• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.230-234
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• 2006

Metal-Induced Crystallization (MIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) using aluminum and nickel as catalysts were performed with a variation of metal thickness and temperature. Raman results showed that the crystallization of a-Si depended on the thickness of aluminum while not on nickel. Nickel that forms silicide nodules during annealing simply catalyzed the formation of crystalline silicon (c-Si) while aluminum was consumed and transferred during MIC, which resulted in more complex microstructural characteristics. Crystalline silicons after NIC had elongated shape with a twin along the long axis. Morphological change after Aluminum-Induced Crystallization (AIC) showed more equiaxial grains. The nucleation and growth mechanism of AIC was discussed.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.26-35
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• 2024

Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) as a route to reduce the fabrication cost and to obtain polycrystalline Si (p-Si) thin-film of large grain size is a promising alternative of single-crystalline (s-Si) substrate or p-Si thin-film obtained by conventional methods such as solid phase crystallization (SPC) and laser-induced crystallization (LIC). As the AIC process occurs at the interface between a-Si and Al thin-films, there are various process and interface parameters. Also, it directly means that there is a certain parametric window to obtain p-Si of large grain size having uniform crystal orientation. In this article, we investigate the effect of the various process and interface parameters to obtain p-Si of large grain size and uniform crystal orientation from the literature review. We also suggest the potential use of the p-Si as a virtual substrate for the growth of various compound semiconductors in a form of low-dimension as well as thin-film as a way for their monolithic integration on Si.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.65-72
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• 2012

본 연구에서는 비정질 실리콘의 알루미늄 유도 결정화(AIC)가 시도되었다. 결정질 실리콘의 좀 더 큰 입자를 얻기 위해, 선택적인 핵생성(Selective nucleation) 시도는 비정질 실리콘 밑의 실리카($SiO_2$) 층의 습식 파우더 분사 처리와 함께 진행됐다. 또한 니켈 층은 실리콘 원자가 알루미늄 층으로 이동하는 것을 방지하기 위한 확산 방지막(Diffusion barrier)으로 선택되었다. $520^{\circ}C$에서 열처리를 한 후에 XRD 분석을 통해 Si(111) 방향으로 결정화된 결정질 실리콘을 확인했고 니켈은 실리콘과 알루미늄 사이의 확산 방지막으로 매우 효과적인 재료라는 것을 입증하였다. 이 연구는 고성능의 태양전지에 적용하는 결정질 실리콘 막의 좀 더 큰 입자를 얻기 위한 방법 중의 하나라고 기대된다.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.50-53
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• 2019

박막 태양전지에 주로 적용되는 다결정 규소층을 AIC(Aluminum Induced Crystallization) 공정을 이용하여 제조하였다. 결정립의 확대를 위하여 selective diffusion barrier 사용하였다. 이 diffusion barrier는 $Al_2O_3$ 막을 사용하였다. 공정시간의 단축을 위하여 열처리는 RTA(Rapid Thermal Annealing) 공정으로 진행하였다. 비정질 실리콘의 결정화는 XRD 측정을 통해 분석했다. 그 결과 $500^{\circ}C$에서 결정화되었으며, 결정 크기는 $15.9{\mu}m$로 계산되었다.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.190-194
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• 2012

The formation of high-quality polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) on relatively low cost substrate has been an important issue in the development of thin film solar cells. Poly-Si seed layers were fabricated by an inverse aluminum-induced crystallization (I-AIC) process and the properties of the resulting layer were characterized. The I-AIC process has an advantage of being able to continue the epitaxial growth without an Al layer removing process. An amorphous Si precursor layer was deposited on Corning glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering system with Ar plasma. Then, Al thin film was deposited by thermal evaporation. An $SiO_2$ diffusion barrier layer was formed between Si and Al layers to control the surface orientation of seed layer. The crystallinity of the poly-Si seed layer was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The grain size and orientation of the poly-Si seed layer were determined by electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) method. The prepared poly-Si seed layer showed high volume fraction of crystalline Si and <100> orientation. The diffusion barrier layer and processing temperature significantly affected the grain size and orientation of the poly Si seed layer. The shorter oxidation time and lower processing temperature led to a better orientation of the poly-Si seed layer. This study presents the formation mechanism of a poly seed layer by inverse aluminum-induced crystallization.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.59.1-59.1
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• 2010

Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) is studied with the structure of a glass/Al/$SiO_2$/a-Si, in which the $SiO_2$ layer has micron-sized laser holes in the stack. An oxide layer between aluminum and a-Si thin films plays a significant role in the metal-induced crystallization (MIC) process determining the properties such as grain size and preferential orientation. In our case, the crystallization of a-Si is carried out only through the key hole because the $SiO_2$ layer is substantially thick enough to prevent a-Si from contacting aluminum. The crystal growth is successfully realized toward the only vertical direction, resulting a crystalline silicon grain with a size of $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$ under the hole. Lateral growth seems to be not occurred. For the AIC experiment, the glass/Al/$SiO_2$/a-Si stacks were prepared where an Al layer was deposited on glass substrate by DC sputter, $SiO_2$ and a-Si films by PECVD method, respectively. Prior to the a-Si deposition, a $30{\times}30$ micron-sized hole array with a diameter of $1{\sim}2{\mu}m$ was fabricated utilizing the femtosecond laser pulses to induce the AIC process through the key holes and the prepared workpieces were annealed in a thermal chamber for 2 hours. After heat treatment, the surface morphology, grain size, and crystal orientation of the polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) film were evaluated by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, and energy dispersive spectrometer. In conclusion, we observed that the vertical crystal growth was occurred in the case of the crystallization of a-Si with aluminum by the MIC process in a small area. The pc-Si grain grew under the key hole up to a size of $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$ with the workpiece.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.254-261
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• 2010

본 연구에서는 다결정 실리콘 태양전지 응용을 위한 다결정 실리콘 씨앗층의 제조와 그의 특성에 관한 연구를 수행하였다. 다결정 실리콘 씨앗층은 glass/Al/$Al_2O_3$/a-Si 구조를 이용하여 aluminum-induced layer exchange(ALILE) 고정으로 제조하였으며, 자연산화막부터 50 nm까지 다양한 크기로 $Al_2O_3$ 막두께를 변화시켜 알루미늄 유도 결정화 공정에서 막의 두께가 결정화 특성 및 결정결함, 결정크기에 미치는 영향에 대하여 조사하였다. 연구결과, ALILE 공정으로 생성된 다결정 실리콘막의 결함은 $Al_2O_3$ 막의 두께가 증가할수록 함께 증가한 반면, 결정화 정도와 결정입자의 크기는 $Al_2O_3$막의 두께가 증가할수록 감소하였다. 본 실험에서는 16 nm 두께 이하의 앓은 $Al_2O_3$ 막의 구조에서 평균 약 $10\;{\mu}m$ 크기의 sub-grain 결정립을 얻었으며, 결정성은 <111> 방향의 우선 배향성 특성을 보였다.