• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.326-332
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• 2023

The high cost of Si-based solar cells remains a substantial challenge to their widespread adoption. To address this issue, it is essential to reduce the production cost of solar-grade Si, which is used as raw material. One approach to achieve this is Si electrodeposition in molten salts containing Si sources, such as SiO₂. In this study, we present the pulse electrodeposition of Si in molten CaCl₂ containing SiO₂ nanoparticles. Theoretically, SiO₂ nanoparticles with a diameter of less than 20 nm in molten CaCl₂ at 850℃ have a comparable diffusion coefficient with that of ions in aqueous solutions at room temperature. However, we observed a slower-than-expected diffusion of the SiO₂ nanoparticles, probably because of their tendency to aggregate in the molten CaCl₂. This led to the formation of a non-uniform Si film with low current efficiency during direct current electrodeposition. We overcome this issue using pulse electrodeposition, which enabled the facile supplementation of SiO₂ nanoparticles to the substrate. This approach produced a uniform and thick electrodeposited Si film. Our results demonstrate an efficient method for Si electrodeposition in molten CaCl₂ containing SiO₂ nanoparticles, which can contribute to a reduction in production cost of solar-grade Si.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1069-1074
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• 2022

In this study, we prepared ITO thin films on the Nb₂O₅/SiO₂ double buffer layer and investigated electrical and optical properties according to the change of SiO₂ buffer layer thickness (40~50nm). The ITO thin film fabricated on the Nb₂O₅/SiO₂ double buffer layer exhibited a broad surface roughness with a small value ranging of 0.815 to 1.181nm, and the sheet resistance was 99.3 to 134.0Ω/sq. It seems that there is no problem in applying the ITO thin film to a capacitive touch screen panel. In particular, the average transmittance in the short-wavelength (400~500nm) region and the chromaticity (b^*) of the ITO thin film deposited on the Nb₂O₅(10nm)/SiO₂(40nm) double buffer layer showed significantly improved results as 83.58% and 0.05, respectively, compared to 74.46% and 4.28 of ITO thin film without double buffer layer. As a result, it was confirmed that optical properties such as transmittance in the short-wavelength region and chromaticity were remarkably improved due to the index matching effect in the ITO thin film with the Nb₂O₅/SiO₂ double buffer layer.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.35-39
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• 2023

Silicon oxide thin films have been deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition in SiH4 and N2O plasma along the variation of the gas flow ratio. Optical emission spectroscopy was employed to monitor the plasma and ellipsometry was employed to obtain refractive index of the deposited thin film. The atomic ratio of Si, O, and N in the film was obtained using XPS depth profiling. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was used to analyze structures of the films. RI decreased with the increase in N2O/SiH4 gas flow ratio. We noticed the increase in the Si-O-Si bond angles as the N2O/SiH4 gas flow ratio increased, according to the analysis of the Si-O-Si stretching peak between 950 and 1,150 cm-1 in the wavenumber. We observed a correlation between the optical emission intensity ratio of (ISi+ISiH)/IO. The OES intensity ratio is also related with the measured refractive index and chemical composition ratio of the deposited thin film. Therefore, we report the added value of OES data analysis from the plasma related to the thin film characteristics in the PECVD process.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.129-135
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• 1995

SiO thin films are deposited by evaporator the refractive index of wave length, photon energy and the absorptive rate of these films are measured by spectroscopic ellipsometer. It is derived the absorptive rate and permitivity of SiO thin films from the equations that calculating the refractive index. And the result show good agreement with the calculated values and experimental values. As a result, the wave length of light is increased in the condition that the angle of incidence is fixed on SiO thin film, the basic absorption and the absorption impurities are found in the low wave length (below 450 nm in this study) and the reflective absorption and conductive absorption is increased by the form of exponential function over the low wavelength. The absorptive rate is increased by increased the angle of incidence and thickness of SiO film for the insulating layer. As the thickness of SiO film is increased, the value of complex permitivity is decreasing and as wave length of incidence is increased., the value of dielectric is linearly increasing.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.241-246
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• 2003

The transparent conducting thin film of ATO (antimony-doped tin oxide) was successfully fabricated on$SiO_2$/glass substrate by a sol-gel dip coating method. The crystalline phase of the ATO thin film was identified as SnO$_2$ major phase and the film thickness was about 100 nm/layer at the withdrawal speed of 50 mm/minute. Optical transmittance and electrical resistivity of the 400 nm-thick ATO thin film which was annealed under nitrogen atmosphere were 84% and $5.0\times 10^{-3}\Omega \textrm{cm}$, respectively. It was found that the $SiO_2$ layer inhibited Na ion diffusion and the formation of impurities like $Na_2SnO_3$ or SnO while increasing Sb ion concentration and higher ratio of $Sb^{5+}/Sb^{3+}$in the film. Annealing at nitrogen atmosphere leads to the reduction of $Sn^{4+}$ as well as $Sb^{5+}$ resulting in decrease of the electrical resistivity of the film.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.211-226
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• 2019

Optical thin films were deposited by using a reactive pulsed DC magnetron sputtering method with a high density plasma(HDP). In this study, the effect of sputtering process conditions on the microstructure and optical properties of $SiO_2$, $TiO_2$, $Nb_2O_5$ thin films was clarified. These thin films had flat and dense microstructure, stable stoichiometric composition at the optimal conditions of low working pressure, high pulsed DC power and RF power(HDP). Also, the refractive index of the $SiO_2$ thin films was almost constant, but the refractive indices of $TiO_2$ and $Nb_2O_5$ thin films were changed depending on the microstructure of these films. Antireflection films of $Air/SiO_2/Nb_2O_5/SiO_2/Nb_2O_5/SiO_2/Nb_2O_5/Glass$ structure designed by Macleod program were manufactured by our developed sputtering system. Transmittance and reflectance of the manufactured multilayer films showed outstanding value with the level of 95% and 0.3%, respectively, and also had excellent durability.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1323-1328
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• 1988

Thermally grown $SiO_2$ films on silicon have been thermally nitrided in the $NH_3$ gas ambient and their properties have been investigated by analyzing the AES data and the results of the I-V and the C-V measurements. The Auger depth profile show that the nitrogen-rich layers are formed at the nitrided oxide film surface and near the $SiO_2$-Si interface. The higher the nitridation temperature is, the larger the refractive index of nitroxide film is. And the thinner the oxide film to be nitrided for the same nitridation temperature is, the larger the refractive index of nitroxide film is. When thin $SiO_2$ film is thermally nitrided, the I-V characteristics show the Fowler-Nordheim conduction fashion. Flatband voltages of $SiO_2$ films are shifted by nitridation, due to the fixed charge formation.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.277-281
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• 2009

Superhydrophobic $SiO_2$ thin films were successfully fabricated on a glass substrate by sol-gel method. To fabricate $SiO_2$ thin film with a high roughness, $SiO_2$ nano particles were added into tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) solution. The prepared $SiO_2$ thin film without an addition of $SiO_2$ nano particles showed a very flat surface with ca. 1.27 nm of root mean square (RMS) roughness. Otherwise, the $SiO_2$ thin films fabricated by using coating solutions added $SiO_2$ nano particles of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 wt% showed a RMS roughness of ca. 44.10 nm, ca. 69.58 nm, ca. 80.66 nm, respectively. To modify the surfaces of $SiO_2$ thin films to hydrophobic surface, a hydrophobic treatment was carried out using a fluoroalkyltrimethoxysilane (FAS). The $SiO_2$ thin films with a high rough surface were changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic surface after the FAS treatment. Especially, the prepared $SiO_2$ thin film with a RMS roughness of 80.66 nm showed a water contact angle of $163^{\circ}$.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.27-30
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• 2001

Electromigration Phenomena in Al-1%Si thin film interconnections under DC and PDC conditions were investigated. Thin film interconnections with $SiO_2$ and PSG/$SiO_2$ dielectric passivation layer were formed by a standard photolithography process method and test line lengths were 100, 400, 800, 1200, and 1600 $\mu\textrm{m}$. The current density of $1.19\times10^7\textrm{A/cm}^2$ was stressed in Al-1%Si thin film interconnections under DC condition. The current density of $1.19\times10^7\textrm{A/cm}^2$ was also applied under PDC condition at the frequency of 1 Hz with the duty factor of 0.5. The electromigration resistance of PSG/SiO2 dielectric passivation test line was stronger than $SiO_2$ dielectric passivation test line. The lifetime under PDC was 2-4 times longer than DC condition. As the thin film interconnection line increased, the lifetime decreased and saturated over the critical length. Failure patterns by an electromigration were dominated by void-induced electrical open and hillock-induced electrical short.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.92-98
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• 2006

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study interface structures between an $Al_2O_3$ crystalline phase and a interface phase of $CaAl_2Si_2O_8$. We calculated atomic structures and excess interface energies in systems with different thicknesses of the interface film. It was found that excess interface energies at first readily decreased with increasing film thickness, but increased for larger thicknesses of more than 2 nm. The excess energies of $Al_2O_3/CaAl_2Si_2O_8$ interfaces exhibit a minimum at a thickness around 1 nm. In this range of film thicknesses, the atoms in the interface film show a short-range ordered structure and slow diffusion rather than the random structure and rapid diffusion expected to an observation of an equilibrium thickness for interface films in ceramics.