• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.461-465
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• 2011

An aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) film for front contacts of thin film solar cells, in this work, were deposited by r.f. magnetron sputtering, and then etched in diluted hydrochloric acid solution for different times. Effects of surface texturing on the electro-optical properties of AZO films were investigated. Also, to clarify the light trapping of textured AZO film, amorphous silicon thin film solar cells were fabricated on the textured AZO/glass substrate and the performance of solar cells were studied. After texturing, the spectral haze at the visible range of 400 ~750 nm increased substantially with the etching time, without a change in the resistivity. The conversion efficiency of amorphous Si solar cells with textured AZO film as a front electrode was improved by the increase of short-circuit current density ($J_{sc}$), compared to cell with flat AZO films.

• 반도체디스플레이기술학회지
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.32-36
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• 2018

For various oxygen($O_2$) to argon(Ar) gas ratio, aluminum-doped zinc oxide(AZO) films were deposited for 3 min at different duty ratio by changing reverse pulse times. As the duty ratio increased, the thickness of the AZO film decreased and the sheet resistance increased. It can be concluded that When sputtering AZO Thin film, oxygen interfered with sputtering. When the reverse time was increased, the thickness of AZO was proportional to the real sputtering time and decreased. From the optical transmittance and sheet resistance, it was possible to obtain a higher figure of merits of AZO at a lower reverse pulse time. Even at the short reversed pulse time, it can be concluded that the accumulated charges on the AZO target are completely cleared. At a lower reverse pulse time, pulsed-DC sputtering of AZO is expected to be used instead of DC sputtering in the deposition of transparent conductive oxide(TCO) films without any degradation in thickness and structural/electrical characteristics.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.401-405
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• 2017

Because silicon thin film solar cells have a high absorption coefficient in visible light, they can absorb 90% of the solar spectrum in a $1-{\mu}m$-thick layer. Silicon thin film solar cells also have high transparency and are lightweight. Therefore, they can be used for building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems. However, the contact electrode needs to be replaced for fabricating silicon thin film solar cells in BIPV systems, because most of the silicon thin film solar cells use metal electrodes that have a high reflectivity and low transmittance. In this study, we replace the conventional aluminum top electrode with a transparent aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) electrode, the band level of which matches well with that of the intrinsic layer of the silicon thin film solar cell and has high transmittance. We show that the AZO effectively replaces the top metal electrode and the bottom fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate without a noticeable degradation of the photovoltaic characteristics.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.207-212
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• 2014

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were deposited on SiOC/Si wafer by an RF-magnetron sputtering system, by varying the deposition parameters of radio frequency power from 50 to 200 W. To assess the correlation of the optical properties between the substrate and AZO thin film, photoluminescence was measured, and the origin of deep level emission of AZO thin films grown on SiOC/Si wafer was studied. AZO formed on SiOC/Si substrates exhibited ultraviolet emission due to exciton recombination, and the visible emission was associated with intrinsic and extrinsic defects. For the AZO thin film deposited on SiOC at low RF-power, the deep level emission near the UV region is attributed to an increase of the variations of defects related to the AZO and SiOC layers. The applied RF-power influenced an energy gap of localized trap state produced from the defects, and the gap increased at low RF power due to the formation of new defects across the AZO layer caused by lattice mismatch of the AZO and SiOC films. The optical properties of AZO films on amorphous SiOC compared with those of AZO film on Si were considerably improved by reducing the roughness of the surface with low surface ionization energy, and by solving the problem of structural mismatch with the AZO film and Si wafer.

• 대한기계학회논문집B
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• 제37권6호
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• pp.577-582
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• 2013

AZO(Aluminium-doped Zinc Oxide)는 기존의 LCD, OLED, 광센서, 유기태양전지 등의 투명전극에 널리 사용되는 ITO(Indium Tin Oxide)를 대체하기 위한 물질로 주목받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 유기태양전지의 투명 전극으로 많이 사용되는 ITO 를 대체하기 위해 원자층 증착(ALD) 공정의 저온 선택적 증착 특성을 이용하여 유연성 폴리머인 PEN 기판상에 AZO 투명전극을 직접 패턴방식으로 제조하고, 그 투명전극의 구조적, 전기적, 광학적 특성을 평가하였다. 전기적, 광학적 특성 결과들로부터 원자층 증작공정의 저온 선택적 증착 특성을 통해 형성된 AZO 투명전극의 유기태양전지로의 적용 가능성을 확인할 수 있었다.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.592-598
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• 1998

ZnO($Al_2O_3\;2%$ 2% doped) 산화물 타겟과 금속 Zn(Al 2% doped) 타겟을 사용하여 반응성 직류 마그네트론 스퍼터링법으로 산소 가스 및 인가 전력을 조절하면서 AZO(Aluminum doped Zine Oxide) 막을 증착하였다. 비저항과 평균 투과율을 고려할 때 최적의 투명전도성을 보이는 조건은 산화물 타겟의 경우 산소가스의 비가 $0.5{\times}10^{-2}~1.0{\times}10^{-2}$범위이며, 금속 타겟의 경우 인가전력 0.6kW에서는 0.215~0.227, 1.0kW에서는 0.305~0.315이었다. 각 최적조건에서 제막된 AZO 막의 비저항은 $1.2~1.4{\times}10^{-3} {\Omega}{\cdot}cm$cm으로 타겟에 의한 차이는 없었다.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제21권9호
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• pp.863-867
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• 2008

In this paper, to increase the light current efficiency of photodiode, we fabricated aluminum-doped zinc oxide(AZO) thin films by RF magnetron sputtering. AZO thin films were deposited at low temperature of 100 $^{\circ}C$ and different RF powers of 50, 100, 150 and 200 W due to selective process technology. Then the AZO thin films were annealed at 400 $^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr in vacuum ambient to increase crystalline. The lowest resistivity of 1.35 ${\times}$ $10^{-3}$ ${\Omega}cm$ and a high transmittance over 90 % were obtained under the conditions of 3 mTorr, 100 'c and 150 W. The optimized AZO thin films were deposited as anti-reflection coating on PN junction of silicon photodiode. It was confirmed by the result of $V_r-I_{ph}$ curve that the efficiency of photodiode with AZO thin film was enhanced 17 % more than commercial photodiode.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2011년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.121.2-121.2
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• 2011

Aluminum-doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) is considered as an excellent candidate to replace Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), which is widely used as transparent conductive oxide (TCO) for electronic devices such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic solar cells (OSCs). In the present study, AZO thin film was applied to the transparent electrode of a channel-shaped flexible organic solar cell using a low-temperature selective-area atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. AZO thin films were deposited on Poly-Ethylene-Naphthalate (PEN) substrates with Di-Ethyl-Zinc (DEZ) and Tri-Methyl-Aluminum (TMA) as precursors and $H_2O$ as an oxidant for the atomic layer deposition at the deposition temperature of $130^{\circ}C$. The pulse time of TMA, DEZ and $H_2O$, and purge time were 0.1 second and 20 second, respectively. The electrical and optical properties of the AZO films were characterized as a function of film thickness. The 300 nm-thick AZO film grown on a PEN substrate exhibited sheet resistance of $87{\Omega}$/square and optical transmittance of 84.3% at a wavelength between 400 and 800 nm.

• 한국정보통신학회논문지
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.191-196
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• 2010

본 연구에서는 타겟 제작에 드는 비용을 줄이고, 타겟 이용의 효율성을 높이기 위해 기존의 소결된 세라믹 타겟 대신 분말 타겟으로 사용하여 알루미늄 도핑된 산화아연(Aluminum doped zinc oxde; AZO)박막을 마그네트론 스퍼터법에 의해 제조하고, 스퍼터 압력에 따른 박막 물성을 조사하였다. 유리 기판에 증착된 AZO 박막은 타깃 종류 및 스퍼터 압력에 관계없이 기판에 수직한 c-축 방향으로 우선 성장방위를 갖는 hexagonal 구조로 성장되었다. 스퍼터 압력이 증가함에 따라 이 면 방향으로의 결정성장이 촉진되었다. AZO 박막의 전기적, 광학적 특성은 스퍼터 압력 증가에 따라 향상되었으며, 15 mTorr에서 $6.5{\times}10^{-1}\;{\Omega}-cm$의 최소의 비저항 값을 나타내었다.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제51권2호
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• pp.116-125
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• 2018

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a commonly used material for the front contact layer of chalcopyrite $CuInGaSe_2$ (CIGS) based thin film solar cells since it satisfies the requisite optical and electrical properties with low cost and abundant elemental availability. Low-resistivity and high-transmission front contacts have been developed for high-performance CIGS solar cells, and nearly meet the required performance. However, the durability of the cell especially for the corrosion resistance of AZO films has not been studied intensively. In this work, AZO films were prepared on Corning glass 7059 substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering depending on the hydrogen content. The electrical and optical properties and electrochemical corrosion resistance of the AZO films were evaluated as a function of the hydrogen content. With increasing hydrogen content to 6 wt%, the crystallinity, crystal size, and surface roughness of the films increased, and the resistivity decreased with increased carrier concentration, Hall mobility, oxygen vacancies, and $Zn(OH)_2$ binding on the AZO surface. At a hydrogen content of 6 wt%, the corrosion resistance was also relatively high with less columnar morphology, shallow pore channels, and lower grain boundary angles.