• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1990.07a
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• pp.187-190
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• 1990

A new technique is described for developing low-cost $SnO_2$ : F thin films as TCO (Transparent Conducting Oxide) substrate of a-Si solar cells. A novel Pyrosol equipment has been developed, and $SnO_2$ : F thin films have been deposited under the condition of varing dopant concentration, temperature and composition rate of solution. Futhermore, electrical and optical properties of thin films have been measured, and exhibit resistivity of $4.3{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}$ cm and transmittance of 80% which is almost at the same level as those of $SnO_2$ : F thin films by CVD.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.41-46
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• 2015

Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are essential material in optoelectronics such as solar cells, touch screens and light emitting diodes. Particularly TCOs are attractive material for infrared cut off film due to their high transparency in the visible wavelength range and high infrared reflectivity. Among the TCO, Indium tin oxide has been widely used because of the high electrical conductivity and transparency in the visible wavelength region. But ITO has several limitations; expensive and low environmental stability. On the other hands, fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) is well known for low cost, weather ability and stable in acidic and hydrogen. In this study, two different magnetron sputtering techniques with RF and DC modes at room temperature deposition of FTO thin film was conducted. The change of oxygen content is influence on the topography, transmittance and refractive index.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.343-343
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• 2011

ZnO has been introduced as one of the good candidates for next generation opto-electronics. Recently, ZnO is known to be suitable for the transparent electrode in organic solar cells and light emitting devices. The contact with n-type organic material has been studied due to the n-type properties of ZnO. However, the surface of ZnO has shown different electronic property with respect to its surface orientation. Therefore, it is presumed that there are differences in the interfacial electronic structures between organic materials and ZnO with different orientation. Therefore, it is required to classify the interfacial electronic structures according to the surface orientation of ZnO. In this study, we measured the interfacial electronic structures between the ZnO substrate having various orientations and a typical n-type organic material, tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3). In-situ x-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements revealed the interfacial electronic structures. We found the changes in the electronic structures with respect to the orientation of ZnO substrate and it could be used to improve the contact between ZnO and Alq3.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.633-634
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• 2005

Transparent conducting glasses exhibit high ohmic losses that are apparent in the case of large size Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs). In this study, we investigated the impact of current collectors over the efficiency of DSSCs. The Silver current collectors were prepared on both counter electrode and working electrode surface by screen printing method. For long term stability in electrolyte environment and also to avoid the charge recombination, current collectors are protected by sodium silicate overcoat layer. These current collectors were characterized for their microstructure parameters. Also current collector's stability in electrolyte environment has been investigated.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.57-60
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• 2009

Transparent electrode ZnO:Al(AZO)films were deposited on a PES (polyethersulfone) polymer substrate for thin film solar cells applications. A PES substrate with a thickness of 0.2mm and transmittance > 90% in the visible range was used because it is light weight and can deform easily. AZO thin films were prepared at a fixed DC power, $PO_2\;=\;P(O_2)/[P(O_2)\;+\;P(Ar)]$, and various substrate temperatures. The properties of AZO thin films were examined by X-ray diffraction, UV/VIS spectroscopy, four-point probe, Hall measurements, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The lowest resistivity of all the films was $4.493\;{\times}\;10^{-4}\;[\Omega-cm]$ and the transmittance was > 80% in the visible range.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.463-463
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• 2014

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have generated a strong interest in the development of solid-state devices owing to their low cost and simple preparation procedures. Effort has been devoted to the study of electrolytes that allow light-to-electrical power conversion for DSSC applications. Several attempts have been made to substitute the liquid electrolyte in the original solar cells by using (2,2',7,7'-tetrakis (N,N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9-9'-spirobi-fluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) that act as hole conductor [1]. Although efficiencies above 3% have been reached by several groups, here the major challenging is limited photoelectrode thickness ($2{\mu}m$), which is very low due to electron diffusion length (Ln) for spiro-OMeTAD ($4.4{\mu}m$) [2]. In principle, the $TiO_2$ layer can be thicker than had been thought previously. This has important implications for the design of high-efficiency solid-state DSSCs. In the present study, we have fabricated 3-D Transparent Conducting Oxide (TCO) by growing tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanowire (NWs) arrays via a vapor transport method [3] and mesoporous $TiO_2$ nanoparticle (NP)-based photoelectrodes were prepared using doctor blade method. Finally optimized light-harvesting solid-state DSSCs is made using 3-D TCO where electron life time is controlled the recombination rate through fast charge collection and also ITO NWs length can be controlled in the range of over $2{\mu}m$ and has been characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Structural analyses by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) results reveal that the ITO NWs formed single crystal oriented [100] direction. Also to compare the charge collection properties of conventional NPs based solid-state DSSCs with ITO NWs based solid-state DSSCs, we have studied intensity modulated photovoltage spectroscopy (IMVS), intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS) and transient open circuit voltages. As a result, above $4{\mu}m$ thick ITO NWs based photoelectrodes with Z907 dye shown the best performing device, exhibiting a short-circuit current density of 7.21 mA cm-2 under simulated solar emission of 100 mW cm-2 associated with an overall power conversion efficiency of 2.80 %. Finally, we achieved the efficiency of 7.5% by applying a CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite sensitizer.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.42.2-42.2
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• 2011

$TiO_2$ films were modified by adding a glass frit as a light scattering particle and applied to an anode electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to enhance the adhesion between $TiO_2$ and fluorine doped transparent oxide (FTO). Low melting point glass frits at contents of (3 to 7wt%) were added to the nano crystalline $TiO_2$ films. The light scattering properties, photovoltaic properties and microstructures of the photo electrodes were examined to determine the role of the low glass transition temperature ($T_g$) glass frit. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method and scratch test were conducted to support the results. The DSSC with the $TiO_2$ film containing 3wt% low Tg glass frit showed optimal performance (5.1%, energy conversion efficiency) compared to the $TiO_2$-based one. The photocurrent density slightly decreased by adding 3wt% of the frit due to its large size and non conductivity. However, the decrease of current density followed by the decrease of electron transfer due to the large frit in $TiO_2$ electrode was compensated by the scattering effect, high surface area and reduced the electron transfer impedance at the electrolyte-dye-$TiO_2$ interface. The stability of the photo electrodes was improved by the frit, which chemically promoted the sintering of $TiO_2$ at relatively low temperature ($450^{\circ}C$).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.168.1-168.1
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• 2014

We developed poly (3,4-ethylene dioxylene thiophene):poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS)-free organic solar cells (OSCs) using buffer and anode combined Ta doped $In_2O_3$ (ITaO) electrodes. To optimize the ITaO electrodes, we investigated the effect of $Ta_2O_5$ doping power on the electrical, optical, and structural properties of the co-sputtered ITaO films. The optimized ITaO film doped with 20 W $Ta_2O_5$ radio frequency power showed sheet resistance of 17.11 Ohm/square, a transmittance of 93.45%, and a work function of 4.9 eV, all of which are comparable to the value of conventional ITO electrodes. The conventional bulk heterojunction OSC with ITaO anode showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.348% similar to the OSCs (3.541%) with an ITO anode. In addition, OSCs fabricated on an ITaO electrode successfully operated without an acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer and showed a PCE of 2.634%, which was much higher than the comparable no buffer OSC with an ITO anode. Therefore, co-sputtered ITaO electrodes simultaneously acting as a buffer and an anode layer can be considered promising transparent electrodes for cost-efficient and reliable OSCs because they can eliminate the use of an acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.478.1-478.1
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• 2014

We investigated $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrodes for organic solar cells (OSCs) without PEDOT:PSS buffer layer. The effect of $MoO_3$ thickness on the electrical, optical, and structural properties of $MoO_3$ graded ITO anodes prepared by RF/DC magnetron co-sputtering system using $MoO_3$ and ITO targets was investigated. At optimized conditions, we obtained $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrodes with a low sheet resistance of 13 Ohm/square, a high optical transmittance of 83% and a work function of 4.92 eV, comparable to conventional ITO films. Due to the existence of $MoO_3$ on the ITO electrodes, OSCs fabricated on $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrode without buffer layer successfully operated. Although OSCs fabricated on ITO anode without buffer layer showed a low power conversion efficiency of 1.249%, OSCs fabricated on $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrode without buffer layer showed a outstanding cell performance of 2.545%. OSCs fabricated on the $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrodes exhibited a fill factor of 61.275%, a short circuit current of 7.439 mA/cm2, an open circuit voltage of 0.554 V, and a power conversion efficiency of 2.545%. Therefore, $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrodes can be considered a promising transparent electrode for cost efficient and reliable OSCs because it could eliminate the use of acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.116-125
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• 2018

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a commonly used material for the front contact layer of chalcopyrite $CuInGaSe_2$ (CIGS) based thin film solar cells since it satisfies the requisite optical and electrical properties with low cost and abundant elemental availability. Low-resistivity and high-transmission front contacts have been developed for high-performance CIGS solar cells, and nearly meet the required performance. However, the durability of the cell especially for the corrosion resistance of AZO films has not been studied intensively. In this work, AZO films were prepared on Corning glass 7059 substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering depending on the hydrogen content. The electrical and optical properties and electrochemical corrosion resistance of the AZO films were evaluated as a function of the hydrogen content. With increasing hydrogen content to 6 wt%, the crystallinity, crystal size, and surface roughness of the films increased, and the resistivity decreased with increased carrier concentration, Hall mobility, oxygen vacancies, and $Zn(OH)_2$ binding on the AZO surface. At a hydrogen content of 6 wt%, the corrosion resistance was also relatively high with less columnar morphology, shallow pore channels, and lower grain boundary angles.