• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.322.1-322.1
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• 2014

Many research groups have studied tandem or multi-junction cells to overcome this low efficiency and degradation. In multi-junction cells, band-gap engineering of each absorb layer is needed to absorb the light at various wavelengths efficiently. Various absorption layers can be formed using multi-junctions, such as hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H), amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) and microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c$-Si:H), etc. Among them, ${\mu}c$-Si:H is the bottom absorber material because it has a low band-gap and does not exhibit light-induced degradation like amorphous silicon. Nevertheless, ${\mu}c$-Si:H requires a much thicker material (>2 mm) to absorb sufficient light due to its smaller light absorption coefficient, highlighting the need for a high growth rate for productivity. ${\mu}c$-SiGe:H has a much higher absorption coefficient than ${\mu}c$-Si:H at the low energy wavelength, meaning that the thickness of the absorption layer can be decreased to less than half that of ${\mu}c$-Si:H. ${\mu}c$-SiGe:H films were prepared using 40 MHz very high frequency PECVD method at 1 Torr. SiH4 and GeH4 were used as a reactive gas and H2 was used as a dilution gas. In this study, the ${\mu}c$-SiGe:H layer for triple solar cells applications was performed to optimize the film properties.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.228-231
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• 2006

This paper briefly introduces silicon based thin film solar cells: amorphous (a-Si:H), microcrystalline ${\mu}c-Si:H$ single junction and $a-Si:H/{\mu}c-Si:H$ tandem solar cells. The major difference of a-Si:H and ${\mu}c-Si:H$ cells comes from electro-optical properties of intrinsic Si-films (active layer) that absorb incident photon and generate electron-hole pairs. The a-Si:H film has energy band-gap (Eg) of 1.7-1.8eV and solar cells incorporating this wide Eg a-Si:H material as active layer commonly give high voltage and low current, when illuminated, compared to ${\mu}c-Si:H$ solar cells that employ low Eg (1.1eV) material. This Eg difference of two materials make possible tandem configuration in order to effectively use incident photon energy. The $a-Si:H/{\mu}c-Si:H$ tandem solar cells, therefore, have a great potential for low cost photovoltaic device by its various advantages such as low material cost by thin-film structure on low cost substrate instead of expensive c-Si wafer and high conversion efficiency by tandem structure. In this paper, the structure, process and operation properties of Si-based thin-film solar cells are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1261-1265
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• 1999

Effect of SiC particle size of the densification of Al2O3-SiC composite during pressureless sintering was investigated. Two types of SiC powders having average particle size of 0.15${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and 3${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ were used. Densification rate of the specimen containing 0.15${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ SiC particles was slower than that of the specimen containg 3${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ SiC particles. Although the relative density of the specimen containing 0.15${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ SiC particles was below 90% of theoretical density after sintering at 155$0^{\circ}C$ the complete closure of open pores occurred. Therefore full densification could be obtained by subsequent HIP. On the other hand in the specimen containing 3${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ SiC particles the complete closed pore was observed at 95% of theoretical density. Such a fast pore closure in the specimen containing 0.15${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ SiC particles is likely to occur as a result of dense reaction layer formation on the specimen surface which is attributed to the high reactivity of small size particles with sintering atmosphere.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.40 no.9
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• pp.891-896
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• 2003

Novel fabrication technique was developed for high strength Reaction-Bonded SiC (RBSC) hot gas filter for use in IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) system. The room and high temperature fracture strengths for Si-melt infiltrated reaction-bonded SiC were 50-123, and 60-66 MPa, respectively. The average pore size was 60-70 $\mu\textrm{m}$ and the porosity was about 34 vol％. RBSC infiltrated with molten silicon showed improved fracture strength at high temperature, as compared to that of clay-bonded SiC, due to SiC/Si phase present within SiC phase. The thickness for SiC/Si phase was increased with increasing powder particle size of SiC from 10 to 34 $\mu\textrm{m}$. Pressure drop with dust particles showed similar response as compared to that for Schumacher type 20 filter. The filter fabricated in the present study showed good performance in that the filtered powder size was reduced drastically to below 1 $\mu\textrm{m}$ within 4 min.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.51-56
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• 2012

In order to fabricate through-Si-vias for thermal vias by using wet etching process, anisotropic etching behavior of Si substrate was investigated as functions of concentration and temperature of TMAH solution in this study. The etching rate of 5 wt%, 10 wt%, and 25 wt% TMAH solutions, of which temperature was maintained at $80^{\circ}C$, was $0.76{\mu}m/min$, $0.75{\mu}m/min$, and $0.30{\mu}m/min$, respectively. With changing the temperature of 10 wt% TMAH solution to $20^{\circ}C$ and $50^{\circ}C$, the etching rate was reduced to $0.067{\mu}m/min$ and $0.233{\mu}m/min$, respectively. Through-Si-vias of $500{\mu}m$-depth could be fabricated by etching a Si substrate for 5 hours in 10 wt% TMAH solution at $80^{\circ}C$ after forming same via-pattern on each side of the Si substrate.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07d
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• pp.1514-1516
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• 1999

This paper covers our efforts to improve the low carrier mobility and light instability of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films with microcrystalline silicon $({\mu}c-Si)$ films. We successfully prepared ${\mu}c-Si$ films on $CaF_2$/glass substrate by decomposition of $SiH_4$ in RPCVD system. The $CaF_2$ films on glass served as a seed layer for ${\mu}c-Si$ film growth. The XRD analysis on $CaF_2$/glass illustrated a (111) preferred $CaF_2$ grains with the lattice mismatch less than 5 % of Si. We achieved ${\mu}c-Si$ films with a crystalline volume fraction of 61 %, (111) and (220) crystal orientations. grain size of $706\AA$, activation energy of 0.49 eV, and Photo/dark conductivity ratio of 124. By using a $CaF_2$/glass structure. we were able to achieve an improved ${\mu}c-Si$ films at a low substrate temperature of $300^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 2004

The effect of SiC particle size on the microstructures and mechanical properties of A1$_2$O$_3$-SiC composite was investigated. Two types of SiC powders having average particle sizes of 0.15 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and 3 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ were used. The grain growth in the specimen containing 0.15 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ SiC was effectively inhibited due to the fine SiC particles. However, after the formation of some abnormal grains, fast and exaggerated grain growth occurred which led to the microstructure of large grains with irregular shape. Fracture strength decreased due to the abnormal large grains. On the other hand, for specimen containing 3 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ SiC showed normal grain growth behavior from initial sintering stage. Large SiC particles, however, effectively inhibited exaggerated grain growth after nucleation of a few abnormal grains. As a consequence, microstructure consisted of homogeneous elongated grains. In the A1$_2$O$_3$-2.5SiC(0.15 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$)-2.5SIC(3 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$) composite fabricated by mixing the two types of SiC powder, abnormal grain growth occurred. However, the good fracture strength was maintained regardless of microstructural changes in this specimen.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.33A no.5
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• pp.117-124
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• 1996

The .mu.c-Si:H films have been deposited by PeCVD at the various conditions such as hydrogen dilution ratio, substrate temperature and RF power density. Then, we studied their electrical and optical properties. Top gate hydrogenated micro-crystalline silicon thin film transistors($\mu$c-Si:H TFTs) using $\mu$-Si:H and a-SiN:H films have been fabricated by FECVD. The electrical characteristics of the devices have been investigated by semiconductor parameter analyzer and compared with amorphous silicon thin film transistors (a-Si:H TFTs). In this study, on/off current ratio, threshold voltage and the field effect mobility of the $\mu$c-Si:H TFT were $3{\times}10^{4}$, 5.06V and 0.94cm$^{2}$Vs, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.217-217
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• 2009

This paper describes the characteristics of polycrystalline 3C-SiC doubly clamped beam micro resonators. The polycrystalline 3C-SiC doubly clamped beam resonators with 60 ~ 100 ${\mu}m$ lengths, $10\;{\mu}m$ width, and $0.4\;{\mu}m$ thickness were fabricated using a surface micromachining technique. Polycrystalline 3C-SiC micro resonators were actuated by piezoelectric element and their fundamental resonant frequency was measured by a laser vibrometer in vacuum at room temperature. For the 60 ~ 100 ${\mu}m$ long cantilevers, the fundamental frequency appeared at 373.4 ~ 908.1 kHz. The resonant frequencies of doubly clamped beam with lengths were higher than simulated results because of tensile stress. Therefore, polycrystalline 3C-SiC doubly clamped beam micro resonators are suitable for RF MEMS devices and bio/chemical sensor applications.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.303-306
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• 2009

This paper describes the characteristics of polycrystalline 3C-SiC doubly clamped beam micro resonators. The polycrystalline 3C-SiC doubly clamped beam resonators with $60{\sim}100{\mu}m$ lengths, $10{\mu}m$ width, and $0.4{\mu}m$ thickness were fabricated using a surface micromachining technique. Polycrystalline 3C-SiC micro resonators were actuated by piezoelectric element and their fundamental resonant frequency was measured by a laser vibrometer in vacuum at room temperature. For the $60{\sim}100{\mu}m$ long cantilevers, the fundamental frequency appeared at $373.4{\sim}908.1\;kHz$. The resonant frequencies of doubly clamped beam with lengths were higher than simulated results because of tensile stress. Therefore, polycrystalline 3C-SiC doubly clamped beam micro resonators are suitable for RF MEMS devices and bio/chemical sensor applications.