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

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.161-166
• /
• 2013

AlN buffer layers have been used for the growth of GaN layers on Si substrates. However, the doping of high concentration of carriers into AlN layers is still not easy, therefore it may cause the increase of series resistance when it is used for the electrical or optical devices. In this work, to improve such a problem, the growth of GaN layers on Si substrates were performed using metal buffer layers instead of AlN buffer layer. We tried combinations of Ti, Al, Cr and Au as metal buffer layers for the growth of GaN on Si substrates. Surface morphology was measured by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM), and optical properties and crystalline quality were measured by photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD), respectively. Electrical resistances for both cases of AlN and metal buffer layer were compared by current-voltage (I-V) measurement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2002.05b
• /
• pp.82-85
• /
• 2002

In recent years, the tantalum nitride(TaN) thin-film has been developed for the electronic resistor and capacitor. In this papers, this study presents the surface profile and sheet-resistance property relationship of reactive-sputtered TaN thin film resistor processed by buffer of Ti and Cr on alumina substrate. The TCR properties of the TaN films were discussed in terms of reactive gas ratio, ratio of nitrogen, crystallization and thin films surface morphology due to annealing temperature. It is clear that the TaN thin-films resistor electrical properties are low TCR related with it's buffer layer condition. Ti buffer layer thin film resistor having a good thermal stability and lower TCR properties then Cr buffer expected for the application to the dielectric material of passive component.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
• /
• v.13 no.spc2
• /
• pp.336-340
• /
• 2012

Wide band gap p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO:H) buffer layer has been used at the interface of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) p-type layer of a p-i-n type a-Si:H solar cell. Introduction of 5 nm thick buffer layer improves in blue response of the cell along with 0.5% enhancement of photovoltaic conversion efficiency (η). The cells with buffer layer show higher open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), short circuit current density (Jsc) and improved blue response with respect to the cell without buffer layer.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.24-27
• /
• 2009

N-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on n-type Si(100) and homo-buffer layer, and undoped ZnO thin film was also deposited on homo-buffer layer by RF magnetron sputtering method. After deposition, all films were in-situ annealed at $800^{\circ}C$ for 5 minutes in ambient of $O_2$ with pressure of 10Torr. X -ray diffraction shows that the homo-buffer layer is beneficial to the crystalline of N-doped ZnO thin films and all films have preferable c-axis orientation. Atomic force microscopy shows that undoped ZnO thin film grown on homo-buffer layer has an evident improvement of smoothness compared with N-dope ZnO thin films. Hall-effect measurements show that all ZnO films annealed at $800^{\circ}C$ possess p-type conductivities. The undoped ZnO film has the highest carrier concentration of $1.145{\times}10^{17}cm{-3}$. The photoluminescence spectra show the emissions related to FE, DAP and many defects such as $V_{Zn}$, $Zn_O$, $O_i$ and $O_{Zn}$. The p-type defects ($O_i$, $V_{Zn}$, and $O_{Zn}$) are dominant. The undoped ZnO thin film has a better p-type conductivity compared with N-doped ZnO thin film.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.34-38
• /
• 2011

In this study, the effects of an annealed buffer layer with different thickness on heterojunction diodes based on the ZnO/ZnO/p-Si(111) systems were reported. The effects of an annealed buffer layer with different thickness on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) films on p-Si(111) were also studied. Before zinc oxide (ZnO) deposition, different thicknesses of ZnO buffer layer, 10 nm, 30 nm, 50 nm and 70 nm, were grown on p-Si(111) substrates using a radio-frequency sputtering system; samples were subsequently annealed at $700^{\circ}C$ for 10 minutes in $N_2$ in a horizontal thermal furnace. Zinc oxide (ZnO) films with a width of 280nm were also deposited using a radio-frequency sputtering system on the annealed ZnO/p-Si (111) substrates at room temperature; samples were subsequently annealed at $700^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes in $N_2$. In this experiment, the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films were studied by XRD (X-ray diffraction), and room temperature PL (photoluminescence) measurements, respectively. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics were measured with a semiconductor parameter analyzer. The thermal tensile stress was found to decrease with increasing buffer layer thickness. Among the ZnO/ZnO/p-Si(111) diodes fabricated in this study, the sample that was formed with the condition of a 50 nm thick ZnO buffer layer showed a strong c-axis preferred orientation and I-V characteristics suitable for a heterojunction diode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.11a
• /
• pp.60-60
• /
• 2009

기존의 박막 실리콘 태양전지는 TCO와 p-layer 사이의 Bandgap차이가 p-layer, i-layer, n-layer 사이의 Bandgap 차이보다 커서 TCO를 통과한 태양광이 p-layer에 흡수되기 전에 일정량 손실된다. 이를 해결하기 위하여, p-layer 위에 기존의 p-layer보다 높은 Bandgap을 갖는 p buffer layer가 추가된 박막 실리콘 태양전지 구조를 만들어서 흡수되는 태양광의 손실량을 줄이고, 변환효율을 높이고자 하였다. 실험은 ASA Simulator를 이용하여 진행하였으며, Simulation결과 1.92eV의 Bandgap을 갖는 p buffer layer의 추가로 인하여, 기존 10.64%에서 11.16%로 증가된 변환효율을 얻을 수 있었다. Bandgap뿐만 아니라 다른 요소의 최적화도 이루어진다면, 기존의 박막 실리콘 태양전지보다 훨씬 높은 변환효율을 갖는 박막 실리콘 태양전지를 설계 하는 것이 가능 할 것이다.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 1998.11a
• /
• pp.98-98
• /
• 1998

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 1994.07b
• /
• pp.1277-1279
• /
• 1994

In the structure of ZnO/nip-SiC: H/metal substrate amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells, the effects of inserting a rear textured ZnO in the p-SiC:H/metal interface and a graded bandgap buffer layer in the i/p-SiC:H have been analysed by computer simulation. The incident light was taken to have an intensity of $100mW/cm^2$(AM-1). The thickness of the a-Si:H n, ${\delta}$-doped a-SiC:H p, and buffer layers was assumed to be $200{\AA},\;66{\AA}$, and $80{\AA}$, respectively. The scattering coefficients of the front and back ZnO were taken to be 0.2 and 0.7, respectively. Inserting the rear buffer layer significantly increases the open circuit voltage($V_{oc}$) due to reduction of the i/p interface recombination rate. The use of textured ZnO markedly improves collection efficiency in the long wavelengths( above ${\sim}550nm$ ) by back scattering and light confinement effects, resulting in dramatic enhancement of the short circuit current density($J_{sc}$). By using the rear buffer and textured ZnO, the i-layer thickness of the ceil for obtaining the maximum efficiency becomes thinner(${\sim}2500{\AA}$). From these results, it is concluded that the use of textured ZnO and buffer layer at the backside of the ceil is very effective for enhancing the conversion efficiency and reducing the degradation of a-Si:H pin-type solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.159-164
• /
• 2009

We fabricated 40 nm-thick cobalt silicide ($CoSi_2$) as a buffer layer, on p-type Si(100) and Si(111) substrates to investigate the possibility of GaN epitaxial growth on $CoSi_2$/Si substrates. We deposited GaN using a HVPE (hydride vapor phase epitaxy) with two processes of process I ($850^{\circ}C$-12 minutes + $1080^{\circ}C$-30 minutes) and process II ($557^{\circ}C$-5 minutes + $900^{\circ}C$-5 minutes) on $CoSi_2$/Si substrates. An optical microscopy, FE-SEM, AFM, and HR-XRD (high resolution X-ray diffractometer) were employed to determine the GaN epitaxy. In case of process I, it showed no GaN epitaxial growth. However, in process II, it showed that GaN epitaxial growth occurred. Especially, in process II, GaN layer showed selfaligned substrate separation from silicon substrate. Through XRD ${\omega}$-scan of GaN <0002> direction, we confirmed that the combination of cobalt silicide and Si(100) as a buffer and HVPE at low temperature (process II) was helpful for GaN epitaxy growth.