• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
• /
• v.13 no.spc1
• /
• pp.140-144
• /
• 2012

Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) was a limit of application on the photovoltaic devices such as CIGS, CdTe and DSSC requiring high process temperature, because it's electrical resistivity is unstable above 300 ℃ at atmosphere. Therefore, ZTO (zinc tin oxide) was introduced in order to improve permeability and thermal stability of GZO film. The resistivity of GZO (300 nm) single layer increased remarkably from 1.8 × 10-3Ωcm to 5.5 × 10-1Ωcm, when GZO was post-annealed at 400 ℃ in air atmosphere. In the case of the ZTO (150 nm)/GZO (150 nm) double layer, resistivity showed relatively small change from 3.1 × 10-3Ωcm (RT) to 1.2 × 10-2Ωcm (400 ℃), which showed good agreement with change of carrier density. This result means that ZTO upper layer act as a barrier for oxygen at high temperature. Also ZTO (150 nm)/GZO (150 nm) double layer showed lower WVTR compared to GZO (300 nm) single layer. Because ZTO has lower WVTR compared to GZO, ZTO thin film acts as a barrier by preventing oxygen and water molecules to penetrate on top of GZO thin film.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.8-12
• /
• 2023

In this work, we investigated the thickness of Ag precursor layer to improve the performance of flexible CIGSe solar cells grown on stainless steel (STS) substrates through three-stage co-evaporation with Ga grading followed by alkali treatments. The small amount of incorporated Ag in CIGSe films showed enhancement in the grain size and device efficiency. With an optimal 6 nm-thick Ag layer, the best cell on the STS substrate yielded more than 16%, which is comparable to the soda-lime glass (SLG) substrate. Thus, the addition of controlled Ag combined with alkali post-deposition treatment (PDT) led to increased open-circuit voltage (VOC), accompanied by the increased built-in potential as confirmed by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. It is related to a reduction of charge recombination at the depletion region. The results suggest that Ag alloying and alkali PDT are essential for producing highly efficient flexible CIGSe solar cells.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.61.1-61.1
• /
• 2010

$CuIn_{1-x}-GaxSe_2$ based materials with direct bandgap and high absorption coefficient are promising materials for high efficiency hetero-junction solar cells. CIGS champion cell efficiency(19.9%, AM1.5G) is very close to polycrystalline silicon(20.3%, AM1.5G). A reduction in the price of CIGS module is required for competing with well matured silicon technology. Price reduction can be achieved by decreasing the manufacturing cost and by increasing module efficiency. Manufacturing cost is mostly dominated by capital cost. Device properties of CIGS are strongly dependent on doping, defect chemistry and structure which in turn are dependent on growth conditions. The complex chemistry of CIGS is not fully understood to optimize and scale processes. Control of the absorber grain size, structural quality, texture, composition profile in the growth direction is important to achieving reliable device performance. In the present work, CIS nanoparticles were prepared by a simple wet chemical synthesis method and their structural and optical properties were investigated. XRD patterns of as-grown nanopowders indicate CIS(Cubic), $CuSe_2$(orthorhombic) and excess selenium. Further, as-grown and annealed nanopowders were characterized by HRTEM and ICP-OES. Grain growth of the nanopowders was followed as a function of temperature using HT-XRD with overpressure of selenium. It was found that significant grain growth occurred between $300-400^{\circ}C$ accompanied by formation of ${\beta}-Cu_{2-x}Se$ at high temperature($500^{\circ}C$) consistent with Cu-Se phase diagram. The result suggests that grain growth follows VLS mechanism which would be very useful for low temperature, high quality and economic processing of CIGS based solar cells.

• Solar Energy
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2000

Better electrical and optical properties of ITO thin films were demanded for the window layer of CdS/CdTe solar cells. To match that demand, an ion beam sputtering system was used for the deposition of ITO thin films. The substrate temperature and ion beam energy were controlled to deposit high quality ITO thin films in two cases of Ar ion sputtering and Ar+$O_2$ ion sputtering. The microstructure changed from domain structure in ITO deposited by Ar ions to grain structure in ITO deposited by Ar+$O_2$ ions. The lowest resistivity of ITO films was $1.5\times10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ at $100^{\circ}C$ substrate temperature in case of Ar ions sputtering. Transmittance in the visible range was over 80% above $100^{\circ}C$ substrate temperature.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2011.10a
• /
• pp.1.1-1.1
• /
• 2011

Electrospinning has known to be very effective tool for production of versatile one-dimensional (1D) nanostructured materials such as nanofibers, nanorod, and nanotubes and for easily assembly to two-, three-dimensional(2D, 3D) nanostructures such as thin film, membrane, and nonwoven web, etc. We have studied on the electrospinning technology for novel energy storage and conversion materials such as advanced separator, dye sensitized solar cell, supercapacitor, etc. High heat-resistive nanofibrous membrane as a new separator for future lithium ion polymer battery was prepared by electrospinning of PVdF based composite solution. The novel nanofibrous composite nonwovens have tensile strength of above 50 MPa and modulus of above 1.3 GPa. The internal structure of the electrospun composite nanofiber with a diameter of few hundreds nanometer were composed of core-shell nanostructure. And also electrospun $TiO_2$ nanorod/nanosphere based dye-sensitized solar cells with high efficiency are successfully prepared. Some battery performance will be introduced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2014.02a
• /
• pp.459.2-459.2
• /
• 2014

CdTe계와 CGIS계 태양전지의 광투과층으로 CdS 박막이 많이 사용된다. Cds 박막의 필요한 물성으로는 높은 광투과도와 얇은 두께이다. 광투과층으로 사용되는 CdS 막의 광투과도가 높아야 많은 양의 빛이 손실 없이 투과하여 광흡수층인 CIGS에 도달할 수 있다. 특히, CdS막의 두께가 얇으면 밴드 갭 이상의 에너지를 가지는 파장의 빛도 투과시킬 수 있어 태양전지의 효율의 증가을 얻을 수가 있다. 그러나 CdS 막의 두께가 얇을 경우, pinhole이 생성되는 등 막의 균질성이 문제가 된다. 본 연구에서는 높은 변환 효율을 갖는 CIGS 박막 태양전지 제작에 적합한 chemical bath depostion(츙)법을 이용하여 CdS 박막을 제조하였다. 또한 반응시간, Cd 및 S source 비와 같은 증착 조건에 따른 박막의 특성을 조사하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2007.06a
• /
• pp.320-320
• /
• 2007

Nowadays, ZnO thin films are investigated as transparent conductive electrodes for use in optoelectronics devices including flat displays, thin films transistors, solar cells because of their unique optical and electrical properties. For the use as transparent conductive electrodes, a film has to have low resistivity, high absorption in the ultra violent light region and high optical transmission in the visible region. Different technologies such as electron beam evaporation, chemical vapor deposition, laser evaporation, DC and RF magnetron sputtering and have been reported to produce thin films of ZnO with adequate performance for applications. However, highly transparent and conductive doped-ZnO thin films deposited by a metal-organic decomposition method have not been reported before. In this work, the effect of dopant concentration, heating treatment and annealing in areducing atmosphere on the structure, morphology, electrical and optical properties of ZnO thin films deposited on glass substrates by a Sol-gel method are investigated.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2019

The $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ (CIGS) thin film obtained by two-step process (metal deposition and Se annealing) has a rough surface morphology and many voids at the CIGS/Mo interface. To solve the problem a precursor that contains Se was employer by depositing a (In,Se)/(Cu,Ga) stacked layer. We devised a two-step annealing (vacuum pre-annealing and Se annealing) for the precursor because direct annealing of the precursor in Se environment resulted in the small grains with unwanted demarcation between stacked layers. After vacuum pre-annealing up to $500^{\circ}C$ the CIGS film consisted of CIGS phase and secondary phases including $In_4Se_3$, InSe, and $Cu_9(In,Ga)_4$. The secondary phases were completely converted to CIGS phase by a subsequent Se annealing. A void-free CIGS/Mo interface was obtained by the two-step annealing process. Especially, the CIGS film prepared by vacuum annealing $450^{\circ}C$ and subsequent Se annealing $550^{\circ}C$ showed a densely-packed grains with smooth surface, well-aligned bamboo grains on the top of the film, little voids in the film, and also little voids at the CIGS/Mo interface. The smooth surface enhanced the cell performance due to the increase of shunt resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.10
• /
• pp.837-843
• /
• 2009

$TiO_2$(2 wt.%)-doped ZnO(TZO) films with thickness from 100 nm to 500 nm were prepared on polyethylene naphthalate(PEN) substrate under various rf-power range from 40 W to 80 W. Their electrical and optical properties were investigated as a function of rf-power. We think that these properties were closely related with the crystallization and the film density of TZO films. It was also presumed that the vaporization of the water vapor and other adsorbed particles such as an organic solvents can affect the electrical properties of the conventional transparent conductive oxide(TCO) films. On the other hand, since the TZO film deposited on glass substrate at room temperature with rf-power of 80 W shows a very low resistivity of $7.5\times10^{-4}\;\Omega{\cdot}cm$ and a very excellent transmittance over an average 85% in the visible range, that is comparable to that of ITO films. Therefore, we expect that the TZO films can be used as transparent electrode for optoelectronic devices such as touch-panels, flat-panel displays, and thin-film solar cells.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.54-60
• /
• 2015

ZnSnO thin films were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) process using diethyl zinc ($Zn(C_2H_5)_2$) and tetrakis (dimethylamino) tin ($Sn(C_2H_6N)_4$) as metal precursors and water vapor as a reactant. ALD process has several advantages over other deposition methods such as precise thickness control, good conformality, and good uniformity for large area. The composition of ZnSnO thin films was controlled by varying the ratio of ZnO and $SnO_2$ ALD cycles. The ALD ZnSnO film was an amorphous state. The band gap of ZnSnO thin films increased as the Sn content increased. The CIGS solar cell using ZnSnO buffer layer showed about 18% energy conversion efficiency. With such a high efficiency with the ALD ZnSnO buffer and no light soaking effect, AlD ZnSnO buffer mighty be a good candidate to replace Zn(S,O) buffer in CIGSsolar cells.