• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.17-27
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• 2000

This paper presents deposition and characterization of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c$ -Si:H) films on low cost glass substrate by Hot Wire CVD(HWCVD). The HWCVD ${\mu}c$ -Si:H films had deposition rates ranging from 2${\AA}$/sec to 35${\AA}$/sec with the variations of preparation conditions, which was 10 times higher than that of the films obtained from the conventional PECVD method. From the Raman spectroscopy, the prepared silicon films were found to be composed of the mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases. The crystalline volume fraction and average crystallite size, obtained from the Raman To mode peak near 520cm$^{-1}$, were 37-63% and 6-10 nm, respectively. The conductivity activation energy($E_a$) of the ${\mu}c$ -Si:H films, representing the difference of conduction band and Fermi level in an intrinsic semiconductors, increased from 0.22eV to 0.68eV with increasing pressure from 30mTorr to 300mTorr. The increase of $E_a$ with pressure indicates that the deposited films have properties close to intrinsic semiconductors, which is also proved with low dark conductivity of the ${\mu}c$ -Si:H deposited at 300mTorr. The tungsten concentration incorporated into films was about $6{\times}10^{16}atoms/cm^3$ in the samples prepared at wire temperature of 1800$^{\circ}C$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.75.2-75.2
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• 2010

We studied the fabrication of polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) films as seed layers for application of pc-Si thin film solar cells, in which amorphous silicon (a-Si) films in a structure of glass/Al/$Al_2O_3$/a-Si are crystallized by the aluminum-induced layer exchange (ALILE) process. The properties of pc-Si films formed by the ALILE process are strongly determined by the oxide layer as well as the various process parameters like annealing temperature, time, etc. In this study, the effects of the oxide film thickness on the crystallization of a-Si in the ALILE process, where the thickness of $Al_2O_3$ layer was varied from 4 to 50 nm. For preparation of the experimental film structure, aluminum (~300 nm thickness) and a-Si (~300 nm thickness) layers were deposited using DC sputtering and PECVD method, respectively, and $Al_2O_3$ layer with the various thicknesses by RF sputtering. The crystallization of a-Si was then carried out by the thermal annealing process using a furnace with the in-situ microscope. The characteristics of the produced pc-Si films were analyzed by optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman spectrometer, and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). As results, the crystallinity was exponentially decayed with the increase of $Al_2O_3$ thickness and the grain size showed the similar tendency. The maximum pc-Si grain size fabricated by ALILE process was about $45{\mu}m$ at the $Al_2O_3$ layer thickness of 4 nm. The preferential crystal orientation was <111> and more dominant with the thinner $Al_2O_3$ layer. In summary, we obtained a pc-Si film not only with ${\sim}45{\mu}m$ grain size but also with the crystallinity of about 75% at 4 nm $Al_2O_3$ layer thickness by ALILE process with the structure of a glass/Al/$Al_2O_3$/a-Si.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.279.1-279.1
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• 2016

박막 트랜지스터 (thin film transistor, TFT)는 고밀도, 대면적화로 높은 전자의 이동도가 요구되면서, 비정질 실리콘 (a-Si)에서 다결정 실리콘 (poly-Si) TFT 로 연구되었다. 이에 따라 비정질 실리콘에서 결정질 실리콘으로의 상변화에 대한 결정화 연구가 활발히 진행되었다. 또한, 박막 태양전지 분야에서도 유리기판 위에 비정질 층을 증착한 후에 열처리를 통해 상변화하는 고상 결정화 (solid-phase crystallization, SPC) 기술을 적용하여, CSG (thin-film crystalline silicon on glass) 태양전지를 보고하였다. 이러한 비정질 실리콘 층의 결정화 기술을 결정질 실리콘 태양전지 에미터 형성 공정에 적용하고자 한다. 이 때, 플라즈마화학증착 (Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, PECVD) 장비로 증착된 비정질 실리콘 층의 열처리를 통한 결정화 정도가 중요한 요소이다. 따라서, 비정질 실리콘 층의 결정화에 영향을 주는 인자에 대해 연구하였다. 비정질 실리콘 증착 조건(H2 가스 비율, 도펀트 유무), 실리콘 기판의 결정방향, 열처리 온도에 따른 결정화 정도를 엘립소미터(elipsometer), 투과전자현미경 (transmission electron microscope, TEM), 적외선 분광기 (Fourier Transform Infrared, FT-IR) 측정을 통하여 비교 하였다. 이를 기반으로 결정화 온도에 따른 비정질 실리콘의 결정화를 위한 활성화 에너지를 계산하였다. 비정질 실리콘 증착 조건 보다 기판의 결정방향이 결정화 정도에 크게 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.192-197
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• 2017

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon (a-Si:H) is used as an emitter layer in HIT (heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cells. Its low band gap and low optical properties (low transmittance and high absorption) cause parasitic absorption on the front side of a solar cell that significantly reduces the solar cell blue response. To overcome this, research on CSC (carrier Selective Contacts) is being actively carried out to reduce carrier recombination and improve carrier transportation as a means to approach the theoretical efficiency of silicon solar cells. Among CSC materials, molybdenum oxide ($MoO_x$) is most commonly used for the hole transport layer (HTL) of a solar cell due to its high work function and wide band gap. This paper analyzes the electrical and optical properties of $MoO_x$ thin films for use in the HTL of HIT solar cells. The optical properties of $MoO_x$ show better performance than a-Si:H and ${\mu}c-SiO_x:H$.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.207-212
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• 2014

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were deposited on SiOC/Si wafer by an RF-magnetron sputtering system, by varying the deposition parameters of radio frequency power from 50 to 200 W. To assess the correlation of the optical properties between the substrate and AZO thin film, photoluminescence was measured, and the origin of deep level emission of AZO thin films grown on SiOC/Si wafer was studied. AZO formed on SiOC/Si substrates exhibited ultraviolet emission due to exciton recombination, and the visible emission was associated with intrinsic and extrinsic defects. For the AZO thin film deposited on SiOC at low RF-power, the deep level emission near the UV region is attributed to an increase of the variations of defects related to the AZO and SiOC layers. The applied RF-power influenced an energy gap of localized trap state produced from the defects, and the gap increased at low RF power due to the formation of new defects across the AZO layer caused by lattice mismatch of the AZO and SiOC films. The optical properties of AZO films on amorphous SiOC compared with those of AZO film on Si were considerably improved by reducing the roughness of the surface with low surface ionization energy, and by solving the problem of structural mismatch with the AZO film and Si wafer.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.233-240
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• 1994

We have investigated how the magneto-optical and recording properties of Pt/Co modulated films vary with sample preparation conditions : sputtering at various gas pressures, sputtering with Xe instead of Ar, and etching the buffer layers, etc. The magneto-optical characteristics of Pt/Co multilayers was comparable with those of currently prevailing rare-earth transition-metal alloys(Tb-Fe-Co amorphous films). On a disk of $12{\times}[Pt10.7\;{\AA}/Co2.8{\;}{\AA}]$ multilayer enhanced with 70nm silicon nitride, we have achieved a CNR of 36dB with a reading laser(${\lambda}\;=\;780nm$) power of 2.5-4.5mW for 720KHz carrier at 1.4m/s and the enhanced kerr rotation angle of $1.23^{\circ}$ at 780nm. It is suggested that Pt/Co modulated films clearly are very promising magneto-optical materials for a commercially use.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.272-275
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• 2005

The high stability of a-Si:H TFTs device is studied with different deposited conditions of $SiN_x$ films by PECVD. The process parameters of $N_2$, $NH_3$ gas flow rate, RF power, and pressure s of hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride are taken into account and analyzed by Taguchi experimental design method. The $NH_3$ gas flow rate and RF power are two major factors on the average threshold voltage and the a-SiNx:H film's structure. The hydrogen contents in $SiN_x$ films were measured by FTIR using the related Si-H/N-H bonds ratio in $a-SiN_x:H$ films. After the 330,000 sec gate bias stress is applied, the threshold voltages ($V_th$) shift less than 10%. This result indicates that the highly stable a-Si:H TFTs device can be fabricated with optimum gate $SiN_x$ insulator.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.151-151
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• 2009

Recently, there has been increasing interest in amorphous oxide semiconductors to find alternative materials for an amorphous silicon or organic semiconductor layer as a channel in thin film transistors(TFTs) for transparent electronic devices owing to their high mobility and low photo-sensitivity. The fabriction of amorphous oxide-based TFTs at room temperature on plastic substrates is a key technology to realize transparent flexible electronics. Amorphous oxides allows for controllable conductivity, which permits it to be used both as a transparent semiconductor or conductor, and so to be used both as active and source/drain layers in TFTs. One of the materials that is being responsible for this revolution in the electronics is indium-zinc-tin oxide(IZTO). Since this is relatively new material, it is important to study the properties of room-temperature deposited IZTO thin films and exploration in a possible integration of the material in flexible TFT devices. In this research, we deposited IZTO thin films on polyethylene naphthalate substrate at room temperature by using magnetron sputtering system and investigated their properties. Furthermore, we revealed the fabrication and characteristics of top-gate-type transparent TFTs with IZTO layers, seen in Fig. 1. The experimental results show that by varying the oxygen flow rate during deposition, it can be prepared the IZTO thin films of two-types; One a conductive film that exhibits a resistivity of $2\times10^{-4}$ ohm${\cdot}$cm; the other, semiconductor film with a resistivity of 9 ohm${\cdot}$cm. The TFT devices with IZTO layers are optically transparent in visible region and operate in enhancement mode. The threshold voltage, field effect mobility, on-off current ratio, and sub-threshold slope of the TFT are -0.5 V, $7.2\;cm^2/Vs$, $\sim10^7$ and 0.2 V/decade, respectively. These results will contribute to applications of select TFT to transparent flexible electronics.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.389-392
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• 2009

Metal oxides have been proposed as an alternative channel material to hydrogenated amorphous silicon in thin film transistors (TFTs) because their higher mobility and stability make them suitable for transistor active layers. Thin films of indium zinc oxide (IZO) were deposited using a High Target Utilization Sputtering (HiTUS) system on various dielectrics, some of which were also deposited with the HiTUS. Investigations into bottom-gated IZO TFTs have found mobilities of 8 $cm^2V\;^1s^{-1}$ and switching ratios of $10^6$. There is a variation in the threshold voltage dependent on both oxygen concentration, and dielectric choice. Silica, alumina and silicon nitride produced stable TFTs, whilst hafnia was found to break down as a result of the IZO.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.22-27
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• 1998

We have investigated the effect of an ion shower doping of the laser annealed poly-Si films at an elevated substrate temperatures. The substrate temperature was varied from room temperature to 300$^{\circ}C$ when the poly-Si film was doped with phosphorus by a non-mass-separated ion shower. Optical, structural, and electrical characterizations have been performed in order to study the effect of the ion showering doping. The sheet resistance of the doped poly-Si films was decreased from7${\times}$106 $\Omega$/$\square$ to 700 $\Omega$/$\square$ when the substrate temperature was increased from room temperature to 300$^{\circ}C$. This low sheet resistance is due to the fact that the doped film doesn't become amorphous but remains in the polycrystalline phase. The mildly elevated substrate temperature appears to reduce ion damages incurred in poly-Si films during ion-shower doping. Using the ion-shower doping at 250$^{\circ}C$, the field effect mobility of 120 $\textrm{cm}^2$/(v$.$s) has been obtained for the n-channel poly-Si TFTs.