• ETRI Journal
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.730-733
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• 2013

In this work, buffer layers with various conditions are inserted at an n/i interface in hydrogenated amorphous silicon semitransparent solar cells. It is observed that the performance of a solar cell strongly depends on the arrangement and thickness of the buffer layer. When arranging buffer layers with various bandgaps in ascending order from the intrinsic layer to the n layer, a relatively high open circuit voltage and short circuit current are observed. In addition, the fill factors are improved, owing to an enhanced shunt resistance under every instance of the introduced n/i buffer layers. Among the various conditions during the arrangement of the buffer layers, a reverse V shape of the energy bandgap is found to be the most effective for high efficiency, which also exhibits intermediate transmittance among all samples. This is an inspiring result, enabling an independent control of the conversion efficiency and transmittance.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.105-110
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• 2009

IZO thin films have been deposited on poly(ethylene terephthalate) flexible substrate under varying radio frequency (rf) power, process pressure and thickness of IZO films using rf magnetron sputtering under $Ar/O_2$ gas mix. As the process pressure increased, the deposition rate was slightly increased and the transmittance showed little change, but the resistivity was increased. With increasing rf power, the great increase in deposition rate was observed but the transmittance showed a slight change only, and the resistivity was decreased. In addition, an attempt was made to find the optimal thickness of IZO films under varying the thickness of IZO films at the process conditions of 1 mTorr pressure and 90 W rf power, which showed lowest resistivity. IZO thin films with the thickness of $1,500{\AA}$ showed lowest resistivity and also showed highest transmittance around the wavelength zone of the maximum absorption. The power conversion efficiency of solar cells fabricated using various transparent electrodes with different thicknesses were measured and the solar cell with IZO electrode of $1,500{\AA}$ showed the maximum conversion-efficiency of 2.88 %.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.426.1-426.1
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• 2016

We report high work function Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) films as insertion layer as a function of O2 flow rate between transparent conducting oxides (TCO) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiOx:H) layer to improve open circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) for high efficiency thin film solar cell. However, amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells exhibit poor fill factors due to a Schottky barrier like impedance at the interface between a-SiOx:H windows and TCO. The impedance is caused by an increasing mismatch between the work function of TCO and that of p-type a-SiOx:H. In this study, we report on the silicon thin film solar cell by using as insertion layer of O2 reactive AZO films between TCO and p-type a-SiOx:H. Significant efficiency enhancement was demonstrated by using high work-function layers (4.95 eV at O2=2 sccm) for engineering the work function at the key interfaces to raise FF as well as Voc. Therefore, we can be obtained the conversion efficiency of 7 % at 13mA/cm2 of the current density (Jsc) and 63.35 % of FF.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.408.2-409
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• 2016

Theoretically, the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are high efficiency solar cells. However DSSCs have low power conversion efficiency (PCE) than silicon based solar cells. In this study, we use the phosphor materials, such as $Y_2O_3:Eu$ (Red), $Zn_2SiO_4:Mn$ (Green), $BaMgAl_{14}O_{23}:Eu$ (Blue), to enhance the PCE of DSSCs. Three phosphors were prepared and used as an effective scattering layer on the transparent $TiO_2$ with doctor blade method. We confirmed that the three scattering layers improve the PCE and Jsc due to the light harvesting enhancement via increased the scattering and absorbance in visible range. Under the sun illumination AM 1.5 conditions, the PCE of the mesoporous $TiO_2$ based DSSCs is 5.18 %. The PCE of the DSSCs with Y2O3:Eu, $Zn_2SiO_4:Mn$ and $BaMgAl_{14}O_{23}:Eu$ as scattering layer were enhanced to 5.66 %, 5.72% and 5.82%, respectably. In order to compare the optical properties change, DSSCs were measured by EQE, reflectance and PCE. At the same time, FE-SEM and XRD were used to confirm the structural changes of each layer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.203-208
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• 2014

In this study, Sputtering method was used to grow Al-dopes ZnO films on a CIGS absorber layer, in order to examine the effect of TCO on properties of CIGS solar cell devices. Structural, electrical and optical properties were investigated by varied thickness of Al-dopes ZnO films. Also, relation to the application as a window layer in CIGS thin film solar cell were studied. It was found that the electrical and structural properties of ZnO:Al film improved with increasing its thickness. However, the optical properties degraded. Jsc of the fabricated CIGS based solar cells was significantly influenced by the variation of the ZnO:Al window layer thickness. Because ZnO:Al window layer is one of the Rs factors in CIGS solar cell. Rs has the biggest influence on efficiency characteristic. In order to obtain high efficiency of CIGS solar cell, ZnO:Al window layer should be fabricated with electrically and optically optimized.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.754-758
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• 2010

In general, Dye-sensitized Solar Cells(DSCs) consist of the nanocrystalline titanium dioxide($TiO_2$) layer which is fabricated on a transparent conductive oxide(TCO) layer such as $F/SnO_2$ glass, a dye adhered to the $TiO_2$, an electrolyte solution and platinum-coated TCO. Among these components, two TCO substrates are estimated to be about 60% of the total cost of the DSCs. Currently novel TCO-less structures have been investigated in order to reduce the cost. In this study, TCO-less DSCs consisting of titanium electrodes were investigated. The titanium electrode is deposited on top of the porous $TiO_2$ layer using electron-beam evaporation process. The porosity of the titanium electrode was found out by the SEM analysis and dye adhesion. As a result, when the thickness of the titanium electrode increased, the surface resistance decreased and the conversion efficiency increased relatively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2021

In the case of ZnO:Al thin films, it is the best material that can replace ITO that is mainly used as a transparent electrode in electronic devices such as solar cells and flat-panel displays. In this study, ZnO:Al films were fabricated by using the RF dual magnetron sputtering method at various substrate temperatures. As the substrate temperature increased, the crystallinity of the ZnO:Al thin films was improved, and the electrical conductivity and electrical properties of the thin film improved owing to the increase in grain size. In addition, the surface roughness of the ZnO:Al thin films increased due to changes in the surface and density of the thin films. Moreover, the substrate temperature increased the density of thin films and improved their transmittance. To be applied to solar cells and other several electronic devices in the future, the hardness and adhesion properties of the thin film improve as the substrate temperature increases.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.144-148
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• 2011

We have investigated the structural and optical properties of Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering at various deposition temperatures from 100 to $500^{\circ}C$. All the GZO thin films are grown as a hexagonal wurtzite phase with highly c-axis preferred parameter. The structural and electrical properties are strongly related to deposition temperature. The grain size increases with the increasing deposition temperature up to $400^{\circ}C$ and then decreases at $500^{\circ}C$. The dependence of grain size on the deposition temperature results from the variation of thermal activation energy. The resistivity of GZO thin film decreases with the increasing deposition temperature up to $300^{\circ}C$ and then decreases up to $500^{\circ}C$. GZO thin film shows the lowest resistivity of $4.3{\times}10^{-4}\;{\Omega}cm$ and highest electron concentration of $1.0{\times}10^{21}\;cm^{-3}$ at $300^{\circ}C$. The mobility of GZO thin films increases with the increasing deposition temperature up to $400^{\circ}C$ and then decreases at $500^{\circ}C$. GZO thin film shows the highest resistivity of 14.1 $cm^2/Vs$. The transmittance of GZO thin films in the visible range is above 87% at all the deposition temperatures. GZO is a feasible transparent electrode for the application to the transparent electrode of thin film solar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.202-206
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• 2011

We have investigated the structural and electrical properties of Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films deposited by an RF magnetron sputtering at various RF powers from 50 to 90W. All the GZO thin films are grown as a hexagonal wurtzite phase with highly c-axis preferred parameters. The structural and electrical properties are strongly related to the RF power. The grain size increases as the RF power increases since the columnar growth of GZO thin film is enhanced at an elevated RF power. This result means that the crystallinity of GZO is improved as the RF power increases. The resistivity of GZO rapidly decreases as the RF power increases up to 70 W and saturates to 90W. In contrast, the electron concentration of GZO increases as the RF power increases up to 70 W and saturates to 90W. GZO thin film shows the lowest resistivity of $2.2{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ and the highest electron concentration of $1.7{\times}10^{21}cm^{-3}$ at 90W. The mobility of GZO increases as the RF power increases since the grain boundary scattering decreases due to the reduced density of the grain boundary at a high RF power. The transmittance of GZO thin films in the visible range is above 90%. GZO is a feasible transparent electrode for application as a transparent electrode for thin film solar cells.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.190-196
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• 2007

Dye sensitized solar cells(DSSC) are the most promising future energy resource due to their high energy efficiency, low production cost, and simple manufacturing process. But one problem in DSSC is short life time compared to silicon solar cells. This problem occurred from photocatalytic degradation of dye material by nanometer sized $TiO_2$ particles. To prevent dye degradation as well as to increase its life time, the transparent coating film is needed for UV blocking. In this study, we synthesized nanometer sized $TiO_2$ particles in sols by increasing its internal pressure up to 200 bar in autoclave at $120^{\circ}C$ for 10 hrs. The synthesized $TiO_2$ sols were all formed with brookite phase and their particle size was several nm to 30 nm. Synthesized $TiO_2$ sols were coated on the backside of fluorine doped tin oxide(FTO) glass by ink jet printing method. With increasing coating thickness by repeated ink jet coating, the absorbance of UV region (under 400 nm) also increases reasonably. Decomposition test of titania powders dispersed in 0.1 mM amaranth solution covered with $TiO_2$ coating glass shows more stable dye properties under UV irradiation, compared to that with as-received FTO glass.