Method of forming chalcogen compound light-absorption layer thin film for solar cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10056512-B2
Application number	US-201615209837-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 14, 2016
Priority date	Nov 12, 2015
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of forming a chalcogen compound thin film suitable for use in a light-absorption layer of a solar cell. The method includes manufacturing a precursor liquid including an Sn precursor material and an S precursor material, applying the precursor liquid to form a precursor film, and heat-treating the precursor film. The Sn precursor material and the S precursor material are liquid materials. The present invention provides a method of forming a chalcogen compound thin film using a liquid precursor material without a sulfurization process, thereby forming a high-quality SnS thin film at low cost using a process which is suitable for mass production. Further, the light-absorption layer is formed using a process which is suitable for mass production, thus enabling the manufacture of a solar cell including the chalcogen compound thin film at low cost.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming an SnS thin film, the method comprising:
manufacturing a precursor liquid including an Sn precursor material and an S precursor material;
applying the precursor liquid to form a precursor film; and
heat-treating the precursor film without drying to form the SnS thin film,
wherein the Sn precursor material and the S precursor material are liquid materials, respectively, and
wherein the Sn precursor material is a liquid tin-organic complex.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the precursor liquid includes Sn and S such that an Sn/S molar ratio is in a range of 0.8 to 1.5.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tin-organic complex is Sn-ethyl hexanoate.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat-treating is performed in an inert gas atmosphere.

5. A method of forming an SnS thin film, the method comprising:
manufacturing a precursor liquid including an Sn precursor material and an S precursor material;
applying the precursor liquid to form a precursor film; and
heat-treating the precursor film without drying to form the SnS thin film,
wherein the Sn precursor material and the S precursor material are liquid materials, and
wherein the heat-treating is performed at a temperature in a range of 450 to 520° C.

6. A method of forming an SnS thin film, the method comprising:
manufacturing a precursor liquid including an Sn precursor material and an S precursor material;
applying the precursor liquid to form a precursor film; and
heat-treating the precursor film without drying to form the SnS thin film,
wherein the Sn precursor material and the S precursor material are liquid materials, and
wherein the S precursor material is DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide).

Assignees

• Korea Inst Energy Res

Inventors

• Cho Ara
• Cho Jun-Sik
• Yun Jae-Ho
• Ahn Sejin
• Gwak Jihye
• Yoo Jin-Su
• Ahn Seoung-Kyu
• Park Joo-Hyung
• Eo Young-Joo
• Kim Ki-Hwan

Classifications

• H10P14/3436

  being chalcogenide semiconductor materials not being oxides, e.g. ternary compounds · CPC title

• H10P14/26

  using liquid deposition · CPC title

• H01L31/1864

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/18

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0324 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic