Keynote Speaker 2

Assoc. Prof. Taizo Kobayashi

Ritsumeikan University, Japan

"MEMS and Materials Engineering"

Biography: Taizo Kobayashi received the BS in 1999, the MS degrees in 2001 from Ritsumeikan University. He joined ARKRAY, inc. in 2001 and joined OMRON corporation in 2003. He obtained the PhD degree in 2009 in mechanical engineering, from Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japan. He studied Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film solar cells at Aoyama Gakuin University as a research associate and at Tokyo University of Science as a research assistant professor from 2011 to 2013. He studied functional surfaces and materials for biomedical application at R-GIRO in Ritsumeikan University as a research assistant professor from 2014 to 2016. He is currently an associate professor in Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japan. His current research focuses on optical functional materials in MEMS applications.

Topic : "Interface engineering of chalcogen and chalcogenide thin films for photovoltaic applications"

Abstract: Chalcogen and chalcogenide (such as, Se or Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ )-based photodiode has attracted attention as one of promising optoelectronics materials for photovoltaics and light sensing applications in next generation due to the following features. 1) High optical absorption coefficient (almost 100 times higher than that of Si）and 2) Suitability for mass production by repetition of commonly used deposition processes such as sputtering and evaporation for all layers of the photovoltaic device. Crystalized selenium exhibits high spectral response to visible light wavelengths due to an optimum bandgap of Se at 1.8 eV. Therefore c-Se photovoltaic devices are high applicability to indoor light energy harvesting and image sensing applications. On the other hands, Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ at a bandgap energy of 1.1~1.2 eV exhibits high spectral response in solar cells applications. In this talk, the energy band engineering and defect passivation technologies will be presented as interface engineering to improve photovoltaic performances of Se and Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ based photovoltaic devices.