• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.455-459
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• 2002

The transport and optical properties of $In_2O_3$:Zn(IZO) thin films grown by DC magnetron sputtering deposition have been studied. The deposition temperatures ($T_s$) were varied from room temperature to $400^{\circ}C$ in $50^{\circ}C$ steps. The IZO films are an amorphous phase for $T_s$<$300^{\circ}C$ and polycrystalline phase for $350^{\circ}C$＜$T_s$. In contrast to ordinary films, amorphous IZO films have lower resistivity and higher optical transmittance than polycrystalline IZO films. The resistivity of amorphous IZO was in the range of 0.29~0.4 m$\Omega$cm and that of polycrystalline IZO was in the range of 1~4 m$\Omega$cm. The carrier type for IZO film was found to be n-type, and the carrier density, was $3~5{\times}10^{20}/cm^3$. The Hall mobility, $({\mu}_H)$, was 20~$50\textrm{cm}^2$/V.sec. The predominant scattering mechanisms in both amorphous and polycrystalline IZO films were believed to be ionized impurity scattering and lattice scattering. The visible transmittance of the IZO films, which decreases with an increase of TS, was above 80%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.235.2-235.2
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• 2015

The front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films must exhibit good transparency, low resistivity and excellent light scattering properties for high efficiency amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cells. The light trapping phenomenon is limited due to non-uniform and low aspect ratio of the textured glass [1]. We present the low cost electrochemically deposited uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods with various aspect ratios for a-Si thin film solar cells. Since the major drawback of the electrochemically deposited ZnO nanorods was the high sheet resistance and low transmittance that was overcome by depositing the RF magnetron sputtered AZO films as a seed layer with various thicknesses [2]. The length and diameters of the ZnO nanorods was controlled by varying the deposition conditions. The length of ZnO nanorods were varied from 400 nm to $2{\mu}m$ while diameter was kept higher than 200 nm to obtain different aspect ratios. The uniform ZnO nanorods showed higher haze ratio as compared to the commercially available FTO films. We also observed that the scattering in the longer wavelength region was favored for the high aspect ratio of ZnO nanorods and much higher aspect ratios degraded the light scattering phenomenon. Therefore, we proposed our low cost and uniform ZnO nanorods for the high efficiency of thin film solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.236.1-236.1
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• 2015

The surface morphology of front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films is very important to achieve high current density in amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cells since it can scatter the light in a better way. In this study, we present the low cost hydrothermal deposited uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-flower structure with various aspect ratios for a-Si thin film solar cells. The ZnO nano-flower structures with various aspect ratios were grown on the RF magnetron sputtered AZO films. The diameters and length of the ZnO nano-flowers was controlled by varying the annealing time. The length of ZnO nano-flowers were varied from 400 nm to $2{\mu}m$ while diameter was kept higher than 200 nm to obtain different aspect ratios. The ZnO nano-flowers with higher surface area as compared to conventional ZnO nano structure are preferred for the better light scattering. The conductivity and crystallinity of ZnO nano-flowers can be enhanced by annealing in hydrogen atmosphere at 350 oC. The vertical aligned ZnO nano-flowers showed higher haze ratio as compared to the commercially available FTO films. We also observed that the scattering in the longer wavelength region was favored for the high aspect ratio of ZnO nano-flowers. Therefore, we proposed low cost and vertically aligned ZnO nano-flowers for the high performance of thin film solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.403-403
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• 2011

결정질 태양전지는 태양전지 시장에 큰 서막을 장식하였다. 현재 여러 종류의 태양전지 기술들이 많이 나오고 있지만 결정질 태양전지는 변환 효율이 좋고 신뢰성이 높아서 높은 시장 점유율을 차지하고 있다. 하지만 응용 분야가 적고 기판 가격이 비싸다는 단점이 있다. 현재에는 응용분야 개선을 위하여 Flexible solar cell에 대한 연구가 활발하다. Flexible solar cell에 상부전극은 결정질 태양전지에서 사용되는 Ag나 Al 전극 대신 TCO 종류의 일종인 ITO를 많이 사용한다. Flexible Solar cell은 Organic Solar cell과 Amorphous Solar Cell 두 가지 범주를 가지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 Amorphous Solar Cell의 전극에 사용되는 ITO의 온도 Stress에 따른 특성을 연구함으로써 Engineer의 근본적인 이슈인 저비용, 고효율에 초점을 맞추어 소자특성을 확인해 보도록 한다. Glass에 E-beam evaporation 장비를 이용하여 ITO를 증착하였고 제작된 소자를 200, 250, 300, 350$^{\circ}C$의 온도변수를 두어 1시간동안 Annealing 하였다. 각 Annealing 온도에 따른 Sheet resistivity,와 visible 영역의 transmittant를 측정하였다. visible영역에서의 transmittant는 Annealing 200$^{\circ}C$에서 300$^{\circ}C$로 온도가 증가함에 따라 transmittant는 증가하다가 350$^{\circ}C$에서 감소하였다. Sheet resistivity의 경우 Annealing 200$^{\circ}C$에서 300$^{\circ}C$로 온도가 증가함에 따라 ITO의 Sheet resistivity가 줄어들다가 350$^{\circ}C$에서 증가하였다. 300$^{\circ}C$로 Annealing한 ITO가 가시광선 영역에서 transmittant가 가장 높은 80%로 측정 되었다. Sheet resistivity역시 300$^{\circ}C$로 Annealing한 ITO가 8${\Omega}/{\Box}$로 가장 낮았다. Annealing 온도가 ITO의 electrical 특성과 optical 특성에 변화를 주었음을 알 수 있었다. Resistivity가 낮은 ITO 전극으로 박막 셀을 제작한다면 좋은 효율을 얻을 수 있을 거라 생각된다.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.208-211
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• 2012

In the present study, a ZnO thin film, as a buffer layer of ITO (indium tin oxide) film was deposited on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at low temperature of $150^{\circ}C$. In order to estimate the optical characteristics and compare with the experimental results in Glass/ZnO(100 nm)/ITO(35 nm) multilayered film, the simulation program, EMP (Essential Macleod Program) was adopted. The sheet resistance and optical transmittance of the films were measured using the four-point probe method and spectrophotometer, respectively. From X-ray diffraction patterns, all the films deposited at $150^{\circ}C$ demonstrated only the amorphous phase. Optical transmittance was the highest at a ZnO thickness of 100 nm. The ITO(35 nm)/ZnO(100 nm) film exhibits an optical transmittance of >92% at 550 nm. The multilayered film showed an electrical sheet resistance of 407 ${\Omega}/sq.$, which is significantly better than that of a single-layer ITO film without a ZnO buffer layer (815 ${\Omega}/sq.$).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.969-973
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• 2009

In this study, the electrical and optical properties of $(SiO_2)_x(ZnO)_{100-x}$ (SZO) films prepared on the coming 7059 glass substrates by using rf-magnetron sputtering method are investigated. The deposition rate becomes maximum near 3 wt.% and gradually decreases when the $SiO_2$ content further increases. The growth rates of the SZO film with $SiO_2$ content of 3 wt.% is $4\;{\AA}/s$. We found that the average transmittance of all films is over 80% in the wavelength range above 500 nm. The optical band gap were decreased from 3.52 to 3.33 eV as an increase the deposition thickness. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the film with a relatively low $SiO_2$ content (< 4 wt.%) is amorphous. SZO film with the $SiO_2$ contents of 2 wt.% showed the resistivity of about $3.8{\times}10^{-3}\;{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. The sheet resistance decreases with increasing the heat treatment temperature.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.1402-1405
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• 2006

Using a indium zinc oxide (IZO) alloy target with a ratio of 90:10 in wt%, highly transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films are prepared on polyethersulfone (PES) substrates by lowfrequency (LF) magnetron sputtering system. These films have amorphous structures with excellent electrical stability, surface uniformity and high optical transmittance. Experiments were carried out as a function of applied voltage. At optimal deposition conditions, thin films of IZO with a sheet resistance of 29 ohm/sq. and an optical transmission of over 82 % in the visible spectrum range were achieved. The IZO thin films fabricated by this method do not require substrate heating during the film preparation or any additional post-deposition annealing treatment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.278.2-278.2
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• 2014

We have investigated the highly flexible and transparent Si-doped $In_2O_3$(ISO)/Ag/ISO multilayer grown on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates using a roll-to-roll sputtering system. The electrical and optical properties of ISO/Ag/ISO multilayer electrodes depended on the insertion of a nano-size Ag layer. Due to the high conductivity of a nano-size Ag layer, the optimized ISO/Ag/ISO multilayer electrodes showed the lowest resistivity of $3.679{\times}10^{-5}Ohm-cm$, even though the ISO/Ag/ISO multilayer electrodes was sputtered at room temperature. Furthermore, the ISO/Ag/ISO multilayer electrodes exhibited a high transmittance of 86.33%, because of the anti-reflection effect, comparable to Sn-doped $In_2O_3$ (ITO) electrodes. In addition, the ISO/Ag/ISO multilayer electrodes had a very smooth surface morphology without surface defects and showed good flexibility. The flexible OSCs fabricated on ISO(30nm)/Ag(8nm)/ISO(30nm) multilayer electrode showed a power conversion efficiency of 3.272%. This result indicates that the ISO/Ag/ISO multilayer is a promising transparent conducting electrode for flexible OSCs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.525-528
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• 2001

ZnO:Al thin film can be used as a transparent conducting oxide(TCO) which has low electric resistivity and high optical transmittance for the front electrode of amorphous silicon solar cells and display devices. This study of electrical, crystallographic and optical properties of Al doped ZnO thin films prepared by Facing Targets Sputtering(FTS), where strong internal magnets were contained in target holders to confine the plasma between the targets, is described. Optimal transmittance and resistivity was obtained by controlling flow rate of $O_2$ gas and substrate temperature. When the $O_2$ gas rate of 0.3 and substrate temperature $200^{\circ}C$, ZnO:Al thin film had strongly oriented c-axis and lower resistivity( < $10^{-4}{\Omega}-cm$ ).

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.245-249
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• 2007

Amorphous IZO films were deposited on PET substrate by DC magnetron sputtering without substrate heating. In order to investigate effect of reactive gas addition on film properties, 0.2-0.4% of $H_2$ or $O_2$ gas was introduced during the deposition. Deposited IZO films were evaluated with mechanical property, electrical property, and water permeability. In the case of $H_2$ gas addition, mechanical property showed clear degradation compared to $O_2$ gas. In the case of $O_2$ gas, water permeability of the IZO film was increased compared to $H_2$ gas which could be attributed to the low adhesion of the film caused by bombardment of high energy negative oxygen ion. As a result, it is confirmed that water permeability of the film could be strongly affected by adhesion of the film.