• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.58 no.11
• /
• pp.2223-2228
• /
• 2009

Dye sensitized solar cells(DSCs) have been very economical and easy method to convert solar energy to electricity. DSC can reach low costs in future outdoor power applications. However, to commercialize the DSC, there are still many shortages to overcome such a low efficiency in a large size DSC. In this study, DSCs were fabricated by an electrospray coating method for the $TiO_2$ thin film. They were compared with DSCs prepared by conventional coating methods. We conducted an experiment to obtain the optimized parameters of voltage, flow rate, incident angle and distance in the electrospray method. After we fabricated $TiO_2$ film using that way, we investigated the characteristics of DSC through I-V Curve, SEM and EIS. This novel method shows stable performance with an energy conversion efficiency of 3.44 % under 1 sun illumination (AM 1, $P_{in}$ of $100\;mW/cm^2$).

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.103-107
• /
• 2023

A Nickel oxide (NiO_x) thin films were prepared via sol-gel process on a transparent conductive oxide glass substrate. The NiO_x thin films were spin-coated in ambient air and subsequently annealed for 30 minutes at temperatures ranging from 150℃ to 450℃. The structural and optical characteristics of the NiO_x thin films annealed at various temperatures were measured using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. After optimizing the NiO_x coating conditions, perovskite solar cells were fabricated with p-i-n inverted structure, and its photovoltaic performance was evaluated. NiO_x thin films annealed at 350℃ exhibited the most favorable characteristics as a hole transport layer, resulting in the highest power conversion efficiency of 17.88 % when fabricating inverted perovskite solar cells using this film.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2014

We developed a method of growing thin Si film at $600^{\circ}C$ by hot wire CVD using a very thin large-grained poly-Si seed layer for thin-film Si solar cells. The seed layer was prepared by crystallizing an amorphous Si film by vapor-induced crystallization using $AlCl_3$ vapor. The average grain size of the p-type epitaxial Si layer was about $20{\mu}m$ and crystallographic defects in the epitaxial layer were mainly low-angle grain boundaries and coincident-site lattice boundaries, which are special boundaries with less electrical activity. Moreover, with a decreasing in-situ boron doping time, the mis-orientation angle between grain boundaries and in-grain defects in epitaxial Si decreased. Due to fewer defects, the epitaxial Si film was high quality evidenced from Raman and TEM analysis. The highest mobility of $360cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ was achieved by decreasing the in-situ boron doping time. The performance of our preliminary thin-film solar cells with a single-side HIT structure and $CoSi_2$ back contact was poor. However, the result showed that the epitaxial Si film has considerable potential for improved performance with a reduced boron doping concentration.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.67-77
• /
• 1995

Abstract The principal factor affecting the increased penetration of photovoltaics into the marketplace is cost. For traditional crystalline silicon modules, half of the cost is that of the silicon wafers. As a result much effort has centered on reducing this cost by the use of thin film technologies. Substantial technical progress has been made towards improving the efficiencies of polycrystalline thin film solar cells to reduce the production costs. Progress in semiconductor deposition techniques has also been rapid. The most mature of these are based on polycrystalline silicon (p - Si), amorphous silicon (a - Si), copper indium diselenide $SuInSe_2$(CIS), and cadmium telluride (CdTe). This paper explores the recent advances in the development of polycrystalline thin film solar cells.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.93-96
• /
• 2017

The structural, electrical and optical properties of Ti thin films fabricated by dual magnetron sputtering were investigated under various film thicknesses. The fabricated Ti thin films exhibited uniform surfaces, crystallinity, various grain sizes, and with various film thicknesses. Also, the crystallinity and grain size of the Ti thin films increased with the increase of film thickness. The electrical properties of Ti thin films improved with the increase of film thickness. The results showed that the performance of TCO-less DSSC critically depended on the film thickness of the Ti working electrodes, due to the conductivity of Ti thin film. However, the maximum conversion efficiency of TCO-less DSSC was exhibited at the condition of 100 nm thickness due to the surface scattering of photons caused by the variation of grain size.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.62-68
• /
• 2012

The conversion efficiency of solar cells depending on incident angle of light is important for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) applications. The quantum efficiency is the ratio of the number of charge carriers collected by the solar cell to the number of photons of a given energy shining on the solar cell. The analysis of angle dependence of quantum efficiencies give more information upon the variation of power output of a solar cell by the incident angle of light. The variations in power output of solar cells with increasing angle of incidence is different for the type of cell structures. In this study we present the results of the quantum efficiency measurement of single-crystalline silicon solar cells and a-Si:H thin-film solar cells with the angle of incidence of light. As a result, as the angle of incidence increases in single-crystalline silicon solar cells, quantum efficiency at all wavelength (300~1,100 nm) of light were reduced. But in case of a-Si:H thin-film solar cells, quantum efficiency was increased or maintained at the angle of incidence from 0 degree to about 40 degrees and dramatically decrease at more than 40 degrees in the range of visible light. This results of quantum efficiency with increasing incident angle were caused by haze and interference effects in thin-film structure. Thus, the structural optimization considering incident angle dependence of solar cells is expected to benefit BIPV.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.314-318
• /
• 2010

We fabricated a plasma texturing for multi-crystalline silicon cells using reactive ion etching (RIE). Multi-crystalline Si cells have not benefited from the cost-effective wet-chemical texturing processes that reduce front surface reflectance on single-crystal wafers. Elimination of plasma damage has been achieved while keeping front reflectance to extremely low levels. We will discuss reflectance, quantum efficiency and conversion efficiency for multi-crystalline Si solar cell by each RIE process conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.37-44
• /
• 2018

Solar panels are modules made up of many cells, like the N-type monosilicon, P-type monosilicon, P-type multisilicon, amorphous thin-film silicon, and CIGS solar cells. An efficient photovoltaic (PV) power is important to use to determine what kind of cell types are used because residential solar systems receive attention. In this study, we used 3-type solar panels - such as N-type monosilicon, P-type monosilicon, and CIGS solar cells - to investigate what kind of solar panel on a house or building performs the best. PV systems were composed of 3-type solar panels on the roof with each ~1.8 kW nominal power. N-type monosilicon solar panel resulted in the best power generation when monitored. Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF) and Performance Ratio (PR) of the N-type Si solar panel were 14.6% and 75% respectively. In comparison, N-type monosilicon and CIGS solar panels showed higher performance in power generation than P-type monosilicon solar power with increasing solar irradiance.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.7-12
• /
• 2013

The $Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ (CZTS) thin film solar cell is a candidate next generation thin film solar cell. For the application of an absorption layer in solar cells, CZTS thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at substrate temperature of $300^{\circ}C$ without post annealing process. Deposition time was carefully adjusted as the main experimental variable. Regardless of deposition time, single phase CZTS thin films are obtained with no existence of secondary phases. Irregularly-shaped grains are densely formed on the surface of CZTS thin films. With increasing deposition time, the grain size increases and the thickness of the CZTS thin films increases from 0.16 to $1{\mu}m$. The variation of the surface morphology and thickness of the CZTS thin films depends on the deposition time. The stoichiometry of all CZTS thin films shows a Cu-rich and S-poor state. Sn content gradually increases as deposition time increases. Secondary ion mass spectrometry was carried out to evaluate the elemental depth distribution in CZTS thin films. The optimal deposition time to grow CZTS thin films is 150 min. In this study, we show the effect of deposition time on the structural properties of CZTS thin film deposited on soda lime glass (SLG) substrate using PLD. We present a comprehensive evaluation of CZTS thin films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2015.08a
• /
• pp.197.2-197.2
• /
• 2015

Low-cost, high efficiency solar cells are tremendous interests for the realization of a renewable and clean energy source. ZnTe based solar cells have a possibility of high efficiency with formation of an intermediated energy band structure by impurity doping. In this work, the ZnTe:O/CdS/ZnO structure was fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. A pulsed (10 Hz) Nd:YAG laser operating at a wavelength of 266 nm was used to produce a plasma plume from an ablated a ZnTe target, whose density of laser energy was 4.5 J/cm2. The base pressure of the chamber was kept at a pressure of approximately $4{\times}10-7Torr$. ZnO thin film with thickness of 100 nm was grown on to ITO/glass, and then CdS and ZnTe:O thin film were grown on ZnO thin film. Thickness of CdS and ZnTe:O were 50 nm and 500 nm, respectively. During deposition of ZnTe:O films, O2 gas was introduced from 1 to 20 mTorr. For fabricating ZnTe:O/CdS/ZnO solar cells, Au metal was deposited on the ITO film and ZnTe:O by thermal evaporation method. From the fabricated ZnTe:O/CdS/ZnO solar cell, current-voltage characteristics was measured by using HP 4156-a semiconductor parameter analyzer. Finally, solar cell performance was measured using an Air Mass 1.5 Global (AM 1.5 G) solar simulator with an irradiation intensity of 100 mW cm-2.