• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1995.05a
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• pp.163-166
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• 1995

A solar cell I-V (current-voltage) characteristic measurement facility is crucial, for the characteristic of solar cells, The solar cell I-v tester has been designed and fabricated to characterize the solar cell at SAIT.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.160-163
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• 2013

We investigated the effect of light intensity and wavelength of a solar cell device by using photoconductive atomic force microscopy (PC-AFM). The $POCl_3$ diffusion doping process was used to produce a p-n junction solar cell device based on a Poly-Si wafer and the electrical properties of prepared solar cells were measured using a solar cell simulator system. The measured open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) is 0.59 V and the short circuit current ($I_{sc}$) is 48.5 mA. Also, the values of the fill factors and efficiencies of the devices are 0.7% and approximately 13.6%, respectively. In addition, PC-AFM, a recent notable method for nano-scale characterization of photovoltaic elements, was used for direct measurements of photoelectric characteristics in local instead of large areas. The effects of changes in the intensity and wavelength of light shining on the element on the photoelectric characteristics were observed. Results obtained through PC-AFM were compared with the electric/optical characteristics data obtained through a solar simulator. The voltage ($V_{PC-AFM}$) at which the current was 0 A in the I-V characteristic curves increased sharply up to 1.8 $mW/cm^2$, peaking and slowly falling as light intensity increased. Here, $V_{PC-AFM}$ at 1.8 $mW/cm^2$ was 0.29 V, which corresponds to 59% of the average $V_{oc}$ value, as measured with the solar simulator. Also, while light wavelength was increased from 300 nm to 1,100 nm, the external quantum efficiency (EQE) and results from PC-AFM showed similar trends at the macro scale, but returned different results in several sections, indicating the need for detailed analysis and improvement in the future.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.680-684
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• 2018

We investigate the effect of light intensity and wavelength of a solar cell device using photoconductive atomic force microscopy(PC-AFM). A $POCl_3$ diffusion doping process is used to produce a p-n junction solar cell device based on a polySi wafer, and the electrical properties of prepared solar cells are measured using a solar cell simulator system. The measured open circuit voltage($V_{oc}$) is 0.59 V and the short circuit current($I_{sc}$) is 48.5 mA. Moreover, the values of the fill factors and efficiencies of the devices are 0.7 and approximately 13.6 %, respectively. In addition, PC-AFM, a recent notable method for nano-scale characterization of photovoltaic elements, is used for direct measurements of photoelectric characteristics in limited areas instead of large areas. The effects of changes in the intensity and wavelength of light shining on the element on the photoelectric characteristics are observed. Results obtained through PC-AFM are compared with the electric/optical characteristics data obtained through a solar simulator. The voltage($V_{PC-AFM}$) at which the current is 0 A in the I-V characteristic curves increases sharply up to $18W/m^2$, peaking and slowly falling as light intensity increases. Here, $V_{PC-AFM}$ at $18W/m^2$ is 0.29 V, which corresponds to 59 % of the average $V_{oc}$ value, as measured with the solar simulator. Furthermore, while the light wavelength increases from 300 nm to 1,100 nm, the external quantum efficiency(EQE) and results from PC-AFM show similar trends at the macro scale but reveal different results in several sections, indicating the need for detailed analysis and improvement in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1988.05a
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• pp.33-34
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• 1988

Recent developments in characterization techniques for solar cells are reviewed. First, general rules of material selection for solar cells such as $CuInSe_2$ and amorphous silicon of photovoltaic application are studied. Secondly, a method to obtain correct cell efficiency measurements under AM1 condition is introduced. Thirdly, various characterization techniques for solar cells are discussed. A special emphasis is given to up-scaling and computer control of the characterizations in the following systems; cell I-V characteristics for cell efficiency and other cell parameters, spectral response for quantum efficiency, surface photovoltage for diffusion length of minority carriers, and photothermal deflection for density of states in energy gaps.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.35-38
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• 2012

In this study, we have attempted to characterize the photovoltaic effect in real-time measurement of photoinduced current in a poly-Si-based solar cell using photoconductive atomic force microscopy (PC-AFM). However, the high contact resistance that originates from the metal-semiconductor Schottky contact disturbs the current flow and makes it difficult to measure the photoinduced current. To solve this problem, a thin metallic film has been coated on the surface of the device, which successfully decreases the contact resistance. In the PC-AFM analysis, we used a metal-coated conducting cantilever tip as the top electrode of the solar cell and light from a halogen lamp was irradiated on the PC-AFM scanning region. As the light intensity becomes stronger, the current value increases up to $200{\mu}A$ at 80 W, as more electrons and hole carriers are generated because of the photovoltaic effect. The ratio of the conducting area at different conditions was calculated, and it showed a behavior similar to that generated by a photoinduced current. On analyzing the PC-AFM measurement results, we have verified the correlation between the light intensity and photoinduced current of the poly-Si-based solar cell in nanometer scale.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.317-321
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• 2019

We investigated the characteristics of nano crystalline silicon(nc-Si) thin-film solar cells on graphite substrates. Amorphous silicon(a-Si) thin-film solar cells on graphite plates show low conversion efficiency due to high surface roughness, and many recombination by dangling bonds. In previous studies, we deposited barrier films by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) on graphite plate to reduce surface roughness and achieved ~7.8 % cell efficiency. In this study, we fabricated nc-Si thin film solar cell on graphite in order to increase the efficiency of solar cells. We achieved 8.45 % efficiency on graphite plate and applied this to nc-Si on graphite sheet for flexible solar cell applications. The characterization of the cell is performed with external quantum efficiency(EQE) and current density-voltage measurements(J-V). As a result, we obtain ~8.42 % cell efficiency in a flexible solar cell fabricated on a graphite sheet, which performance is similar to that of cells fabricated on graphite plates.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.177-181
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• 2009

Employing statistical design of experiments, we have performed studies on the characterization of electrodes using $TiO_2$ and process variables in the fabrication process of nanocrystalline dye sensitized solar cell. Systematic experiment to identify the effects of process variables on cell's efficiency has based on broad-band absorption of light by tailor made organometallic dye molecules dispersed on a high surface of $TiO_2$. Employing statistical design of experiment on $TiO_2$ photoelectrode forming process, structural characterization of electrodes and process variable have been investigated. Through the statistical analysis we have found that the particle size of $TiO_2$ and the amount of PEG/PEO are significantly affecting on the cell efficiency. In addition, a significant amount of interaction exists between the particle size and the amount of PEG/PEO.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.464.1-464.1
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• 2014

Among numerous material candidates, Cu(InxGa1-x)(SySe2-y) (CIGS) thin films have emerged as promising material candidates for thin film solar cell applications due to the high energy conversion efficiency and relatively low fabrication cost. The CIGS thin film solar cells consist of several materials, including Mo back contacts, ZnO-based window layers, and CdS buffer layers. All these materials have different crystal structures and contain quite distinct chemical elements, and hence the device characterization requires careful analyses. Most of all, identification of the major trap states resulting in the carrier recombination processes is a key step toward realization of high efficiency CIGS solar cells. We have carried out electrical investigations of CIGS thin film solar cells to specify the major trap states and their roles in photovoltaic performance. In particular, we have used the temperature-dependent transport characterizations and admittance spectroscopy. In this presentation, we will introduce some exemplary studies of DC and AC electrical characteristics of the CIGS solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2018

Dopant-free silicon heterojunction solar cells using Transition Metal Oxide(TMO) such as Molybdenum Oxide($MoO_X$) and Vanadium Oxide($V_2O_X$) have been focused on to increase the work function of TMO in order to maximize the work function difference between TMO and n-Si for a high-efficiency solar cell. One another way to increase the work function difference is to control the silicon wafer resistivity. In this paper, dopant-free silicon heterojunction solar cells were fabricated using the wafer with the various resistivity and analyzed to understand the effect of n-Si work function. As a result, it is shown that the high passivation and junction quality when $V_2O_X$ deposited on the wafer with low work function compared to the high work function wafer, inducing the increase of higher collection probability, especially at long wavelength region. the solar cell efficiency of 15.28% was measured in low work function wafer, which is 34% higher value than the high work function solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.73 no.11
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• pp.1794-1798
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• 2018

We have grown famatinite $Cu_3SbS_4$ films by using sulfurization of Cu/Sb stack film. Sulfurization at $500^{\circ}C$ produced famatinite $Cu_3SbS_4$ phase, while $400^{\circ}C$ and $450^{\circ}C$ sulfurization exhibited unreacted and mixed phases. The fabricated $Cu_3SbS_4$ film showed S-deficiency, and secondary phase of $Cu_{12}Sb_4S_{13}$. The secondary phase was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence and external quantum efficiency measurements. We have also fabricated solar cell in substrate type structure, ITO/ZnO/(Zn,Sn)O/$Cu_3SbS_4$/Mo/glass, where $Cu_3SbS_4$ was used as a absorber layer and (Zn,Sn)O was employed as a Cd-free buffer. Our best cell showed power conversion efficiency of 0.198%. Characterization results of $Cu_3SbS_4$ absorber indicates deep defect (due to S-deficiency) and low shunt resistance (due to $Cu_{12}Sb_4S_{13}$ phase). Thus in order to improve the cell efficiency, it is required to grow high quality $Cu_3SbS_4$ film with no S-deficiency and no secondary phase.