• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.31-36
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• 2006

Superstrate pin amorphous silicon thin-film(a-Si:H) solar cells are prepared on $SnO_2:F$ and ZnO:Al transparent conducting oxides(TCO) in order to see the effect of TCO/p-layers on a-Si:H solar cell operation. The solar cells prepared on textured ZnO:Al have higher open circuit voltage VOC than cells prepared on $SnO_2:F$. Presence of thin microcrystalline p-type silicon layer(${\mu}c-Si:H$) between ZnO:Al and p a-SiC:H plays a major role by causing improvement in fill factor as well as $V_{OC}$ of a-Si:H solar cells prepared on ZnO:Al TCO. Without any treatment of pi interface, we could obtain high $V_{OC}$ of 994mV while keeping fill factor(72.7%) and short circuit current density $J_{SC}$ at the same level as for the cells on $SnO_2:F$ TCO. This high $V_{OC}$ value can be attributed to modification in the current transport in this region due to creation of a potential barrier.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.158-161
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• 2006

Superstrate pin amorphous silicon thin-film (a-Si:H) solar cells are prepared on $SnO_2:F$ and ZnO:Al transparent conducting oxides (TCO) In order to see the effect of TCO/P-layers on a-Si:H solar cell operation. The solar cells prepared on textured ZnO:Al have higher open circuit voltage $V_{oc}$ than cells prepared on $SnO_2:F$. Presence of thin microcrystalline p-type silicon layer $({\mu}c-Si:H)$ between ZnO:Al and p a-SiC:H plays a major role by causing improvement in fill factor as well as $V_{oc}$, of a-Si:H solar cells prepared on ZnO:Al TCO. Without any treatment of pi interface, we could obtain high $V_{oc}$, of 994mv while keeping fill factor (72.7%) and short circuit current density $J_{sc}$ at the same level as for the cells on $SnO_2:F$ TCO. This high $V_{oc}$ value can be attributed to modification in the current transport in this region due to creation of a potential barrier.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.452-452
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• 2013

ZnO is one of the most attractive transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films because of low toxicity, a wide band gap material and relatively low cost. However, the electrical conductivity of un-doped ZnO is too high to use it as TCO films in practical application. To improve electrical properties of undoped ZnO, transition metal (TM) doped ZnO films such as Al doped ZnO or Ti doped ZnO have been extensively studied. Here, we prepared Ti doped ZnO thin films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) for the application of TCO films. ALD was used to prepare Ti-doped ZnO thin films due to its inherent merits such as large area uniformity, precise composition control in multicomponent thin films, and digital thickness controllability. Also, we demonstrated that ALD method can be utilized for fabricating highly ordered freestanding nanostructures of Ti-doped ZnO thin films by combining with BCP templates, which can potentially used in the photovoltaic applications.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.88-88
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• 2009

실리콘 이종접합 태양전지 제작을 위한 주요 요소기술 중 TCO/a-Si:H 간의 계면 특성은 태양전지 효율을 결정하는 주요 인자이다. 일반적으로 투명전도 산화막으로는 ZnO:Al 또는 ITO 가 사용되고 있으며 Zn, In, Sn, O 등의 확산과 Si원소의 확산으로 TCO/a-Si:H 계면에서 $SiO_x$가 생성되어 태양전지 충진률을 감소시키는 영향을 미친다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 TCO/a-Si 계면에서 확산을 방지 하면서 패시베이션 역할을 하는 완충층을 삽입하여 실리콘 이종접합 태양전지의 효율을 높이는 연구를 수행하였다. 완충층으로 사용된 ZnO:Al의 수소화와 Zn 박막, $TiO_2$ 박막의 전기 광학적 특성을 분석하였고 AES 분석을 통해 $SiO_x$의 생성과 각 원소의 확산정도를 분석하고, CTLM을 이용하여 TCO/완충층/a-Si 간의 접촉저항을 측정하였다. 결과적으로 완충층으로 사용된 $TiO_2$(5nm)는 광특성에 큰 감소요인 없이 전기적 특성과 접촉저항 특성이 우수하였으며, 원소들간의 확산방지층으로도 우수한 특성을 보였다. ZnO:Al의 수소화는 SIMS 분석 결과 수소원소들이 계면쪽에 위치하지 않고 표면쪽에 다수 존재함으로써 패시베이션 특성을 크게 보이지 않았으나 AZO 박막의 전기적 특성은 크게 향상 시켰다. 그밖에 완충층으로 사용된 Zn 박막은 두께가 두꺼원 질수록 접촉저항의 감소를 가져왔으나 광학적 특성이 크게 감소하면서 효율적인 광포획 특성을 가지지 못하였다. 본 연구를 통하여 TCO/a-Si:H 간의 완충층 삽입을 통해 접촉저항을 낮추고 원소간의 확산을 억제하여 계면 패시베이션 특성을 향상 시킬수 있었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.196.1-196.1
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• 2016

TCO(Transparent Conducting Oxide) on flat glass is used in thin-film photovoltaic cell, flat-panel display. Nowadays, Corning(R) Willow Glass(R), known as flexible substrate, has attracted much attention due to its many advantages such as reliable roll-to-roll glass processing, high-quality flexible electronic devices, high temperature process. Also, it can be an alternative to flexible polymer substrates which have their poor stability and degradation of electrical and optical qualities. For application on willow glass, the flexibility, electrical, optical properties can be greatly influenced by the TCO thin film thickness due to the inherent characterization of thin film in nanoscale. It can be expected that while thick TCO layer causes poor transparency, its sheet resistance become low. Also, rarely reports were focusing on the influence of flexible properties by varying TCO thickness on flexible glass. Therefore, it is very important to optimize TCO thickness on flexible Willow glass. In this study, Ti-ZnO thin films, with different thickness varied from 0 nm to 50 nm, were deposited on the flexible willow glass by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The flexible, electrical and optical properties were investigated, respectively. Also, these properties of Ti-doped ZnO thin films were compared with un-doped ZnO thin film. Based on the results, when Ti-ZnO thin films thickness increased, resistivity decreased and then saturated; transmittance decreased. The Figure of Merit (FoM) and flexibility was the highest when Ti-ZnO thickness was 40nm. The flexible, electrical and optical properties of Ti-ZnO thin films were better than ZnO thin film at the same thickness.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.641-642
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• 2011

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.961-968
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• 2009

In this work, transparent conductive oxide(TCO) films such as $In_2O_3-SnO_2$(ITO) and $In_2O_3-ZnO$(IZO) were prepared on polyethylene naphthalene(PEN) and glass substrates by using rf-magnetron sputtering system. The TCO films deposited on PEN substrate show very poor conductivity as compared to that of the TCO films deposited on glass substrates. From the results of the residual gas analysis(RGA) test, this poor stability of plastic substrate is presumed to be caused by the deteriorated adhesion between the TCO films and the plastic substrate due to outgassing from the plastic substrate during deposition of TCO films. From our experiment, it is found that the vaporization of some defects in the plastic substrates deteriorate the adhesion of the TCO films to the plastic substrate, because the most plastic substrates containing the water vapor and/or other adsorbed particles such as organic solvents. Mixing of these gases vaporized in the sputtering process will also affect the electrical property of the deposited TCO films. Inorganic thin composite $(SiO_2)_{40}(ZnO)_{60}$ film as a gas barrier layer is coated on the PEN substrate to protecting the diffusion of vapors from the substrate, so that the TCO films with an improved quality can be obtained.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.46.2-46.2
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• 2010

For use of superstrate thin-film solar cells, surface texture of the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) has been used to enhance short-circuit currents by increasing light trapping into the cell. ZnO:Al films were deposited by using DC magnetron sputtering on glass substrates with ceramic (ZnO:$Al_2O_3$) target. The as-deposited TCO before texturing exhibited high transparencies (T > 85% for visible light including all reflection losses) and excellent electrical properties ($r=3-6{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}.cm$). The optical and electrical properties of the TCO are influenced by the texturing conditions such as not only etchant dilutions but also etching time. We obtained the haze value of 14-16 resulting in increase in light trapping and short-circuit currents also.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of IIIuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.177-179
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• 2009

In order to investigate the possible application of ZnO films as a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) electrode, ZnO:Al films were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering method. The effects of surface treatment and doping concentration on the structural and electrical properties of ZnO films were mainly studied experimentally. Five-inch PDP cells using either a ZnO:Al or indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode were also fabricated separately under the same manufacturing conditions. The luminous properties of both the transparent conducting oxide electrode were measured and compared with each other. By doping the ZnO target with 2 wt% of Al2O3, the film deposited at a chemical surface treatment resulted in the minimum resistivity of 8.5 _ 10_4 U-cm and a transmittance of 91.7%. And DBD surface treatment resulted in the minimum resistivity of 8.5 _ 10_4 U-cm and a transmittance of 91.7%. Although the luminance and luminous efficiency of the transparent conducting oxide electrode using ZnO:AI are lower than those of the cell with the ITO electrode by about 10%, these values are sufficient enough to be considered for the normal operation of TCO.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.454-454
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• 2010

In order to achieve a high efficient a-Si solar cell, the TCO (transparent conductive oxide) substrates are required to be a low sheet resistivity, a high transparency, and a textured surface with light trapping effect. Recently, a zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film attracts our attention as new coating material having a good transparent and conductive for TCO of solar cells. In this paper the optical properties of $H_2$ post-treated BZO (boron doped ZnO, ZnO:B) thin film are investigated with $O_2$-plasma treatment. The BZO thin films by MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) are investigated and the samples of $H_2$ post-treated BZO thin film are tested with $O_2$-plasma treatment by plasma treatment system with 13.56 MHz as RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) type. We measured the optical properties and surface morphology of BZO thin film with and without $O_2$-plasma treatment. The optical properties such as transmittance, reflectance and haze are measured with integrating sphere and ellipsometer. This result of the BZO thin film with and without $O_2$-plasma treatment is application to the TCO for solar cells.