• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2021

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films have been widely used in optoelectronic devices, such as OLEDs, TFTs, and solar cells. However, thin films of indium tin oxide (ITO) have few disadvantages pertaining to process parameters such as substrate temperature and sputtering power. In this study, we investigated the requirements for using TCO films in silicon-based solar cells and the best alternative TCO materials to improve their efficiency. Moreover, we discussed the current status of high-efficiency solar cells using low-temperature TCO films such as indium zinc oxide and Zr-doped indium oxide.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2008

The electrical, optical, structural and surface properties of an indium tin oxide (ITO) film grown on a flexible PET substrate using a specially designed roll-to-roll (R2R) sputtering system as a function of the DC power, $Ar/O_2$ flow ratio, and rolling speed is reported. It was observed that both the electrical and optical properties of the ITO film on the PET substrate were critically dependent on the $Ar/O_2$ flow ratio. In addition, x-ray diffraction examination results showed that the structure of the ITO film on the PET substrate was an amorphous structure regardless of the DC power and the $Ar/O_2$ flow ratio due to a low substrate temperature, which was maintained constant by a main cooling drum. Under optimized conditions, ITO film with resistivity of $6.44{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}-cm$ and transparency of 86% were obtained, even when prepared at room temperature. Furthermore, bending test results exhibited that R2R-grown ITO film had good flexibility which would be applicable to flexible displays and solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.320-324
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• 2015

Optimization of the fabrication process of NiO-yttrium doped barium zirconate (BZY) composite anode substrates using tape-casting for high performance thin-film protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) is investigated. The anode substrate is composed of a tens of microns-thick anode functional layer laminated over a porous anode substrate. The macro-pore structure of the anode support is induced by micron-scale polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) pore formers. Thermal gravity analysis (TGA) and a dilatometer are used to determine the polymeric additive burn-out and sintering temperatures. Crystallinity and microstructure of the tape-cast NiO-BZY anode are analyzed after the sintering.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2015

High efficiency $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ solar cells are generally prepared above $500^{\circ}C$. Lowering the process temperature can allow wider selection of substrate material and process window. In this paper, the three-stage co-evaporation process widely used to grow CIGS thin film at high temperature was modified to reduce the maximum substrate temperature. Below $400^{\circ}C$ the CIGS films show poor crystal growth and lower solar cell performance, in spite of external Na doping by NaF. As a new approach, Cu source instead of Cu with Se in the second stage was applied on the $(In,Ga)_2Se_3$ precursor at $400^{\circ}C$ and achieved a better crystal growth. The distribution of Ga in the films produce by new method were investigated and solar cells were fabricated using these films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.141-141
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• 2010

The effect of thermal anneal on the characteristics of structural properties and the enhancement of luminescence and photovoltaic (PV) characteristics of silicon-rich silicon-nitride films were investigated. By using an ultra high vacuum ion beam sputtering deposition, B-doped silicon-rich silicon-nitride (SRSN) thin films, with excess silicon content of 15 at. %, on P-doped (n-type) Si substrate was fabricated, sputtering a highly B doped Si wafer with a BN chip by N plasma. In order to examine the influence of thermal anneal, films were then annealed at different temperature up to $1100^{\circ}C$ under $N_2$ environment. Raman, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy did not show any reliable evidence of amorphous or crystalline Si clusters allowing us concluding that nearly no Si nano-cluster could be formed through the precipitation of excess Si from SRSN matrix during thermal anneal. Instead, results of Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy clearly indicated that defective, amorphous Si-N matrix of films was changed to be well-ordered thanks to high temperature anneal. The measurement of spectral ellipsometry in UV-visible range was carried out and we found that the optical absorption edge of film was shifted to higher energy as the anneal temperature increased as the results of thermal anneal induced formation of $Si_3N_4$-like matrix. These are consistent with the observation that higher visible photoluminescence, which is likely due to the presence of Si-N bonds, from anneals at higher temperature. Based on these films, PV cells were fabricated by the formation of front/back metal electrodes. For all cells, typical I-V characteristic of p-n diode junction was observed. We also tried to measure PV properties using a solar-simulator and confirmed successful operation of PV devices. Carrier transport mechanism depending on anneal temperature and the implication of PV cells based on SRSN films were also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.313-316
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• 2009

A zinc borosilicate glass having a low softening temperature of $490^{\circ}C$ has been investigated as a protective layer for Ag patterns against chemical reactions with a $I^-/I_3^-$ electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A thick glass layer was prepared by the typical screen printing and firing processes to obtain a final thickness of ${\sim}5{\mu}m$. The chemical leaching performance of the glass layer in the electrolyte revealed that the reactive Ag pattern can be significantly protected by utilizing the low softening protective layer. The electrical resistance of the FTO-coated glass substrate was effectively maintained at a low value of ${\sim}27{\Omega}$ as long as the glass layer was well densified at a sufficiently high temperature of ${\sim}520^{\circ}C$. The transmittance of the layer was near 60%, depending on the firing temperature of the glass layer.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.12
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• pp.733-739
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• 2007

NiO-YSZ anode-supported single cell was prepared by spin-coating YSZ and LSM slurries as electrolyte and cathode, respectively. Dense YSZ electrolyte film was successfully prepared on the porous NiO-YSZ anode substrate by tuning pre-sintering temperature of NiO-YSZ and co-firing temperature. The thickness of YSZ film was controlled by the solid content of slurry and coating cycles. The experimental conditions affecting on the thickness of YSZ film was discussed. Single cells with the active electrode area ${\sim}0.8\;cm^2$ were prepared by spin-coating the cathode layers of LSM-YSZ mixture and LSM consequently as well. The effects of the pre-sintering temperature and thus the microstructure of NiO-YSZ substrate on the current-voltage characteristics of co-fired cell were investigated.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2017

To improve the adhesion of Mo thin film as a back contact material, a DC magnetron sputtering system was used to deposit in the form of a bi-layer on soda-lime glass. Films with low resistivity and good adhesion were obtained from this deposition, even though the two qualities were found be hard to obtain at the same time. The best Mo bi-layer showed a resistivity of $8.13{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ at $500^{\circ}C$ and $3.0{\times}10^{-3}\;Torr$. The XRD measurements showed that the crystallites of the films were mainly oriented in the (110) direction, the FE-SEM images revealed that the resistivity of the Mo films decreased with increasing substrate temperature, which temperature reduction is accompanied by an increase of the grain size. These experimental results were analyzed using the Fuchs-Sondheimer theory. Our Mo bi-layer film with better crystallinity and lower resistivity can be suitably used as a back-contact layer for CIGS solar cells.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.1-10
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• 1996

Solar cells made of the edge-defined film-fed growth Si are characterized using current-voltage, surface photovoltage, electron beam induced current, electron microprobe, scanning electron microscopy, and electron backscattering. The weak temperature dependence of the I-V curves in the EFG solar cells is due to a voltage variable shunt resistance giving higher diode ideality factors than the ideal one. The voltage variable shunt resistance is modeled by a modified recombination mechanism which includes carrier tunneling to distributed impurity energy states in the band gap within the space-charge region. The junction integrity and the substrate quality are characterized simultaneously by combining I-V and surface photovoltage (SPV) measurements. The diode ideality factors and the surface photovoltages characterize the junction integrity while the SPV diffusion lengths characterizes the substrate quality. Most of the measured samples show the voltage variable shunt resistance although how serious it is depends on the solar cell efficiency. The voltage variable shunt resistance is understood as one of the most important factors of the degradation of EFG solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.475-475
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• 2014

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are regarded as potential inexpensive alternatives to conventional solid-state devices. The flexible version, employing conductive-plastic-film substrates, is appealing for commercialization of DSSCs because it not only reduces the weight and cost of the device but also extends their applications. However, the need for high temperature does not permit the use of plastic-film substrate. So, development of low-temperature methods is therefore realization of flexible DSSCs. In this work, the electrophoretic deposition combined with hydrothermal treatment was employed to prepare nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ thin film at low temperature. We confirmed the prepared $TiO_2$ thin films with different voltages and deposition times in the electrophoretic deposition process. Properties of the $TiO_2$ films were investigated by various analysis method such as X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV-visible spectrophotometer.