• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2019

Carrier selective solar cell structure has allured curiosity of photovoltaic researchers due to the use of wide band gap transition metal oxide (TMO). Distinctive p/n-type character, broad range of work functions (2 to 7 eV) and risk free fabrication of TMO has evolved new concept of heterojunction intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cell employing carrier selective layers such as $MoO_x$, $WO_x$, $V_2O_5$ and $TiO_2$ replacing the doped a-Si layers on either front side or back side. The p/n-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layers are deposited by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), which includes the flammable and toxic boron/phosphorous gas precursors. Due to this, carrier selective TMO is gaining popularity as analternative risk-free material in place of conventional a-Si:H. In this work hole selective materials such as $MoO_x$, $WO_x$ and $V_2O_5$has been investigated. Recently $MoO_x$, $WO_x$ & $V_2O_5$ hetero-structures showed conversion efficiency of 22.5%, 12.6% & 15.7% respectively at temperature below $200^{\circ}C$. In this work a concise review on few important aspects of the hole selective material solar cell such as historical developments, device structure, fabrication, factors effecting cell performance and dependency on temperature has been reported.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.139-143
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• 2017

N-type crystalline silicon solar cells have high metal impurity tolerance and higher minority carrier lifetime that increases conversion efficiency. However, junction quality between the boron diffused layer and the n-type substrate is more important for increased efficiency. In this paper, the current status and prospects for boron diffused layers in N-type crystalline silicon solar cell applications are described. Boron diffused layer formation methods (thermal diffusion and co-diffusion using $a-SiO_X:B$), boron rich layer (BRL) and boron silicate glass (BSG) reactions, and analysis of the effects to improve junction characteristics are discussed. In-situ oxidation is performed to remove the boron rich layer. The oxidation process after diffusion shows a lower B-O peak than before the Oxidation process was changed into $SiO_2$ phase by FTIR and BRL. The $a-SiO_X:B$ layer is deposited by PECVD using $SiH_4$, $B_2H_6$, $H_2$, $CO_2$ gases in N-type wafer and annealed by thermal tube furnace for performing the P+ layer. MCLT (minority carrier lifetime) is improved by increasing $SiH_4$ and $B_2H_6$. When $a-SiO_X:B$ is removed, the Si-O peak decreases and the B-H peak declines a little, but MCLT is improved by hydrogen passivated inactive boron atoms. In this paper, we focused on the boron emitter for N-type crystalline solar cells.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.619-625
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• 2008

The effects of thermal cycling on residual stresses in both inorganic passivation/insulating layer that is deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and organic thin film that is used as a bonding adhesive are evaluated by 4 point bending method and wafer curvature method. $SiO_2/SiN_x$ and BCB (Benzocyclobutene) are used as inorganic and organic layers, respectively. A model about the effect of thermal cycling on residual stress and bond strength (Strain energy release rate), $G_c$, at the interface between inorganic thin film and organic adhesive is developed. In thermal cycling experiments conducted between $25^{\circ}C$ and either $350^{\circ}C$ or $400^{\circ}C$, $G_c$ at the interface between BCB and PECVD $ SiN_x $ decreases after the first cycle. This trend in $G_c$ agreed well with the prediction based on our model that the increase in residual tensile stress within the $SiN_x$ layer after thermal cycling leads to the decrease in $G_c$. This result is compared with that obtained for the interface between BCB and PECVD $SiO_2$, where the relaxation in residual compressive stress within the $SiO_2$ induces an increase in $G_c$. These opposite trends in $G_cs$ of the structures including either PECVD $ SiN_x $ or PECVD $SiO_2$ are caused by reactions in the hydrogen-bonded chemical structure of the PECVD layers, followed by desorption of water.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.18-21
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• 2013

$SiO_2$ layer grown by rapid thermal oxidation and $SiN_x$ layer were used for passivating the surface of n-type silicon solar cell, instead of only $SiN_x$ layer generally used in photovoltaic industry. The rapid thermal oxidation provides the reduction of processing time and avoids bulk life time degradation during the processing. Improvement of 30 mV in Voc and $2.7mA/cm^2$ in Jsc was obtained by applying these two layers. This improvement led to fabrication of a large area ($239cm^2$) n-type solar cell with 17.34% efficiency. Internal quantum efficiency measurement indicates that the improvement comes from the front side passivation, but not the rear side, by using $SiO_2/SiN_x$ stack.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.12
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• pp.1155-1159
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• 1999

Thin film solar cells on a glass/$SnO_2$ substrate with p-SiC/i-Si/n-Si heterojunction structures were fabricated using a plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition system. The photovoltaic properties of the solar cells were examined with varying the gas phase composition, x=$CH_4/\;(SiH_4+CH_4)$, during the deposition of the p-SiC layer. In the range of x=0~0.4, the efficiency of solar cell increased because of the increased band gap of the p-SiC window layer. Further increase in the gas phase composition, however, led to a decrease in the cell efficiency probably due to in the increased composition mismatch at the p-SiC/i-Si layers. As a result, the efficiency of a glass/$SnO_2$/p-SiC/i-SiC/i-Si/n-Si/Ag thin film solar cell with $1cm^2$ area was 8.6% ($V_{oc}$=0.85V, $J_{sc}$=16.42mA/$cm^2$, FF=0.615) under 100mW/$cm^2$ light intensity.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.9
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• pp.591-596
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• 2009

$TiN_xO_y/TiN_x$ multi-layer thin films with a high resistance(${\sim}k{\Omega}$) were deposited on $SiO_2/Si$ substrates at room temperature by sputtering. The $TiN_x$ thin films show island and smooth surface morphology in samples prepared by ${\alpha}$ and RF magnetron sputtering, respectively. $TiN_xO_y/TiN_x$ multi-layer in has been developed to control temperature coefficient of resistance(TCR) by the incorporation of $TiN_x$ layer(positive TCR) inserted into $TiN_xO_y$ layers(negative TCR). Electrical and structural properties of sputtered $TiN_xO_y/TiN_x$ multi-layer films were investigated as a function of annealing temperature. In order to achieve a stable high resistivity, multi-layer films were annealed at various temperatures in oxygen ambient. Samples annealed at $700^{\circ}C$ for 1 min exhibited good TCR value of approximately $-54 ppm/^{\circ}C$ and a stable high resistivity around $20k{\Omega}/sq$. with good reversibility.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.328-334
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• 2001

The characteristics of $NO/N_2O$ nitrided oxide and reoxidized nitrided oxide being studied as super thin gate oxide and gate dielectric layers of nonvolatile semiconductor memory(NVSM) was investigated by dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry(D-SMS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry(ToF-SIMS), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The specimen was annealed in $NO/N_2O$ ambient after initial oxide process. The result of D-SIMS exhibits that the center of nitrogen exists at the initial oxide interface and the distribution of nitrogen is wider in the annealing process with $N_2O$ than with NO annealing process. For investigating the condition of nitrogen that exists within the nitrided oxide, ToF-SIMS and XPS analysis were carried out. It was shown that the center of nitrogen investigated by D-SIMS was expected the SiON chemical bonds. The nitrogen near the newly formed reoxide/silicon substrate interface was appeared as $Si_2NO$ chemical bonds, and it is agreed with the distribution of SiN and $Si_2NO$ species by ToF-SIMS.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.594-597
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• 2002

Silicon Oxynitride(SiON) thick films on p-type silicon(100) wafers have obtained by using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition from SiH$_4$ , N$_2$O and N$_2$. Prism coupler measurements show that the refractive indices of SiON layers range from 1.4620 to 1.5312. A high deposition power of 180 W leads to deposition rates of up to 5.92${\mu}$m/h. The influence of the deposition condition on the chemical composition was investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. After deposition of the SiON thick films, the films were annealed at 1050$^{\circ}C$ in a nitrogen atmosphere for 2 h to remove absorption band near 1.5${\mu}$m.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.45-46
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• 2009

We have fabricated advanced metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with thin (${\approx}10\;nm$) Inductive-Coupled Plasma (ICP) CVD $Si_xN_y$ dielectric layers and investigated electrical properties of nitrided $SiO_2$/4H-SiC interface after oxidizing the $Si_xN_y$ in dry oxidation and/or $N_2$ annealing. An improvement of electrical properties have been revealed in capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current density-electrical field (J-E) measurements if compared with non-annealed oxidized-SiN. The improvements of SiC MOS capacitors formed by oxidized-SiN have been explained in this paper.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.242-248
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• 1996

The properties of TiN/TiSi$_{2}$ bilayer formed by a rapid thermal annealing is investigated when thin SiO$_{2}$ film exists at the Ti-Si interface. The competitive reaction for the TiN/TiSi_2 bilayer occurs above 600 .deg. C. The thickness of the TiSi$_{2}$ layer decreases with increasing SiO$_{2}$ film thickness and also decreases with increasing anneal temperture When the competitive reaction for the TiN/TiSi$_{2}$ bilayer is occured by rapid thermal annealing, the composition of TiN layer represents TiN$_{x}$O$_{y}$ due to the SiO$_{2}$ layer at the Ti-Si interface but the structures of the TiN and TiSi$_{2}$ layers were not changed.d.d.