• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.389-389
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• 2012

Molybdenum is one of the most important materials used as a back ohmic contact for $Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)_2$ (CIGS) solar cells because it has good electrical properties as an inert and mechanically durable substrate during the absorber film growth. Sputter deposition is the common deposition process for Mo thin films. Molybdenum thin films were deposited on soda lime glass (SLG) substrates using direct-current planar magnetron sputtering technique. The outdiffusion of Na from the SLG through the Mo film to the CIGS based solar cell, also plays an important role in enhancing the device electrical properties and its performance. The structure, surface morphology and electrical characteristics of Mo thin films are generally dependent on deposition parameters such as DC power, pressure, distance between target and substrate, and deposition temperature. The aim of the present study is to show the resistivity of Mo layers, their crystallinity and morphologies, which are influenced by the substrate temperature. The thickness of Mo films is measured by Tencor-P1 profiler. The crystal structures are analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD: X'Pert MPD PRO / Philips). The resistivity of Mo thin films was measured by Hall effect measurement system (HMS-3000/0.55T). The surface morphology and grain shape of the films were examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM: Hitachi S-4300). The chemical composition of the films was obtained by the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Finally the optimum substrate temperature as well as deposition conditions for Mo thin films will be developed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.358-358
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• 2012

The application of BZO (Boron-doped Zinc Oxide) films use as the TCO(Transparent Conductive Oxide) material for display and solar cell industries, where the conductivity of the BZO films plays a critical role for improvement of cell performance. Thin BZO films are deposited on glass substrates by using RF sputter system. Then charging flow rates of O2 gas from zero to 10 sccm, thereby controlling the impurity concentration of BZO. BZO deposited on soda lime glass and RF power was 300 W, frequency was 13.56 MHz, and working pressure was $5.0{\times}10-6$ Torr. The Substrate and glass between distance 200 mm. We measured resistivity, conductivity, mobility by hall measurement system. Optical properties measured by photo voltaic device analysis system. We measured surface build according to oxygen flow rate from XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) system. The profile of the energy distribution of the electrons emitted from BZO films by the Auger neutralization is measured and rescaled so that Auger self-convolution arises, revealing the detail structure of the valence band. It may be observed coefficient ${\gamma}$ of the secondary electron emission from BZO by using ${\gamma}$-FIB (Gamma-Focused Ion Beam) system. We observed the change in electrical conductivity by correlation of the valence band structure. Therefore one of the key issues in BZO films may be the valence band that detail structure dominates performance of solar cell devices. Demonstrating the secondary electron emission by the Auger neutralization of ions is useful for the determination of the characteristics of BZO films for solar cell and display developments.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.3093-3098
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• 2010

The core-shell $SnO_2$@AO (A=Ni, Cu, Zn and Mg) films were prepared and the effects of coatings on photovoltaic properties were investigated. Studies on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and transmission electron microscopy showed the formation of divalent oxides on the surface of $SnO_2$ nanoparticles. It was commonly observed that all the dye-sensitized core-shell films exhibited higher photovoltage than the bare $SnO_2$ film. Transient photovoltage measurements confirmed that the improved photovoltages were related to the decreased time constants for electron recombination.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.142-150
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• 2012

In this Study, Mo back electrode were deposited as the functions of various working pressure, deposition time and plasma per-treatment on sodalime glass (SLG) for application to CIGS thin film solar cell using by DC sputtering method, and were analyzed Mo change to $MoSe_2$ layer through selenization processes. And finally Mo back electrode characteristics were evaluated as application to CIGS device after Al/AZO/ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/SLG fabrication. Mo films fabricated as a function of the working pressure from 1.3 to 4.9mTorr are that physical thickness changed to increase from 1.24 to 1.27 ${\mu}m$ and electrical characteristics of sheet resistance changed to increase from 0.195 to 0.242 ${\Omega}/sq$ as according to the higher working pressure. We could find out that Mo film have more dense in lower working pressure because positive Ar ions have higher energy in lower pressure when ions impact to Mo target, and have dominated (100) columnar structure without working pressure. Also Mo films fabricated as a function of the deposition time are that physical thickness changed to increase from 0.15 to 1.24 ${\mu}m$ and electrical characteristics of sheet resistance changed to decrease from 2.75 to 0.195 ${\Omega}/sq$ as according to the increasing of deposition time. This is reasonable because more thick metal film have better electrical characteristics. We investigated Mo change to $MoSe_2$ layer through selenization processes after Se/Mo/SLG fabrication as a function of the selenization time from 5 to 40 minutes. $MoSe_2$ thickness were changed to increase as according to the increasing of selenization time. We could find out that we have to control $MoSe_2$ thickness to get ohmic contact characteristics as controlling of proper selenization time. And we fabricated and evaluated CIGS thin film solar cell device as Al/AZO/ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/SLG structures depend on Mo thickness 1.2 ${\mu}m$ and 0.6 ${\mu}m$. The efficiency of CIGS device with 0.6 ${\mu}m$ Mo thickness is batter as 9.46% because Na ion of SLG can move to CIGS layer more faster through thin Mo layer. The adhesion characteristics of Mo back electrode on SLG were improved better as plasma pre-treatment on SLG substrate before Mo deposition. And we could expect better efficiency of CIGS thin film solar cell as controlling of Mo thickness and $MoSe_2$ thickness depend on Na effect and selenization time.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.567-572
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• 2013

In many electro-devices, the vacuum process is used as the manufacturing process. However, the vacuum process has a problem, it is difficult to apply to a continuous process such as a R2R(roll to roll) printing process. In this paper, we propose an ESD (electro static deposition) printing process has been used to apply an organic solar cell of thin film forming. ESD is a method of liquid atomization by electrical forces, an electrostatic atomizer sprays micro-drops from the solution injected into the capillary with electrostatic force generated by electric potential of about several tens kV. The organic solar cell based on a P3HT/PCBM active layer and a PEDOT:PSS electron blocking layer prepared from ESD method shows solar-to-electrical conversion efficiency of 1.42% at AM 1.5G 1sun light illumination, while 1.86% efficiency is observed when the ESD deposition of P3HT/PCBM is performed on a spin-coated PEDOT:PSS layer.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.36.2-36.2
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• 2010

A small amount of Na incorporated in $CuInSe_2$ (CIS) absorption layer has become widely accepted as a requirement for efficient polycrystalline CIS solar cells. However, there is ongoing argument on the role of sodium incorporated in the absorber. In this paper, CIS absorption layers have been deposited using the three-stage co-evaporation process on Mo coated non-Alkali glass substrates. The NaF was evaporated during the second-stage with various fluxes. This paper is focusing on differences of micro-structure and composition ratio of the absorber realized with different Na contents and the variation of electrical properties of the cells with the corresponding absorbers. The analytical results of x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and current-voltage characteristics will be discussed to investigate the effect of NaF flux on the CIS absorber formation and its cell performance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1019-1023
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• 2012

In this research, a novel direct-aluminum-heating-induced crystallization method was developed for the purpose of application to solar cells. By applying a constant current of 3 A to an aluminum thin film, a 200-nm-thick amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film with a size of $1cm{\times}1cm$ can be crystallized into a polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin film within a few tens of seconds. The Raman spectrum analysis shows a peak of 520 $cm^{-1}$, which verifies the presence of poly-Si. After removing the aluminum layer, the poly-Si thin film was found to be porous. SIMS analysis showed that the porous poly-Si thin film was heavily p-doped with a doping concentration of $10^{21}cm^{-3}$. Thermal imaging shows that the crystallization from a-Si to poly-Si occurred at a temperature of around 820 K.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.619-625
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• 1995

Polycrystalline CdTe thin film has been studied for photovoltaic application due to the 1.45 eV band gap energy ideal for solar energy conversion and high absorption coefficient. The formation of low resistance contact to p-CdTe is difficult because of large work function(>5.5eV). Common methods for ohmic contact to p-CdTe are to form a p+ region under the contact by in-diffusion of contact material to reduce the barrier height and modify a p-CdTe surface layer using chemical treatment. In this study, the surface chemical treatment of p CdTe was carried out by H$\_$3/PO$\_$4/+HNO$\_$3/ or K$\_$2/Cr$\_$2/O$\_$7/+H$\_$2/SO$\_$4/ solution to provide a Te-rich surface. And various thin film contact materials such as Cu, Au, and Cu/Au were deposited by E-beam evaporation to form ohmic contact to p-CdTe. After the metallization, post annealing was performed by oven heat treatment at 150.deg. C or by RTA(Rapid Thermal Annealing) at 250-350.deg. C. Surface chemical treatments of p-CdTe thin film improved metal/p-CdTe interface properties and post heat treatment resulted in low contact resistivity to p-CdTe.Of the various contact metal, Cu/Au and Cu show low contact resistance after oven and RTA post-heat treatments, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.616-621
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• 2011

In this paper, CdS thin films, which were widely used window layer of the CdTe and the Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$ thin film solar cell, were grown by chemical bath deposition, and effects of pH of reaction solution on the structural and optical properties were investigated. For pH<10.5, as the pH of reaction solution was higher, the deposition rate of CdS films was increased by improving ion-by-ion reaction in the substrate surface and the crystallinity of the films was improved. However, when the pH was higher than 10.5, the deposition rate was decreased because of smaller $Cd^{2+}$ ion concentration in the reaction solution. Also, the crystallinity of the films were deteriorated. The CdS films deposited at lower pH showed poor optical transmittance due to adsorbed colloidal particles, while the transmittance was improved for higher pH.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.501-507
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• 2010

Changes in surface morphology and roughness of dc sputtered ZnO:Al/Ag back reflectors by varying the deposition temperature and their influence on the performance of flexible silicon thin film solar cells were systematically investigated. By increasing the deposition temperature from $25^{\circ}C$ to $500^{\circ}C$, the grain size of Ag thin films increased from 100 nm to 1000 nm and the grain size distribution became irregular, which resulted in an increment of surface roughness from 6.6 nm to 46.6 nm. Even after the 100 nm thick ZnO:Al film deposition, the surface morphology and roughness of the ZnO:Al/Ag double structured back reflectors were the same as those of the Ag layers, meaning that the ZnO:Al films were deposited conformally on the Ag films without unnecessary changes in the surfacefeatures. The diffused reflectance of the back reflectors improved significantly with the increasing grain size and surface roughness of the Ag films, and in particular, an enhanced diffused reflectance in the long wavelength over 800 nm was observed in the Ag back reflectors deposited at $500^{\circ}C$, which had an irregular grain size distribution of 200-1000 nm and large surface roughness. The improved light scattering properties on the rough ZnO:Al/Ag back reflector surfaces led to an increase of light trapping in the solar cells, and this resulted in a noticeable improvement in the $J_{sc}$ values from 9.94 mA/$cm^2$ for the flat Ag back reflector at $25^{\circ}C$ to 13.36 mA/$cm^2$ for the rough one at $500^{\circ}C$. A conversion efficiency of 7.60% ($V_{oc}$ = 0.93, $J_{sc}$ = 13.36 mA/$cm^2$, FF = 61%) was achieved in the flexible silicon thin film solar cells at this moment.