• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.87-94
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• 2001

Silicon nitride films grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are useful for a variety of applications, including anti-reflecting coatings in solar cells, passivation layers, dielectric layers in metal/insulator structures, and diffusion masks. PECVD systems are controlled by many operating variables, including RF power, pressure, gas flow rate, reactant composition, and substrate temperature. The wide variety of processing conditions, as well as the complex nature of particle dynamics within a plasma, makes tailoring SiN film properties very challenging, since it is difficult to determine the exact relationship between desired film properties and controllable deposition conditions. In this study, SiN PECVD modeling using optimized neural networks has been investigated. The deposition of SiN was characterized via a central composite experimental design, and data from this experiment was used to train and optimize feed-forward neural networks using the back-propagation algorithm. From these neural process models, the effect of deposition conditions on film properties has been studied. A recipe synthesis (optimization) procedure was then performed using the optimized neural network models to generate the necessary deposition conditions to obtain several novel film qualities including high charge density and long lifetime. This optimization procedure utilized genetic algorithms, hybrid combinations of genetic algorithm and Powells algorithm, and hybrid combinations of genetic algorithm and simplex algorithm. Recipes predicted by these techniques were verified by experiment, and the performance of each optimization method are compared. It was found that the hybrid combinations of genetic algorithm and simplex algorithm generated recipes produced films of superior quality.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2009

To improve the performance of the anode-supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) which can be operated at an intermediate temperature, the functional layer (FL) is introduced on a anode substrate. And the scandia-stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) and samaria-doped ceria (SDC) which have higher ionic conductivity and better chemical stability than yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) are used as material for the anode FL with the Ni, The fabrication process of anode-supported single cell with the anode FL was established and the power density of those was evaluated. As a result, the sample with anode FL (Ni-YSZ) has higher power density than normal cell. The single cell which was composed of the FL (Ni-YSZ) and electrolyte (YSZ) showed about $550mW/cm^2$ of the maximum power density at $650^{\circ}C$ and $1430mW/cm^2$ at $750^{\circ}C$ respectively, In case of the single cell using the ScSZ and SDC as anode FL, the performance of samples decreased rapidly and those showed unstable voltage during long-term test. In case of using methane as a fuel, the cell performance with each FL decreased comparing with $H_2$ fuel. In the region of a high current density, there are large concentration polarizations.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.483-490
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• 1997

Thin film Si has been used in sensors, radiation detectors, and solar cells. The carrier mobility of thin film Si influences the device behavior through its frequency response or time response. Since poly-Si shows the higher mobility value, a-Si:H films on Mo substrate were subjected to various crystallization treatments. Consequently, we need to find an appropriate method in mobility measurement before and after the anneal treatment. This paper investigates the carrier mobility improvement with anneal treatments and summarizes the mobility measurement methods of the a-Si:H and poly-Si film. Various techniques were investigated for the mobility determination such as Hall mobility, HS, TOF, SCLC, TFT, and TCO method. We learned that TFT and TCO method are suitable for the mobility determination of a-Si:H and poly-Si film. The measured mobility was improved by $2{\sim}3$ orders after high temperature anneal above $700^{\circ}C$ and grain boundary passivation using an RF plasma rehydrogenation.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.154-157
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• 2006

The counter electrode widely used in DSCs (Dye-sensitized Solar Cells) is constructed of conducting glass substrates coated with Pt films, where the platium acts as a catalyst. Pt counter electrodes in DSCs are one important component. It is expected that characteristics of Pt electrodes strongly depend on fabrication process and its surface condition. In this study, Pt counter electrode surface of DSC is deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering under the conditions of Ar 5mtorr, RF power of 120w and substrate temperature of $100^{\circ}C$. Surface morphology of Pt electrodes was investigated by FE-SEM and AFM. And this paper shows our recent results and technology to fabricate the new designed cell with Pt electrodes deposited by sputtering method. We have achieved fill factor 65% and photoelectric conversion efficiency around 2.6% as the best results of new designed DSCs structure.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.222-224
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• 2006

A non-vacuum process for $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ (CIGS) thin film solar cells from nanoparticle precursors was described in this work CIGS nanoparticle precursors was prepared by a low temperature colloidal route by reacting the starting materials $(CuI,\;InI_3,\;GaI_3\;and\;Na_2Se)$ in organic solvents, by which fine CIGS nanoparticles of about 20nm in diameter were obtained. The nanoparticle precursors were mixed with organic binder material for the rheology of the mixture to be adjusted for the doctor blade method. After depositing the mixture of CIGS with binder on Mo/glass substrate, the samples were preheated on the hot plate in air to evaporate remaining solvents ud to burn the organic binder material. Subsequently, the resultant (porous) CIGS/Mo/glass simple was selenized in a two-zone Rapid Thermal Process (RTP) furnace in order to get a solar ceil applicable dense CIGS absorber layer. Complete solar cell structure was obtained by depositing. The other layers including CdS buffer layer, ZnO window layer and Al electrodes by conventional methods. The resultant solar cell showed a conversion efficiency of 0.5%.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.1064-1069
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• 2010

Thin films have been used in a large variety of technological applications such as solar cells, optical memories, photolithographic masks, protective coatings, and electronic contacts. If thin films experience frequent temperature changes, thermal stresses are generated due to the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the film and substrate. Thermal stresses may lead to damage or deformation in thin film used in electronic devices and micro-machined structures. Thus, knowledge of the thermomechanical properties of thin films, such as the coefficient of thermal expansion, is an important issue in determining the stability and reliability of the thin film devices. In this study, thermal cycling of Cu and Ag thin films with various microstructures was employed to assess the coefficient of thermal expansion of the films. The result revealed that the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the Cu and Ag thin films increased with an increasing grain size. However, the effect of film thickness on the CTE did not show a remarkable difference.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.326-332
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• 2023

The high cost of Si-based solar cells remains a substantial challenge to their widespread adoption. To address this issue, it is essential to reduce the production cost of solar-grade Si, which is used as raw material. One approach to achieve this is Si electrodeposition in molten salts containing Si sources, such as SiO₂. In this study, we present the pulse electrodeposition of Si in molten CaCl₂ containing SiO₂ nanoparticles. Theoretically, SiO₂ nanoparticles with a diameter of less than 20 nm in molten CaCl₂ at 850℃ have a comparable diffusion coefficient with that of ions in aqueous solutions at room temperature. However, we observed a slower-than-expected diffusion of the SiO₂ nanoparticles, probably because of their tendency to aggregate in the molten CaCl₂. This led to the formation of a non-uniform Si film with low current efficiency during direct current electrodeposition. We overcome this issue using pulse electrodeposition, which enabled the facile supplementation of SiO₂ nanoparticles to the substrate. This approach produced a uniform and thick electrodeposited Si film. Our results demonstrate an efficient method for Si electrodeposition in molten CaCl₂ containing SiO₂ nanoparticles, which can contribute to a reduction in production cost of solar-grade Si.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.42.2-42.2
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• 2010

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are of significant importance for their applications in various devices, such as light-emitting diodes, thin-film solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, liquid crystal displays, and so on. In order for TCOs to contribute to the performance improvement of these devices, TCOs should have high transmittance and good electrical properties simultaneously. Sn-doped $In_2O_3$ (ITO) is the most commonly used TCO. However, indium is toxic and scarce in nature. Thus, ZnO has attracted a lot of attention because of the possibility for replacing ITO. In particular, group III impurity-doped ZnO showed the optoelectronic properties comparable to those of ITO electrodes. Al-doped ZnO exhibited the best performance among various doped ZnO films because of the high substitutional doping efficiency. However, in order for the Al-doped ZnO to replace ITO in electronic devices, their electrical and optical properties should further significantly be improved. In this connection, different ways such as a variation of deposition conditions, different deposition techniques, and post-deposition annealing processes have been investigated so far. Among the deposition methods, RF magnetron sputtering has been extensively used because of the easiness in controlling deposition parameters and its fast deposition rate. In addition, when combined with post-deposition annealing in a reducing ambient, the optoelectronic properties of Al-doped ZnO films were found to be further improved. In this presentation, we deposited Al-doped ZnO (ZnO:$Al_2O_3$ = 98:2 wt%) thin films on the glass and sapphire substrates using RF magnetron sputtering as a function of substrate temperature. In addition, the ZnO samples were annealed in different conditions, e.g., rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at $900^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ ambient for 1 min, tube-furnace annealing at $500^{\circ}C$ in $N_2:H_2$=9:1 gas flow for 1 hour, or RTA combined with tube-furnace annealing. It is found that the mobilities and carrier concentrations of the samples are dependent on growth temperature followed by one of three subsequent post-deposition annealing conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.127-127
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• 2009

The most important part of the fabrication solar cells is the anti-reflection coating when excludes the kinds of silicon substrates (crystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous), patterns and materials of electrodes. Anti-reflection coatings reduce the reflection of sunlight and at last increase the intensity of radiation to inside of solar cells. So, we can obtain increase of solar cell efficiency about 10% using anti-reflection coating. There are many kinds of anti-reflection film for solar cell, such as SiN, $SiO_2$, a-Si, and so on. And, they have two functions, anti-reflection and passivation. However such materials could not perfectly prevent reflection. So, in this work, we investigated the anti-reflection coating with the columnar structure ZnO thin film. We synthesized columnar structure ZnO film on glass substrates. The ZnO films were synthesized using a RF magnetron sputtering system with a pure (99.95%) ZnO target at room temperature. The anti-reflection coating layer was sputtered by argon and oxygen gases. The angle of target and substrate measures 0, 20, 40, 60 degrees, the working pressure 10 mtorr and the 250 W of RF power during 40 minutes. The confirm the growth mechanism of ZnO on columnar structure, the anti-reflection coating layer was observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The optical trends were observed by UV-vis and Elleso meter.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.15-19
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• 2017

The fossil fuel power consumption generates $CO_2$, which causes the problems such as global warming. Also, the increase in energy consumption has accelerated the depletion of the fossil fuels, and renewable energy is attracting attention. Among the renewable energies, the solar energy gets a lot of attention as the infinite clean energy source. But, the supply level of solar cell is insignificant due to high cost of generation of electric power in comparison with fossil fuels. Thus several researchers are recently doing the research on ultra-low-cost solar cells. Also, $Cu_2O$ is one of the applied materials as an absorption layer in ultra-low-cost solar cells. Cuprous oxide ($Cu_2O$) is highly desirable semiconductor oxide for use in solar energy conversion due to its direct band gap ($E_g={\sim}2.1eV$) and a high absorption coefficient that absorbs visible light of wavelengths up to 650 nm. In addition, $Cu_2O$ has several advantages such as non-toxicity, low cost and can be prepared with simple and cheap methods on large scale. In this work, we fabricated the $Cu_2O$ thin films by reactive sputtering method. The films were deposited with a Cu target with variable parameters such as substrate temperature, rf-power, and annealing condition. Finally, we confirmed the structural properties of thin films by XRD and SEM.