• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제3권3호
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• pp.97-100
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• 2015

The kesterite $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ (CZTSe) thin film solar cells were synthesized by selenization of sputtered Cu/Sn/Zn metallic precursors on Mo coated soda lime glass substrate in Ar atmosphere. Cu/Sn/Zn metallic precursors were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering process with 30 W power at room temperature. As-deposited metallic precursors were placed in a graphite box with Se pellets and selenized using rapid thermal processing furnace at various temperature ($480^{\circ}C{\sim}560^{\circ}C$) without using a toxic $H_2Se$ gas. Effects of Selenization temperature on the morphological, crystallinity, electrical properties and cell efficiency were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), J-V measurement system and solar simulator. Further details about effects of selenization temperature on CZTSe thin films will be discussed.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.21-26
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• 2018

Beside several advantages, the PV power generation as a clean energy source, is still below the supply level due to high power generation cost. Therefore, the interest in fabricating low-cost thin film solar cells is increasing continuously. $Cu_2O$, a low cost photovoltaic material, has a wide direct band gap of ~2.1 eV has along with the high theoretical energy conversion efficiency of about 20%. On the other hand, it has other benefits such as earth-abundance, low cost, non-toxic, high carrier mobility ($100cm^2/Vs$). In spite of these various advantages, the efficiency of $Cu_2O$ based solar cells is still significantly lower than the theoretical limit as reported in several literatures. One of the reasons behind the low efficiency of $Cu_2O$ solar cells can be the formation of CuO layer due to atmospheric surface oxidation of $Cu_2O$ absorber layer. In this work, atomic layer deposition method was used to remove the CuO layer that formed on $Cu_2O$ surface. First, $Cu_2O$ absorber layer was deposited by electrodeposition. On top of it buffer (ZnO) and TCO (AZO) layers were deposited by atomic layer deposition and rf-magnetron sputtering respectively. We fabricated the cells with a change in the deposition temperature of buffer layer ranging between $80^{\circ}C$ to $140^{\circ}C$. Finally, we compared the performance of fabricated solar cells, and studied the influence of buffer layer deposition temperature on $Cu_2O$ based solar cells by J-V and XPS measurements.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2011년도 제41회 하계 정기 학술대회 초록집
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• pp.376-376
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• 2011

I-III-VI2 chalcopyrite compounds, particularly copper, indium, gallium selenide(Cu(InxGa1-x)Se2, CIGS), are effective light-absorbing materials in thin-film solar application. They are direct band-gap semiconductors with correspondingly high optical absorption coefficients. Also they are stable under long-term excitation. CIS (CIGS) solar cell reached conversion efficiencies as high as 19.5%. Several methods to prepare CIS (CIGS) absorber films have been reported, such as co-evaporation, sputtering, selenization, and electrodeposition. Until now, co-evaporation is the most successful technique for the preparation of CIS (CIGS) in terms of solar efficiency, but it seems difficult to scale up. CIS solar cells have been hindered by high costs associated with a fabrication process. Therefore, inorganic colloidal ink suitable for a scalable coating process could be a key step in the development of low-cost solar cells. Here, we will present the preparation of CIS photo absorption layer by a solution process using novel metal precursors. Chalcopyrite copper indium diselenide (CuInSe2) nanocrystals ranging from 5 to 20nm in diameter were synthesized by arrested precipitation in solution. For the fabrication of CIS photo absorption layer, the CuInSe2 colloidal ink was prepared by dispersing in organic solvent and used to drop-casting on molybdenum substrate. We have characterized the nanoparticless and CIS layer by XRD, SEM, TEM, and ICP.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제4권3호
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• pp.114-118
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• 2016

$Cu_{1.8}Zn_{1.2}(Sn_{1-x}Ge_x)S_4$ (CZTGeS) nanocrystals were mechanochemically synthesized from elemental precursor powders without using any organic solvents and any additives. The composition of CZTGeS nanocrystals were systematically varied with different Ge mole fraction (x) from 0.1 to 0.9. The XRD, Raman spectroscopy, high-resolution TEM, and diffuse reflectance studies show that the as-synthesized CZTGeS nanocrystals exhibited consistent changes in various structural and optical properties as a function of x, such as lattice parameters, wave numbers for $A_1$ Raman vibration mode, interplanar distances (d-spacing), and optical bandgap energies. The bandgap energy of the synthesized CZTGeS nanocrystals gradually increases from 1.40 to 1.61 eV with increasing x from 0.1 to 0.9, demonstrating that Ge-doping is useful means to tune the bandgap of mechanochemically synthesized nanocrystals-based kesterite thin-film solar cells. The preliminary solar cell performance is presented with an efficiency of 3.66%.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제31권7호
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• pp.437-442
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• 2018

This work reports the preparation of Al-Ti based oxide thin films and their optical properties. Although the transmittance of a $TiO_2/Al2O_3$ bilayer structure was as high as 90% at wavelengths of 600 nm or larger, the reflectance of the bilayer reached its minimum at wavelengths of around 360 nm. The transmittance of an 89-nm-thick $TiO_2$ thin film rapidly increased and then decreased at a critical wavelength because of destructive interference. The wavelength corresponding to the reflectance minimum increased after an increase in $TiO_2$ film thickness. The smooth surface morphology of the AlTiO thin film was retained up to a film thickness of 65 nm, and the transmittance of the film was inversely proportional to film thickness, in accordance with the general tendency for optical films. The reflectance of the AlTiO film at visible light wavelengths was lower than that of the $TiO_2$ film, which implies that the AlTiO film is suitable for applications as an optical thin film layer in semitransparent solar cells.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.36-41
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• 2023

We investigated the properties of vanadium oxide (VOx) buffer layers deposited by a dual RF magnetron sputtering method under various target powers for inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs). Sputter fabricatged VOx thin films exhibited higher crystallinity with the increase of target power, resulting in a uniform and large grain size. The electrical properties of VOx films are improved with the increase of target power because of the increase of V content. In the results, the performance of IOSCs critically depended on the target power during the film growth because the crystalllinity of the VOx film affects the carrier mobility of the VOx film.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2008년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.438-440
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• 2008

Effects of Ga contents of CIGS absorber layer on the performance of thin films solar cells were investigated. As Ga content increased, the grain size of CIGS films decreased presumably because Ga diffusion during 2nd stage of co-evaporation process is more difficult than In diffusion. Performances of corresponding solar cell show systematic dependence on Ga content in which open circuit voltage increases and short circuit current and fill factor decrease as Ga contents increases. At a optimal condition of Ga/(In+Ga)=0.27, the solar cell shows a conversion efficiency of 15.6% with $V_{OC}$ of 0.625 V, $J_{SC}$ of 35.03 mA/$cm^2$ and FF of 71.3%.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.204-210
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• 2020

ZnO thin films are of considerable interest because they can be customized by various coating technologies to have high electrical conductivity and high visible light transmittance. Therefore, ZnO thin films can be applied to various optoelectronic device applications such as transparent conducting thin films, solar cells and displays. In this study, ZnO rod and thin films are fabricated using aqueous chemical bath deposition (CBD), which is a low-cost method at low temperatures, and environmentally friendly. To investigate the structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO for the presence of citrate ion, which can significantly affect crystal form of ZnO, various amounts of the citrate ion are added to the aqueous CBD ZnO reaction bath. As a result, ZnO crystals show a nanorod form without citrate, but a continuous thin film when citrate is above a certain concentration. In addition, as the citrate concentration increases, the electrical conductivity of the ZnO thin films increases, and is almost unchanged above a certain citrate concentration. Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cell substrates are used to evaluate whether aqueous CBD ZnO thin films can be applicable to real devices. The performance of aqueous CBD ZnO thin films shows performance similar to that of a sputter-deposited ZnO:Al thin film as top transparent electrodes of CIGS solar cells.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.106-110
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• 2014

Atomic layer deposition(ALD)을 이용하여 $Al_2O_3$ 박막을 형성하고 이에 대한 패시베이션 특성에 대한 연구를 수행하였다. ALD로 증착된 $Al_2O_3$ 박막은 $400^{\circ}C$ 5분간 후속 열처리 공정 후에도 $Al_2O_3$ - 실리콘 계면 반응 없이 비정질 상태를 유지할 만큼 구조적으로 안정한 특성을 나타내었다. 후속 열처리 후 $Al_2O_3$ 박막의 패시베이션 특성이 향상되었으며, 이는 field effective 패시베이션과 화학적 패시베이션 효과가 동시에 상승에 기인하는 것으로 판단된다. $Al_2O_3$ 박막의 음고정 전하를 정량적으로 평가하기 위해서 후속 열처리 공정을 거친 $Al_2O_3$ 박막을 이용하여 metal-oxide-semiconductor(MOS) 소자를 제작하고 capacitance-voltage(C-V) 분석을 수행하였다. C-V 결과로부터 추출된 flatband voltage($V_{FB}$)와 equivalent oxide thickness(EOT)의 관계식을 통하여 $Al_2O_3$ 박막의 고정음전하는 $2.5{\times}10^{12}cm^{-2}$로 계산되었으며, 이는 본 연구에서 제시된 $Al_2O_3$ 박막 공정이 N-type 실리콘 태양전지의 패시베이션 공정에 응용 가능하다는 것을 의미한다.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.260-262
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• 2005

Thickness optimization of heavily doped p-type seeding layer was studied to improve performance of thin film silicon solar cell. We used liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) to grow active layer of $25{\mu}m$ thickness on $p^+$ seeding layer. The cells with $p^+$ seeding layer of $10{\mu}m\;to\;50{\mu}m$ thickness were fabricated. The highest efficiency of a cell is 12.95%, with $V_{oc}=633mV,\;J_{sc}=26.5mA/cm^2$, FF = 77.15%. The $p^+$ seeding layer of the cell is $20{\mu}m$ thick. As thicker seeding layer than $20{\mu}m$, the performance of the cell was degraded. The results demonstrate that the part of the recombination current is due to the heavily doped seeding layer. Thickness of heavily doped p-type seeding layer was optimized to $20{\mu}m$. The performance of solar cell is expected to improve with the incorporation of light trapping as texturing and AR coating.