• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1262-1268
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• 1995

Photoelectrochemical properties of p-GaAs electrode have been investigated. I-V characteristic shows that the cathodic photocurrent is observed at -0.7 V vs. SCE. The photoresponse at near 870~880nm wavelength indicates that the photogenerated carriers contibuted to the observed current. The maximum converson efficiency of 35% is obtained for a Xe lamp light source at 400nm. In C-V relation, capacitance peaks appeared at the frequencies of 100Hz and 300Hz due to the activation of the interfacial states which exist at the energy level corresponding to the one-third of the GaAs band gap. The difference of about 1.1V between flatband potential (Vfb) from the Mott-Schottky method and onset voltage from I-V curve is observed due to the trap of carriers at the interfacial states in the boundary between GaAs and electrolyte. In case of WO3 deposited p-GaAs electrode, higher positive onset current and photocurent density are obtained. This can be explained by the fact that carriers are generated by light penetrated into the WO3 thin flm as well as p-GaAs substrate and then move into the electrolyte effectively.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.85-90
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• 2017

The $TiCl_4$ as a blocking material is adsorbed in the mesoporous $TiO_2$ electron transfer layer(ETL) of the Perovskite solar cell to prevent the direct contact between the FTO electrode and the photoactive layer(AL), and facilitate the movement of the electrons between $TiO_2:TiCl_4$ ETL and Perovskite AL to improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency(PCE). The structure of the perovskite solar cell is FTO/$TiO_2:TiCl_4$/Perovskite($CH_3NH_3PbI_3$)/spiro-OMeTAD/Ag. It was investigated that the dipping time of the $TiO_2$ into $TiCl_4$ aqueous solution affects on the photoelectric characteristics of the device. By the dipping for 30 minutes, the PCE of the perovskite solar cell with the $TiO_2:TiCl_4$ ETL was the highest 10.46%, which is 27% higher than the cell with $TiO_2$ ETL. From SEM, EDS, and XRD characterization on the $TiO_2:TiCl_4$ ETL and the perovskite AL, it was measured that the decrease of the porosity of the $TiO_2$ layer, the detection of the Cl component by the $TiCl_4$ adsorption, the cube-type morphology of perovskite AL, and shift of the $PbI_2$ peak of the perovskite AL. From these results, it was confirmed that the $TiO_2:TiCl_4$ ETL and the perovskite AL were formed.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.68-79
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• 2016

The power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells has remarkably increased from 3.81% to 22.1% in the past 6 years. Perovskite solar cells, which are based on the perovskite crystal structure, are fabricated using organic-inorganic hybrid materials. The advantages of these solar cells are their low cost and simple fabrication procedure. Also, they have a band gap of about 1.6 eV and effectively absorb light in the visible region. For the commercialization of perovskite solar cells in the field of photovoltaics, the issue of their long term stability cannot be overlooked. Although the development of perovskite solar cells is unprecedented, their main drawback is the degradation of the perovskite structure by moisture. This degradation is accelerated by exposure to UV light, temperature, and external bias. This paper reviews the aforesaid reasons for perovskite solar cell degradation. We also discuss the research directions that can lead to the development of perovskite solar cells with high stability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.493-493
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• 2014

The manufacturing cost of thin-film photovoltics can potentially be lowered by minimizing the amount of a semiconductor material used to fabricate devices. Thin-film solar cells are typically only a few micrometers thick, whereas crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafer solar cells are $180{\sim}300\mu}m$ thick. As such, thin-film layers do not fully absorb incident light and their energy conversion efficiency is lower compared with that of c-Si wafer solar cells. Therefore, effective light trapping is required to realize commercially viable thin-film cells, particularly for indirect-band-gap semiconductors such as c-Si. An emerging method for light trapping in thin film solar cells is the use of metallic nanostructures that support surface plasmons. Plasmon-enhanced light absorption is shown to increase the cell photocurrent in many types of solar cells, specifically, in c-Si thin-film solar cells and in poly-Si thin film solar cell. By proper engineering of these structures, light can be concentrated and coupled into a thin semiconductor layer to increase light absorption. In many cases, silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NP) are formed either on the front surface or on the rear surface on the cells. In case of poly-Si thin film solar cells, Ag NPs are formed on the rear surface of the cells due to longer wavelengths are not perfectly absorbed in the active layer on the first path. In our cells, shorter wavelengths typically 300~500 nm are also not effectively absorbed. For this reason, a new concept of plasmonic nanostructure which is NPs formed both the front - and the rear - surface is worth testing. In this simulation Al NPs were located onto glass because Al has much lower parasitic absorption than other metal NPs. In case of Ag NP, it features parasitic absorption in the optical frequency range. On the other hand, Al NP, which is non-resonant metal NP, is characterized with a higher density of conduction electrons, resulting in highly negative dielectric permittivity. It makes them more suitable for the forward scattering configuration. In addition to this, Ag NP is located on the rear surface of the cell. Ag NPs showed good performance enhancement when they are located on the rear surface of our cells. In this simulation, Al NPs are located on glass and Ag NP is located on the rear Si surface. The structure for the simulation is shown in figure 1. Figure 2 shows FDTD-simulated absorption graphs of the proposed and reference structures. In the simulation, the front of the cell has Al NPs with 70 nm radius and 12.5% coverage; and the rear of the cell has Ag NPs with 157 nm in radius and 41.5% coverage. Such a structure shows better light absorption in 300~550 nm than that of the reference cell without any NPs and the structure with Ag NP on rear only. Therefore, it can be expected that enhanced light absorption of the structure with Al NP on front at 300~550 nm can contribute to the photocurrent enhancement.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.spc8
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• pp.2899-2905
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• 2011

We have demonstrated that TPyPA can be used as an efficient multi-functional material for OLEDs; hole transporting material (HTL), blue and white-light emitter. The device based on TPyPA as the HTL exhibited an external quantum efficiency of 1.7% and a luminance efficiency of 4.2 cd/A; these values are 40% higher than the external quantum efficiency and luminance efficiency of the NPD-based reference device. The device based on TPyPA as a blue-light emitter exhibited an external quantum efficiency of 4.2% and a luminance efficiency of 5.3 $cdA^{-1}$ with CIE coordinates at (0.16, 0.14), the device based on TPyPA as a white-light emitter exhibited an external quantum efficiency of 3.2% and a luminance efficiency of 7.7 $cdA^{-1}$ with CIE coordinates at (0.33, 0.39). Also, TPyPA-based organic solar cell (OSC) exhibited a maximum power conversion efficiency of 0.35%. TPyPA-based organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) exhibited highly efficient field-effect mobility (${\mu}_{FET}$) of $1.7{\times}10^{-4}cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$, a threshold voltage ($V_{th}$) of -15.9 V, and an on/off current ratio of $8.6{\times}10^3$.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.451-463
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• 2009

The purpose of this research is to develop thin film materials and fabrication process for efficient $TiO_2$/CdTe solar cells. In this work photocatalyst titanium dioxide was prepared by sol-gel procedure according to reaction condition, the mole ratio of $H_2O$/TTIP, pH of solution and aging condition of powder. The prepared titanium dioxide was thermally treated from 300 to $750^{\circ}C$. Maximum intensity of anatase phase of titanium dioxide was achieved by calcination at $600^{\circ}C$ for 2 hr. And it was mixture of anatase and rutile phase when temperature of calcination was $750^{\circ}C$. It has been known that the properties of synthesized titanium dioxide according to aging time and calcination temperature was converted to anatase phase crystal on increasing of aging time. Also the current density has been increased with aging time and temperature, the efficiency has been increased with because of reason on above results. The formation of chemical bonding on oxygen and cadmium telluride under oxygen circumstances had been observed, and oxygen of thin film surface on cadmium telluride had been decreased with the treatment of chromate and hydrazine. As results had been shown that the energy conversion efficiency of cadmium telluride use by rapidly treatmented heat at the condition of $550^{\circ}C$ under air circumstance got 12.0%, 6.0% values according to $0.07cm^2$, $1.0cm^2$ surface area, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.218-218
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• 2012

Nanocrystalline $SnO_2$ colloids are synthesized by hydrolysis of $SnCl_4{\cdot}5H_2O$ in aqueous ammonia solution. The synthesized $SnO_2$ nanoparticles with ca. 15 nm in diameter are coated on a fluorinedoped thin oxide (FTO) conductive substrate and heated at $550^{\circ}C$. The annealed $SnO_2$ film is treated with aqueous $TiCl_4$ solution, which is sensitzied with MK-2 dye (2-cyano-3-[5'''-(9-ethyl- 9H-carbazol-3-yl)-3',3'',3''',4-tetra-n-hexyl-[2,2',5',2'',5'',2''']-quater thiophen-5-yl]). Compared to bare $SnO_2$ film, the conversion efficiency is significantly improved from 0.22% to 3.13% after surface treatment of $SnO_2$ with $TiCl_4$, which is mainly due to the large increases in both photocurrent density from 1.33 to $9.46mA/cm^2$ and voltage from 315 to 634 mV. It is noted that little change in the amount of the adsorbed dye is detected from 1.21 for the bare $SnO_2$ to $1.28{\mu}mol/cm^2$ for the $TiCl_{4-}$ treated $SnO_2$. This indicates that the photocurrent density increased by more than 6 times is not closely related to the dye loading concentration. From the photocurrent and voltage transient spectroscopic studies, electron life time increases by about 13 order of magnitude, whereas electron diffusion coefficient decreases by about 3.6 times after $TiCl_4$ treatment. Slow electron diffusion rate offers sufficient time for regeneration kinetics. As a result, charge collection efficiency of about 40% before $TiCl_4$ treatment is improved to 95% after $TiCl_4$ treatment. The large increase in voltage is due to the significant increase in electron life time, associated with upward shift of fermi energy.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2010

Conventional surface texturing in crystalline silicon solar cell have been use wet texturing by Alkali or Acid solution. But conventional wet texturing has the serious issue of wafer breakage by large consumption of wafer in wet solution and can not obtain the reflectance below 10% in multi crystalline silicon. Therefore it is focusing on RIE texturing, one method of dry etching. We developed large scale plasma RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) equipment which can accommodate 144 wafers (125 mm) in tray in order to provide surface texturing on the silicon wafer surface. Reflectance was controllable from 3% to 20% in crystalline silicon depending on the texture shape and height. We have achieved excellent reflectance below 4% on the weighted average (300~1,100 nm) in multi crystalline silicon using plasma texturing with gas mixture ratio such as $SF_6$, $Cl_2$, and $O_2$. The texture shape and height on the silicon wafer surface have an effect on gas chemistry, etching time, RF frequency, and so on. Excellent conversion efficiency of 16.1% is obtained in multi crystalline silicon by RIE process. In order to know the influence of RF frequency with 2 MHz and 13.56 MHz, texturing shape and conversion efficiency are compared and discussed mutually using RIE technology.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.297-297
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• 2010

Precise control of the position and density of doping elements at the nanoscale is becoming a central issue for realizing state-of-the-art silicon-based optoelectronic devices. As dimensions are scaled down to take benefits from the quantum confinement effect, however, the presence of interfaces and the nature of materials adjacent to silicon turn out to be important and govern the physical properties. Utilization of visible light is a promising method to overcome the efficiency limit of the crystalline Si solar cells. Si quantum dots (QDs) have been proposed as an emission source of visible light, which is based on the quantum confinement effect. Light emission in the visible wavelength has been reported by controlling the size and density of Si QDs embedded within various types of insulating matrix. For the realization of all-Si QD solar cells with homojunctions, it is prerequisite not only to optimize the impurity doping for both p- and n-type Si QDs, but also to construct p-n homojunctions between them. In this study, XPS and SIMS were used for the development of p-type and n-type Si quantum dot solar cells. The stoichiometry of SiOx layers were controlled by in-situ XPS analysis and the concentration of B and P by SIMS for the activated doping in Si nano structures. Especially, it has been experimentally evidenced that boron atoms in silicon nanostructures confined in SiO2 matrix can segregate into the Si/$SiO_2$ interfaces and the Si bulk forming a distinct bimodal spatial distribution. By performing quantitative analysis and theoretical modelling, it has been found that boron incorporated into the four-fold Si crystal lattice can have electrical activity. Based on these findings, p-type Si quantum dot solar cell with the energy-conversion efficiency of 10.2% was realized from a [B-doped $SiO_{1.2}$(2 nm)/$SiO_2(2\;nm)]^{25}$ superlattice film with a B doping level of $4.0{\times}10^{20}\;atoms/cm^2$.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.65-65
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• 2012

Copper zinc tin sulfide ($Cu_2ZnSnS_4$, CZTS) is a very promising material as a low cost absorber alternative to other chalcopyrite-type semiconductors based on Ga or In because of the abundant and economical elements. In addition, CZTS has a band-gap energy of 1.4~1.5eV and large absorption coefficient over ${\sim}10^4cm^{-1}$, which is similar to those of $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$(CIGS) regarded as one of the most successful absorber materials for high efficient solar cell. Most previous works on the fabrication of CZTS thin films were based on the vacuum deposition such as thermal evaporation and RF magnetron sputtering. Although the vacuum deposition has been widely adopted, it is quite expensive and complicated. In this regard, the solution processes such as sol-gel method, nanocrystal dispersion and hybrid slurry method have been developed for easy and cost-effective fabrication of CZTS film. Among these methods, the hybrid slurry method is favorable to make high crystalline and dense absorber layer. However, this method has the demerit using the toxic and explosive hydrazine solvent, which has severe limitation for common use. With these considerations, it is highly desirable to develop a robust, easily scalable and relatively safe solution-based process for the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer with a thickness of 1.5~2.0 ${\mu}m$ and micrometer-scaled grains using two different non-vacuum approaches. The first solution-processing approach includes air-stable non-toxic solvent-based inks in which the commercially available precursor nanoparticles are dispersed in ethanol. Our readily achievable air-stable precursor ink, without the involvement of complex particle synthesis, high toxic solvents, or organic additives, facilitates a convenient method to fabricate a high quality CZTS absorber layer with uniform surface composition and across the film depth when annealed at $530^{\circ}C$. The conversion efficiency and fill factor for the non-toxic ink based solar cells are 5.14% and 52.8%, respectively. The other method is based on the nanocrystal dispersions that are a key ingredient in the deposition of thermally annealed absorber layers. We report a facile synthetic method to produce phase-pure CZTS nanocrystals capped with less toxic and more easily removable ligands. The resulting CZTS nanoparticle dispersion enables us to fabricate uniform, crack-free absorber layer onto Mo-coated soda-lime glass at $500^{\circ}C$, which exhibits a robust and reproducible photovoltaic response. Our simple and less-toxic approach for the fabrication of CZTS layer, reported here, will be the first step in realizing the low-cost solution-processed CZTS solar cell with high efficiency.