• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.270-273
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• 2007

In this report, Indium-free and Indium-reduced thin film materials for solar absorber were studied in order to search alternative materials for thin film solar cell. The films of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ and $Cu_2ZnSnSe_2$ were deposited using mixed binary chalcogenides powders. From the film bulk analysis result, it is observed that Cu concentration is a function of substrate temperature as well as CuSe mole ratio in the target. Under optimized conditions, $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ and $Cu_2ZnSnSe_2$ thin films grow with strong (112), (220/204) and (312/116) reflections. Films are found to exhibit a high absorption coefficient of $10^4$ $cm^{-1}$. $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ film shows a 1.5 eV band gap. On the other side, an increasing of optical band gap from 1.0 eV to 1.25 eV ($CuInSnSe_2$) is found to be proportional with an increasing of Zn concentration. All films have a p-type semiconductor characteristic with a carrier concentration in the order of $10^{14}$ $cm^{-3}$, a mobility about $10^1$ $cm^{2{\cdot}-1.}S^{-1}$ and a resistivity at the range of $10^2-10^6$ ${\Omega}{\cdot}m$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.349-349
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• 2009

High quality ZnO:Al films were prepared on glass substrates by in-line RF magnetron sputtering and their surface morphologies were modified by wet-etching process in dilute acid solution to improve optical properties for application to silicon thin film solar cells as front electrode. The as-deposited films show a strong preferred orientation in [001] direction under our experimental conditions. A low resistivity below $5{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and high optical transmittance above 80% in a visible range are achieved in the films deposited at optimized conditions. After wet-etching, the surface morphologies of the films are changed dramatically depending on the deposition conditions, especially working pressure. The optical properties such as total/diffuse transmittance, haze and angular resolved distribution of light are varied significantly with the surface morphology feature, whereas the electrical properties are seldom changed. The cell performances of silicon thin film solar cells fabricated on the textured films are also evaluated in detail with comparison of commercial $SnO_2$:F films.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.68-71
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• 2020

In this study, SiNx and Al₂O₃ thin film was manufactured using PECVD deposition process and applied to crystalline silicon solar cells, resulting in 16.7% conversion efficiency. The structural improvement experiment of the rear electrode resulted in a 1.7% improvement in conversion efficiency compared to the reference cell by reducing the recombination rate of minority carriers and increasing the carrier lifetime by forming a passivation layer consisting of SiNx and Al₂O₃ thin films through the PECVD process.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.779-782
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• 2012

$CuIn_{1-x}Ga_xSe_2$ (CIGS) thin films are grown on Mo/soda lime glass using a reactive sputtering process in which a Se cracker is used to deliver reactive Se molecules. The Cu and $(In_{0.7}Ga_{0.3})_2Se_3$ targets are simultaneously sputtered under the delivery of reactive Se. The effects of Se flux on film composition are investigated. The Cu/(In+Ga) composition ratio increases as the Se flux increases at a plasma power of less than 30 W for the Cu target. The (112) crystal orientation becomes dominant, and crystal grain size is larger with Se flux. The power conversion efficiency of a solar cell fabricated using an 800-nm CIGS film is 8.5%.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.75-82
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• 2017

High efficiency thin film solar cells require an absorber layer with high absorption and low defect, a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) film with high transmittance of over 80% and a high conductivity. Furthermore, light can be captured through the glass substrate and sent to the light absorbing layer to improve the efficiency. In this paper, morphology formation on the surface of glass substrate was investigated by using HF, mainly classified as random etching and periodic etching. We discussed about the etch mechanism, etch rate and hard mask materials, and periodic light trapping structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.688-688
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• 2013

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films have attracted a lot of attention as a cheap transparent conducting oxide (TCO) material that can replace the expensive Sn-doped In2O3. In particular, AZO thin films are widely used as a window layer of chalcogenide-based thin film solar cells such as Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS). Mostly important requirements for the window layer material of the thin film solar cells are the high transparency and the low sheet resistance, because they influence the light absorption by the activelayer and the electron collection from the active layer, respectively. In this study, we prepared the AZO thin films by RF magnetron sputtering using a ZnO/Al2O3 (98：2wt%) ceramic target, and the effect of the sputtering condition such as the working pressure, RF power, and the working distance on the optical, electrical, and crystallographic properties of the AZO thin films was investigated. The AZO thin films with optimized properties were used as a window layer of CZTS thin film solar cells. The CZTS active layers were prepared by the electrochemical deposition and the subsequent sulfurization process, which is also one of the cost-effective synthetic approaches. In addition, the solar cell properties of the CZTS thin film solar cells, such as the photocurrent density-voltage (J-V) characteristics and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) were investigated.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.31-36
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• 2006

Superstrate pin amorphous silicon thin-film(a-Si:H) solar cells are prepared on $SnO_2:F$ and ZnO:Al transparent conducting oxides(TCO) in order to see the effect of TCO/p-layers on a-Si:H solar cell operation. The solar cells prepared on textured ZnO:Al have higher open circuit voltage VOC than cells prepared on $SnO_2:F$. Presence of thin microcrystalline p-type silicon layer(${\mu}c-Si:H$) between ZnO:Al and p a-SiC:H plays a major role by causing improvement in fill factor as well as $V_{OC}$ of a-Si:H solar cells prepared on ZnO:Al TCO. Without any treatment of pi interface, we could obtain high $V_{OC}$ of 994mV while keeping fill factor(72.7%) and short circuit current density $J_{SC}$ at the same level as for the cells on $SnO_2:F$ TCO. This high $V_{OC}$ value can be attributed to modification in the current transport in this region due to creation of a potential barrier.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.158-161
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• 2006

Superstrate pin amorphous silicon thin-film (a-Si:H) solar cells are prepared on $SnO_2:F$ and ZnO:Al transparent conducting oxides (TCO) In order to see the effect of TCO/P-layers on a-Si:H solar cell operation. The solar cells prepared on textured ZnO:Al have higher open circuit voltage $V_{oc}$ than cells prepared on $SnO_2:F$. Presence of thin microcrystalline p-type silicon layer $({\mu}c-Si:H)$ between ZnO:Al and p a-SiC:H plays a major role by causing improvement in fill factor as well as $V_{oc}$, of a-Si:H solar cells prepared on ZnO:Al TCO. Without any treatment of pi interface, we could obtain high $V_{oc}$, of 994mv while keeping fill factor (72.7%) and short circuit current density $J_{sc}$ at the same level as for the cells on $SnO_2:F$ TCO. This high $V_{oc}$ value can be attributed to modification in the current transport in this region due to creation of a potential barrier.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.204-205
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• 2011

In thin film silicon solar cells, p-i-n structure is adopted instead of p/n junction structure as in wafer-based Si solar cells. PECVD is a most widely used thin film deposition process for a-Si:H or ${\mu}c$-Si:H solar cells. For best performance of thin film silicon solar cell, the dopant profiles at p/i and i/n interfaces need to be as sharp as possible. The sharpness of dopant profiles can easily achieved when using multi-chamber PECVD equipment, in which each layer is deposited in separate chamber. However, in a single-chamber PECVD system, doped and intrinsic layers are deposited in one plasma chamber, which inevitably impedes sharp dopant profiles at the interfaces due to the contamination from previous deposition process. The cross-contamination between layers is a serious drawback of a single-chamber PECVD system in spite of the advantage of lower initial investment cost for the equipment. In order to resolve the cross-contamination problem in single-chamber PECVD systems, flushing method of the chamber with NH3 gas or water vapor after doped layer deposition process has been used. In this study, a new plasma process to solve the cross-contamination problem in a single-chamber PECVD system was suggested. A single-chamber VHF-PECVD system was used for superstrate type p-i-n a-Si:H solar cell manufacturing on Asahi-type U FTO glass. A 80 MHz and 20 watts of pulsed RF power was applied to the parallel plate RF cathode at the frequency of 10 kHz and 80% duty ratio. A mixture gas of Ar, H2 and SiH4 was used for i-layer deposition and the deposition pressure was 0.4 Torr. For p and n layer deposition, B2H6 and PH3 was used as doping gas, respectively. The deposition temperature was $250^{\circ}C$ and the total p-i-n layer thickness was about $3500{\AA}$. In order to remove the deposited B inside of the vacuum chamber during p-layer deposition, a high pulsed RF power of about 80 W was applied right after p-layer deposition without SiH4 gas, which is followed by i-layer and n-layer deposition. Finally, Ag was deposited as top electrode. The best initial solar cell efficiency of 9.5 % for test cell area of 0.2 $cm^2$ could be achieved by applying the in-situ plasma cleaning method. The dependence on RF power and treatment time was investigated along with the SIMS analysis of the p-i interface for boron profiles.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.456-460
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• 1999

Transparent conducting tin (IV) oxide thin films have been studies and developed for the electrode materials of solar cell substrate. Fabrication of tin oxide thin films by sol-gel method is process development of lower cost photovoltaic solar cell system. The research is focused on the establishment of process condition and development of precursor. The precursor solution was made of tin isopropoxide dissolved in isopropyl alcohol. The hydrolysis rate was controlled by addition of triethanolamine. Dip and spin coating technique were applied to coat tin oxide on borosilicate glass. The resistivity of the thin film was lower than 0.1Ω-cm and the transmittance is higher than 90% in a visible range.