases, respectively. After plasma treatments, the solar cells with Al:ZnO/i-ZnO/CdS/CIGS structures were fabricated. The surface properties of the CdS/CIGS thin films after plasma treatments were investigated with SEM, EDX and AFM measurements. The electrical properties of manufactured solar cell were discussed with the results of current-voltage measurements. The plasma treatments have a strong influence on the open circuit voltage (VOC) and the fill factor of the solar cells. Finally, a correlation between the surface properties of CdS layer and the efficiencies of the CIGS thin film solar cells is discussed.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.81-86
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• 2020

MoO₃ metal oxide nanostructure was formed by hydrothermal synthesis, and a perovskite solar cell with an MoO₃ hole transfer layer was fabricated and evaluated. The characteristics of the MoO₃ thin film were analyzed according to the change of hydrothermal synthesis temperature in the range of 100 ℃ to 200 ℃ and mass ratio of AMT : nitric acid of 1 : 3 ~ 15 wt%. The influence on the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cell was evaluated. Nanorod-shaped MoO₃ thin films were formed in the temperature range of 150 ℃ to 200 ℃, and the chemical bonding and crystal structure of the thin films were analyzed. As the amount of nitric acid added increased, the thickness of the thin film decreased. As the thickness of the hole transfer layer decreased, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the perovskite solar cell improved. The maximum photoelectric conversion efficiency of the perovskite solar cell having an MoO₃ thin film was 4.69 % when the conditions of hydrothermal synthesis were 150 ℃ and mass ratio of AMT : nitric acid of 1 : 12 wt%.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.46-51
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• 2023

We investigated the MoS₂ thin film layer by thermolytic deposition and applied it to the silicon solar cells. MoS₂ thin films were made by two methods of dipping and spin coating of (NH₄)₂MoS₄ precursor solution. We implemented two types of substrates of microtextured and nano-microtextured 6-in. Si pn junction wafers. The fabricated MoS₂ thin film layer was analyzed, and solar cells were fabricated by applying the standard silicon solar cell process. The MoS₂ thin film layer of sulfur-deficient form was deposited on the n-type emitter layer, and electrons, which are minority carriers, were well transported at the interface and exhibited photovoltaic solar cell characteristics. The cell efficiencies were achieved at 5% for microtextured wafers and 2.56% for nano-microtextured wafers.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 대한전기학회 2009년도 제40회 하계학술대회
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• pp.1351_1352
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• 2009

We deposited $SnO_2$:F thin films by atomospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition(APCVD) on corning glass. $SnO_2$:F films were used as transparent conductive oxide (TCO) electrode for Si thin film solar cells. We have investigated structural, electrical and optical properties of $SnO_2$:F thin films and fabricated thin film Si solar cells by plasma enhanced CVD(PECVD) on $SnO_2$:F thin films The cells were characterized by I-V measurement using AM1.5 spectra. Conversion efficiency of our cells were between 5.61% and 6.45%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• 제29권7호
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• pp.408-413
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• 2016

The dielectric thin films applied to multi-colored semitransparent thin film solar cells have been extensively studied. In this work, we prepared GeSbTe and GeTe chalcogenide thin films using magnetron sputtering, and investigated their optical and phase-change properties to replace the dielectric films. The changes of surface morphology, sheet resistance, and X-ray diffraction of the Te-based chalcogenide films support the fact that the amorphous stability of GeTe films is superior to that of GeSbTe films. While both amorphous GeSbTe and GeTe films thinner than 30 nm have optical transparency between 5% and 60%, GeTe films transmit more visible light than GeSbTe films. It is confirmed by computer simulation that the color of semitransparent silicon thin film solar cells can be adjusted with the addition of GeSbTe or GeTe films. Since it is possible to adjust the contrast of the solar cells by exploiting the phase-change property, the two kinds of chalcogenide films are anticipated to be used as an optical layer in semitransparent solar cells.

• Current Applied Physics
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• 제18권12호
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• pp.1571-1576
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• 2018

Recent study shows that the main reason for limiting CZTS device performance lies in the low open circuit voltage, and crucial factor that could affect the $V_{oc}$ is secondary phases like ZnS existing in absorber layer and its interfaces. In this work, the $Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ thin film solar cells were prepared by sputtering CuSn and CuZn alloy targets. Through tuning the Zn/Sn ratios of the CZTS thin films, the crystal structure, morphology, chemical composition and phase purity of CZTS thin films were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and Raman spectroscopy. The statistics data show that the CZTS solar cell with a ratio of Zn/Sn = 1.2 have the best power convention efficiency of 5.07%. After HCl etching process, the CZTS thin film solar cell with the highest efficiency 5.41% was obtained, which demonstrated that CZTS film solar cells with high efficiency could be developed by sputtering CuSn and CuZn alloy targets.

• Solar Energy
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.73-76
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• 1988

Thick films based on the mature crystalline silicon technology are expected to exhibit eversmaller cost reduction. The thin-film-based technology is, however, expected to exhibit a much sharper drop in cost as it develops. In this report, technology and recent R & D of thin film solar cell, such as amorphous silicon, cadnium telluride, copper indium diselenide and gallium arsenide, are described. Perspectives of world photovoltaic market and solar cell price are also described.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.95-102
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• 2014

Light trapping techniques can change the propagation direction of incident light and keep the light longer in the absorption layers of solar cells to enhance the power conversion efficiency. In thin film silicon (Si) solar cells, the thickness of absorption layer is generally not enough to absorb entire available photons because of short carrier life time, and light induced degradation effect, which can be compensated by the light trapping techniques. These techniques have been adopted as textured transparent conduction oxide (TCO) layers randomly or periodically textured, intermediate reflection layers of tandem and triple junction, and glass substrates etched by various patterning methods. We reviewed the light trapping techniques for thin film Si solar cells and mainly focused on the commercially available techniques applicable to textured TCO on patterned glass substrates. We described the characterization methods representing the light trapping effects, texturing of TCO and showed the results of multi-scale textured TCO on etched glass substrates. These methods can be used tandem and triple thin film Si solar cells to enhance photo-current and power conversion efficiency of long term stability.