• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.390.2-390.2
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• 2016

Single crystalline indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanowires (NWs) were grown by sputtering method. A thin Ni film of 5 nm was coated before ITO sputtering. Thermal treatment forms Ni nanoparticles, which act as templates to diffuse Ni into the sputtered ITO layer to grow single crystalline ITO NWs. Highly optical transparent photoelectric devices were realized by using a transparent metal-oxide semiconductor heterojunction by combining of p-type NiO and n-type ZnO. A functional template of ITO nanowires was applied to this transparent heterojunction device to enlarge the light-reactive surface. The ITO NWs/n-ZnO/p-NiO heterojunction device provided a significant high rectification ratio of 275 with a considerably low reverse saturation current of 0.2 nA. The optical transparency was about 80% for visible wavelengths, however showed an excellent blocking UV light. The nanostructured transparent heterojunction devices were applied for UV photodetectors to show ultra fast photoresponses with a rise time of 8.3 mS and a fall time of 20 ms, respectively. We suggest this transparent and super-performing UV responser can practically applied in transparent electronics and smart window applications.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.14-17
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• 2014

In this paper, indium reduced materials for transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) were fabricated and their physical properties were evaluated. Two of materials, indium-zinc-tin oxide (IZTO) and aluminum (Al) were selected as TCE materials. In case of IZTO nanoparticles, composition ratios of In, Zn and Sn is 8:1:1 were synthesized. Size of the synthesized IZTO nanoparticles were less than 10 nm, and specific surface areas were about $90m^2/g$ indicating particle sizes are very fine. Also, the IZTO nanoparticles were well crystallized with (222) preferred orientation despite it was synthesized at the lowered temperature of $300^{\circ}C$. Composition ratios of In, Zn and Sn were very uniform in accordance with those as designed. Meanwhile, Al was deposited onto glass by sputtering in a vacuum chamber for mesh architecture. The Al was well deposited onto the glass, and no pore was observed from the Al surface. The sheet resistance of Al on glass was about $0.3{\Omega}/{\square}$ with small deviation of $0.025{\Omega}/{\square}$, and adhesion was good on the glass substrate since no pelt-off part of Al was observed by tape test. If the Al mesh is combined with ink coated layer which is consistent of IZTO nanoparticles, it is expected that the good and reliable metal mesh architecture for TCE will be formed.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.135-139
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• 2017

We fabricated two different transparent conducting oxide thin films of ZnO doped with Ga ($Ga_2O_3$ 0.9 wt%) as well as Al ($Al_2O_3$ 2.1 wt%) (GAZO) and ZnO doped only with Al ($Al_2O_3$ 3 wt%) (AZO). It was investigated how it affects the moisture resistance of the transparent electrode. In addition, $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ thin film solar cells with two transparent oxides as front electrodes were fabricated, and the correlation between humidity resistance of transparent electrodes and device performance of solar cells was examined. When both transparent electrodes were exposed to high temperature distilled water, they showed a rapid increase in sheet resistance and a decrease in the fill factor of the solar cell. However, AZO showed a drastic decrease in efficiency at the beginning of exposure, while GAZO showed that the deterioration of efficiency occurred over a long period of time and that the long term moisture resistance of GAZO was better.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.13 no.spc2
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• pp.336-340
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• 2012

Wide band gap p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO:H) buffer layer has been used at the interface of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) p-type layer of a p-i-n type a-Si:H solar cell. Introduction of 5 nm thick buffer layer improves in blue response of the cell along with 0.5% enhancement of photovoltaic conversion efficiency (η). The cells with buffer layer show higher open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), short circuit current density (Jsc) and improved blue response with respect to the cell without buffer layer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.339-344
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• 2017

An all-transparent photodetector was fabricated by structuring $Cu_2O$/ZnO/AZO/ITO on a glass substrate. The visible-range transmittance was as high as 80%, which ensures clear vision forhuman eyes. High-transparency metal conductive oxides (p-type $Cu_2O$ and n-type ZnO) were appliedto form the transparent p/n junction. The functional AZO layer was adopted to improve the transparent photodetector performance between the ZnO and ITO, improving the photoresponses because of its electrical conductivity. To clarify the AZO functionality, a comparator device was prepared without the AZO layer in the formation of $Cu_2O$/ZnO/ITO/Glass. The $Cu_2O$/ZnO/AZO/ITO device provided a rectifying ratio of 113.46, significantly better than the 9.44 of the $Cu_2O$/ZnO/ITO device. In addition, the $Cu_2O$/ZnO/AZO/ITO device's photoresponses at short wavelengths were better than those of the comparator. The functioning AZO layer provides ahigh-performing transparent Cu oxide photodetector and may suggest a route for the design of efficient photoelectric devices.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.609-614
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• 2017

The proposed stretchable transparent electrodes based on silver nanowires (AgNWs) were prepared on a polyurethane (PU) substrate. In order toavoid the surface roughness caused by the silver nanowires, a titanium oxide ($TiO_2$) buffer layer was addedby coating and heating the organometallic sol-gel solution. The fabricated stretchable electrodes showedan electrical sheet resistance of $24{\Omega}sq^{-1}$, 78% transmittance at 550 nm, and an average surface roughness below 5 nm. Furthermore, the AgNW-based electrode maintained its initial electrical resistance under 130% strain testing conditions, without the assistance of additional conductive polymer layers. In this paper, the critical role of the $TiO_2$ buffer layer between the AgNW network and the PU substrate has been discussed.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.36.1-36.1
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• 2010

While the substrate-type solar cells with Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorbers yield conversion efficiencies of up 20%[1], the highest published efficiency of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 superstrate solar cell is only 12.8% [2]. The commerciallized Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells are made in the substrate configuration having the stacking sequence of substrate (soda lime glass)/back contact (molybdenum)/absorber layer (Cu(In,Ga)Se2)/buffer layer (cadmium sulfide)/window layer (transparent conductive oxide)/anti reflection layer (MgF2) /grid contact. Thus, it is not possible to illuminate the substrate-type cell through the glass substrate. Rather, it is necessary to illuminate from the opposite side which requires an elaborate transparent encapsulation. In contrast to that, the configuration of superstrate solar cell allows the illumination through the glass substrate. This saves the expensive transparent encapsulation. Usually, the high quality Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber requires a high deposition temperature over 550C. Therefore, the front contact should be thermally stable in the temperature range to realize a successful superstrate-type solar cell. In this study, it was tried to make a decent superstrate-type solar cell with the thermally stable ZnO:Al layer obtained by adjusting its deposition parameters in magnetron sputtering process. The effect of deposition condition of the layer on the cell performance will be discussed together with hall measurement results and current-voltage characteristics of the cells.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 2023

Functional transparent electrode was achieved by metal oxide-metal-Metal oxide (OMO) structure. Tailoring of metal oxide and metal layers, optically transparent and electrically excellent OMO films were investigated. Silver (Ag) is adopted for the metal layer and Ag oxide (AgO) is reactively formed by flowing O₂ gas during the sputtering process. This spontaneous AgO formation from Ag simultaneously provides the good electrical interface with high transparency. Due to the feature of transparent electrode of OMO, it endows the shielding effect (SE) function of electromagnetic interference. Optically transparent and electrically conductive OMO electrode shows the high transmittance (83.7%) and low sheet resistance (6.5 Ω/☐) with SE of 29.54 dB.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.351.2-351.2
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• 2014

Indium tin oxide (ITO) has a lot of variations of its properties because it is basically in an amorphous state. Therefore, the differences in composition ratio of ITO can result in alteration of electrical properties. Normally, ITO is considered as transparent conductive oxide (TCO), possessing excellent properties for the optical and electrical devices. Quantitatively, TCO has transparency over 80 percent within the range of 380nm to 780nm, which is visible light although its specific resistance is less than $10-3{\Omega}/cm$. Thus, the solar cell is the best example for which ITO has perfectly matching profile. In addition, when ITO is used as transparent conductive electrode, this material essentially has to have a proper work function with contact materials. For instance, heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cell could have both front ITO and backside ITO. Because each side of ITO films has different type of contact materials, p-type amorphous silicon and n-type amorphous silicon, work function of ITO has to be modified to transport carrier with low built-in potential and Schottky barrier, and approximately requires variation from 3 eV to 5 eV. In this study, we examine the change of work function for different sputtering conditions using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). Structure of ITO films was investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Optical transmittance of the films was evaluated by using an ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometer

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.259-259
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• 2015

Single crystalline indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanowires (NWs) were grown by sputtering method. A thin Ni film of 5 nm was deposited before ITO sputtering. Thermal treatment forms Ni nanoparticles, which act as templates to diffuse Ni into the sputtered ITO layer to grow single crystalline ITO NWs. This Ni diffusion through an ITO NW was investigated by transmission electron microscope to observe the Ni-tip sitting on a single crystalline ITO NW. Meanwhile, a single crystalline ITO structure was found at bottom and body part of a single ITO NW without remaining of Ni atoms. This indicates the Ni atoms diffuse through the oxygen vacancies of ITO structure. Rapid thermal process (RTP) applied to generate an initial stage of a formation of Ni nanoparticles with variation in time periods to demonstrate the existence of an optimum condition to initiate ITO NW growth. Modulation in ITO sputtering condition was applied to verify the ITO NW growth or the ITO film growth. The Ni-assisted grown ITO layer has an improved electrical conductivity while maintaining a similar transmittance value to that of a single ITO layer. Electrically conductive and optically transparent nanowire-coated surface morphology would provide a great opportunity for various photoelectric devices.