• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.10
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• pp.1702-1705
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• 2016

We propose a novel hydrogen-reduced p-type amorphous silicon oxide buffer layer between $TiO_2$ antireflection layer and p-type silicon window layer of silicon thin film solar cells. This new buffer layer can protect underlying the $TiO_2$ by suppressing hydrogen plasma, which could be made by excluding $H_2$ gas introduction during plasma deposition. Amorphous silicon oxide thin film solar cells with employing the new buffer layer exhibited better conversion efficiency (8.10 %) compared with the standard cell (7.88 %) without the buffer layer. This new buffer layer can be processed in the same p-chamber with in-situ mode before depositing main p-type amorphous silicon oxide window layer. Comparing with state-of-the-art buffer layer of AZO/p-nc-SiOx:H, our new buffer layer can be processed with cost-effective, much simple process based on similar device performances.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.168-171
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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 Voc=633mV, $Jsc=26.5mA/cm^2,\;FF=77.15\%$. 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.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.531-548
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• 2008

Recently, dense sensor instrumentation for structural health monitoring has motivated the need for novel passive wireless sensors that do not require a portable power source, such as batteries. Using a layer-by-layer self-assembly process, nano-structured multifunctional carbon nanotube-based thin film sensors of controlled morphology are fabricated. Through judicious selection of polyelectrolytic constituents, specific sensing transduction mechanisms can be encoded within these homogenous thin films. In this study, the thin films are specifically designed to change electrical properties to strain and pH stimulus. Validation of wireless communications is performed using traditional magnetic coil antennas of various turns for passive RFID (radio frequency identification) applications. Preliminary experimental results shown in this study have identified characteristic frequency and bandwidth changes in tandem with varying strain and pH, respectively. Finally, ongoing research is presented on the use of gold nanocolloids and carbon nanotubes during layer-by-layer assembly to fabricate highly conductive coil antennas for wireless communications.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.15 no.6
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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.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.84-89
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• 2006

Highly concentrated p-type ZnO thin films can be obtained by doping of N, P and As elements. In this study, undoped ZnO buffer layers were prepared on a (0001) sapphire substrate by a ultra high vaccum pulsed laser deposition(UHV-PLD) method. ZnO buffer layers were deposited with various deposition temperature($400{\sim}700^{\circ}C$) at 350 mtorr of oxygen working pressure. Arsenic doped(1 wt%) ZnO thin films were deposited on the ZnO buffer layers by UHV-PLD. Crystallinity of the samples were evaluated by X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscopy. Optical, electrical properties of the ZnO thin films were estimated by photoluminescence(PL) and Hall measurements. The optimal condition of the undoped ZnO buffer layer for the deposition of As-doped ZnO thin films was at $600^{\circ}C$ of deposition temperature.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.24-27
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• 2009

N-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on n-type Si(100) and homo-buffer layer, and undoped ZnO thin film was also deposited on homo-buffer layer by RF magnetron sputtering method. After deposition, all films were in-situ annealed at $800^{\circ}C$ for 5 minutes in ambient of $O_2$ with pressure of 10Torr. X -ray diffraction shows that the homo-buffer layer is beneficial to the crystalline of N-doped ZnO thin films and all films have preferable c-axis orientation. Atomic force microscopy shows that undoped ZnO thin film grown on homo-buffer layer has an evident improvement of smoothness compared with N-dope ZnO thin films. Hall-effect measurements show that all ZnO films annealed at $800^{\circ}C$ possess p-type conductivities. The undoped ZnO film has the highest carrier concentration of $1.145{\times}10^{17}cm{-3}$. The photoluminescence spectra show the emissions related to FE, DAP and many defects such as $V_{Zn}$, $Zn_O$, $O_i$ and $O_{Zn}$. The p-type defects ($O_i$, $V_{Zn}$, and $O_{Zn}$) are dominant. The undoped ZnO thin film has a better p-type conductivity compared with N-doped ZnO thin film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.230-230
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• 2013

In amorphous or microcrystalline thin-film silicon solar cells, p-i-n structure is used instead of p/n junction structure as in wafer-based Si solar cells. Hence, these p-i-n structured solar cells inevitably consist of many interfaces and the cell efficiency critically depends on the effective control of these interfaces. In this study, in-situ plasma treatment process of the interfaces was developed to improve the efficiency of a-Si:H solar cell. The p-i-n cell was deposited using a single-chamber VHF-PECVD system, which was driven by a pulsed-RF generator at 80 MHz. In order to solve the cross-contamination problem of p-i layer, high RF power was applied without supplying SiH4 gas after p-layer deposition, which effectively cleaned B contamination inside chamber wall from p-layer deposition. In addition to the p-i interface control, various interface control techniques such as thin layer of TiO2 deposition to prevent H2 plasma reduction of FTO layer, multiple applications of thin i-layer deposition and H2 plasma treatment, H2 plasma treatment of i-layer prior to n-layer deposition, etc. were developed. In order to reduce the reflection at the air-glass interface, anti-reflective SiO2 coating was also adopted. The initial solar cell efficiency over 11% could be achieved for test cell area of 0.2 $cm^2$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.341-346
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• 2011

In this study, we inserted a Zn buffer layer into a AZO/p-type a-si:H layer interface in order to lower the contact resistance of the interface. For the Zn layer, the deposition was conducted at 5 nm, 7 nm and 10 nm using the rf-magnetron sputtering method. The results were compared to that of the AZO film to discuss the possibility of the Zn layer being used as a transparent conductive oxide thin film for application in the silicon heterojunction solar cell. We used the rf-magnetron sputtering method to fabricate Al 2 wt.% of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) film as a transparent conductive oxide (TCO). We analyzed the electro-optical properties of the ZnO as well as the interface properties of the AZO/p-type a-Si:H layer. After inserting a buffer layer into the AZO/p-type a-Si:H layers to enhance the interface properties, we measured the contact resistance of the layers using a CTLM (circular transmission line model) pattern, the depth profile of the layers using AES (auger electron spectroscopy), and the changes in the properties of the AZO thin film through heat treatment. We investigated the effects of the interface properties of the AZO/p-type a-Si:H layer on the characteristics of silicon heterojunction solar cells and the way to improve the interface properties. When depositing AZO thin film on a-Si layer, oxygen atoms are diffused from the AZO thin film towards the a-Si layer. Thus, the characteristics of the solar cells deteriorate due to the created oxide film. While a diffusion of Zn occurs toward the a-Si in the case of AZO used as TCO, the diffusion of In occurs toward a-Si in the case of ITO used as TCO.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.461-466
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• 2006

In the present work, we investigated the photodissolution and photodiffusion effect on the interface of Ag/chalcogenide $As_{40}Ge_{10}Se_{15}S_{35}$ thin film by measuring the absorption coefficient, the optical density, the resistance change of Ag layer. It was found that the photodissolutioniphotodiffution ratio depends on the magnitude of photon energy absorbed in the chalcogenide thin film and the depth of photodiffution was proportional to the square root of the exposed time. Also, we have investigated the holographic grating formation with P-polarization states on chalcogenide $As_{40}Ge_{10}Se_{15}S_{35}$ thin film and $As_{40}Ge_{10}Se_{15}S_{35}/Ag$ double layer structure thin film. Holographic gratings have been formed using He-Ne laser (632.8 nm) which have a smaller energy than the optical energy gap, $E_g\;_{opt}$ of the film, i. e., an exposure of sub-bandgap light $(h{\upsilon} under P-polarization. As the results, we found that the diffraction efficiency on $As_{40}Ge_{10}Se_{15}S_{35}/Ag$ double layer structure thin film was more higher than that on single $As_{40}Ge_{10}Se_{15}S_{35}$ thin film. Also, we obtained that the maximum diffraction efficiency was 0.27 %, 1,000 sec on $As_{40}Ge_{10}Se_{15}S_{35}\;(1{\mu}m)/Ag$ (10 nm) double layer structure thin film by (P: P) polarized recording beam. It will offer lots of information for the photodoping mechanism and the analyses of chalcogenide thin films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.367-368
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• 2007

To investigate the 2nO thin films which are interested in the next generation of short wavelength LEDs and Lasers and UV photodetector with p-type inversion layer, the ZnO thin films were deposited by RF sputtering system. Gas ratios and work pressure is Ar : $O_2$ = 4 : 1 and 15 mTorr, respectively, and the purity of ZnO target is 5N. The ZnO thin films were deposited at 300, 450, and $650^{\circ}C$. The current-voltage, responsivity and quantum efficiency of devices were studied and compared with each devices.