• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.26-31
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• 2009

The surface etching characteristics of single crystalline silicon wafer were investigated using potassium hydroxide (KOH) and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The saw damage layer was removed after 10min by KOH 45wt% solution at $80^{\circ}C$. The wafer etched at high temperature ($90^{\circ}C$) and in low concentration (4wt%) of TMAH solution showed an increased etch rate of silicon wafer and wavy patterns on the surface. Especially, pyramidal textures were formed in 4wt% TMAH solution without alcohol additives.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.140-143
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• 2013

Lowering surface reflectance of silicon wafer by texturization is one of the most important processes to improve the efficiency of silicon solar cells. Generally, the texturing of crystalline silicon was carried out using alkaline solution. The average reflectance of this method was 11% at the wavelength between 400 and 1,000 nm. In this study, the wafers were first texturing by NaOH solution at $80^{\circ}C$ for 35 min. Then the wafers were texturing by $SF_6$ and $O_2$ plasma in RIE (Reactive Ion Etching). The average reflectance of two step texturing was reduced to below 5% at the wavelength between 400 and 1,000 nm.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.2227-2232
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• 2011

The new metrology, Advanced Poly-silicon Ultra-Trace Profiling (APUTP), was developed for measuring bulk Cu and Ni in heavily boron-doped silicon wafers. A Ni recovery yield of 98.8% and a Cu recovery yield of 96.0% were achieved by optimizing the vapor phase etching and the wafer surface scanning conditions, following capture of Cu and Ni by the poly-silicon layer. A lower limit of detection (LOD) than previous techniques could be achieved using the mixture vapor etching method. This method can be used to indicate the amount of Cu and Ni resulting from bulk contamination in heavily boron-doped silicon wafers during wafer manufacturing. It was found that a higher degree of bulk Ni contamination arose during alkaline etching of heavily boron-doped silicon wafers compared with lightly boron-doped silicon wafers. In addition, it was proven that bulk Cu contamination was easily introduced in the heavily boron-doped silicon wafer by polishing the wafer with a slurry containing Cu in the presence of amine additives.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.315-321
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• 2017

Antireflective pyramid arrays can be readily obtained via anisotropic etching in alkaline solution (KOH, NaOH), which is widely used in crystalline-Si (c-Si) solar cells. The periodic inverted pyramid arrays show even lower light reflectivity because of their superior light-trapping characteristics. Since this inverted pyramidal structures are mostly achieved using very complex techniques such as photolithograpy and laser processes requiring extra costs, here, we demonstrate the Cu-nanoparticle assisted chemical etching processes to make the inverted pyramidal arrays without the need of photolithography. We have mainly controlled the concentration of $Cu(NO_3)_2$, HF, $H_2O_2$ and temperature as well as time factors that affecting the reaction. Optimal inverted pyramid structure was obtained through reaction parameters control. The reflectance of inverted pyramid arrays showed < 10% over 400 to 1100 nm wavelength range while showing 15~20% in random pyramid arrays.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.119-126
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• 2022

MAS-based glass, which has been studied to replace the ceramic material used in the plasma etching chamber, has problems such as forming and processing due to its high melting temperature. To solve this problem, in this study, fluoride was added to the existing MAS-based glass to increase the workability in the glass manufacturing and to improve the chemical resistance to CF₄/Ar/O₂ plasma gas. Through RAMAN analysis, the structural change of the glass according to the addition of fluoride was observed. In addition, it was confirmed that high-temperature viscosity and thermal properties decreased as the fluoride content increased and plasma resistance was maintained, it showed an excellent etching rate of up to 11 times compared to quartz glass.

• Clean Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.57-61
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• 2003

A novel nitric acid-free desmut solution has been developed to remove smut, which is produced from a NaOH etching, on the surface of aluminum alloy metal in metal surface treatment processes. Comparing with the performance of 5% $HNO_3$ desmut solution, the mixed acid solution containing 2% $H_2O_2$, 0.5% HF, and 10% $H_2SO_4$ shows the same effect of smut removal for aluminum alloy samples of A16061 and A15052. To examine the surface alterations of the aluminum samples, in addition, the surface analysis is carried out with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA).

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.25-27
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• 2017

Nanoscale textured black silicon has attracted intensive attention due to its great potential as applications in multicrystalline silicon-based solar cells. It absorbs sunlight over a broad range of wavelengths but introduces large recombination centers, non-uniform doping into cell. In this study, we present a metal-assisted chemical etching technique plus alkaline etching process to fabricate nanoscale pyramid structures with optimized condition. To make the structures, silver nanoparticles-loaded mc-Si wafer was submerged into $H_2O_2/HF$ solution first for nanohole texturing the wafer and textured wafer etched again with KOH solution for making nanoscale pyramid structures. The average reflectivity (350-1050 nm) is about 8.42% with anti-reflection coating.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2021

Porous dendrite structure AuCu alloy was formed using a hydrogen bubble template (HBT) technique by electroplating to improve the catalytic performance of gold, known as an excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst in alkaline medium. The rich Au surface was maximized by selectively electrochemical etching Cu on the AuCu dendrite surface well formed in a leaf shape. The catalytic activity is mainly due to the synergistic effect of Au and Cu existing on the surface and inside of the particle. Au helps desorption of OH- and Cu contributes to the activation of O2 molecule. Therefore, the porous AuCu dendrite alloy catalyst showed markedly improved catalytic activity compared to the monometallic system. The porous structure AuCu formed by the hydrogen bubble template was able to control the size of the pores according to the formation time and applied current. In addition, the Au-rich surface area increased by selectively removing Cu through electrochemical etching was measured using an electrochemical calculation method (ECSA). The results of this study suggest that the alloying of porous AuCu dendrites and selective Cu dissolution treatment induces an internal alloying effect and a large specific surface area to improve catalyst performance.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.61-66
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• 2021

In this study, we studied the alternative of plasma resistant ceramic parts that constitute plasma chambers in the semiconductor dry etching process. MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂(MAS) glass was made of 13 types of glass using the Design Of Experiments(DOE) and the effect on thermal properties such as glass transition temperature and crystallization temperature depending on the content of each composition and etching resistance to CF₄/O₂/Ar plasma gas. MAS glass showed excellent plasma resistance and surface roughness up to 20 times higher than quartz glass. As the content of Al₂O₃ and MgO increases, the plasma resistance is improved, and it has been confirmed that it has an inverse relationship with SiO₂.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.439-439
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• 2012

태양광 발전은 발전 셀의 특성상 태양광의 일사량, 태양과 셀 단면이 이루는 각도에 따라서 발전량의 차이를 가져온다. 실리콘 태양전지의 전면 texturing은 입사광의 반사율을 크게 감소시키고, 태양전지 내에서 빛의 통과길이를 증가시켜 태양전지 내의 흡수하는 빛의 양을 증가 시키는 역할을 한다. 따라서 전면 texturing은 단락전류를 증대시키는 효과를 가지고 온다. 일반적으로 texturing은 alkaline etching (WET) 공정과 reactive ion etching (RIE) 공정이 사용된다. 그리고 다결정 실리콘 태양전지의 경우에는 재료의 결정방향에 따라 식각이 되어지는 WET 공정의 경우 texturing 모양을 제어할 수 없어 효과적이지 못하는 결과를 가지고 온다. 본 연구에서는 Electroluminescence을 측정하여 RIE, WET 공정을 사용하여 만든 texturing 구조의 다결정 태양전지의 Microcrack 및 Defect, Electrode Failure, Hot spot등을 검출하였으며, ${\mu}$-PCD 측정 결과와 비교 분석하여 Micro carrier life time을 유추하여 계산하였다. 또한 반사율을 측정해본 결과 WET 공정 대비 RIE의 경우 단파장영역에서 반사율이 크게 감소하여, 상대적으로 높은 External quantum efficiency (EQE)가 측정되었다. 이는 Jsc를 증가시켜, 태양전지의 효율이 증가되는 결과를 얻을 수 있었다.