• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.250-253
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• 2007

An evaporated Ti/Pd/Ag contact system is most widely used to make high-efficiency silicon solar cells, however, the system is not cost effective due to expensive materials and vacuum techniques. Commercial solar cells with screen-printed contacts formed by using Ag paste suffer from a low fill factor and a high shading loss because of high contact resistance and low aspect ratio. Low-cost Ni and Cu metal contacts have been formed by using electroless plating and electroplating techniques to replace the Ti/Pd/Ag and screen-printed Ag contacts. Ni/Cu alloy is plated on a silicon substrate by electro-deposition of the alloy from an acetate electrolyte solution, and nickel-silicide formation at the interface between the silicon and the nickel enhances stability and reduces the contact resistance. It was, therefore, found that nickel-silicide was suitable for high-efficiency solar cell applications. The Ni contact was formed on the front grid pattern by electroless plating followed by anneal ing at $380{\sim}400^{\circ}C$ for $15{\sim}30$ min at $N_{2}$ gas to allow formation of a nickel-silicide in a tube furnace or a rapid thermal processing(RTP) chamber because nickel is transformed to NiSi at $380{\sim}400^{\circ}C$. The Ni plating solution is composed of a mixture of $NiCl_{2}$ as a main nickel source. Cu was electroplated on the Ni layer by using a light induced plating method. The Cu electroplating solution was made up of a commercially available acid sulfate bath and additives to reduce the stress of the copper layer. The Ni/Cu contact was found to be well suited for high-efficiency solar cells and was successfully formed by using electroless plating and electroplating, which are more cost effective than vacuum evaporation. In this paper, we investigated low-cost Ni/Cu contact formation by electroless and electroplating for crystalline silicon solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.94-98
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• 2017

In the past few years, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (weight%) solder composition has been a representative material to electronic industries as a replacement of Pb-base solder alloy. Therefore, extensive studies on process and/or reliability related with the composition have been reported. However, recent rapid rise in Ag price has demanded solder compositions of low Ag content. In this study, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder bar sample was fabricated by melting of Sn, Ag and Cu metal powders. Crystal structure and element concentration were analyzed by XRD, optical microscope, FE-SEM and EDS. The Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder sample was composed of ${\beta}$-Sn, ${\varepsilon}-Ag_3Sn$ and ${\eta}-Cu_6Sn_5$ phases.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.175-183
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• 2022

With the expansion of the automobile market, the demand for Nd as an essential rare earth material for automobile motors is rapidly increasing. Research on the calcio-thermic reduction process between Nd₂O₃ and calcium-based alloys has been extensively studied in order to manufacture Nd. In this study, Ca-Cu, as a reducing for Nd₂O₃, was prepared by electrolysis in CaCl₂ molten salt. Cu wire and graphite were employed as a working electrode and a counter electrode for electrolysis reaction, respectively. The reference electrode was manufactured by putting Ag wire in a mixture of AgCl and CaCl₂ at a ratio of 1:99 mol%. The cyclic voltammetry results showed that the deposition of Ca²⁺ on the surface of working electrode was observed from a potential of -1.8 V, and the reduction potential of Ca²⁺ decreased as the reaction temperature increased. The diffusion coefficient of Ca²⁺ calculated by the chronoamperometry experiment was found to be 5.4(±6.8)×10^-6 cm²/s. In addition, Ca-Cu liquid alloy was prepared by applying a constant potential to Cu electrodes. The element ratio of Ca-Cu alloy formed by applying a potential of -2.0 V was found to Ca:Cu=1:4.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.53-53
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• 2011

As the dimension of Cu interconnects has continued to reduce, its resistivity is expected to increase at the nanoscale due to increased surface and grain boundary scattering of electrons. To suppress increase of the resistivity in nanoscale interconnects, alloying Cu with other metal elements such as Al, Mn, and Ag is being considered to increase the mean free path of the drifting electrons. The formation of Al alloy with a slight amount of Cu broadly studied in the past. The study of Cu alloy including a very small Al fraction, by contrast, recently began. The formation of Cu-Al alloy is limited in wet chemical bath and was mainly conducted for fundamental studies by sputtering or evaporation system. However, these deposition methods have a limitation in production environment due to poor step coverage in nanoscale Cu metallization. In this work, gap-filling of Cu-Al alloy was conducted by cyclic MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition), followed by thermal annealing for alloying, which prevented an unwanted chemical reaction between Cu and Al precursors. To achieve filling the Cu-Al alloy into sub-100nm trench without overhang and void formation, furthermore, hydrogen plasma pretreatment of the trench pattern with Ru barrier layer was conducted in order to suppress of Cu nucleation and growth near the entrance area of the nano-scale trench by minimizing adsorption of metal precursors. As a result, superconformal gap-fill of Cu-Al alloy could be achieved successfully in the high aspect ration nanoscale trenches. Examined morphology, microstructure, chemical composition, and electrical properties of superfilled Cu-Al alloy will be discussed in detail.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.24-27
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• 2008

For the development of superconducting fault current limiters(SFCLs) having large current capacity, we fabricated an SFCL element that consists of Bi-2212 superconductor and Cu-Ni alloy tubes. First, Ag was plated on the surface of the Bi-2212 for the enhancement of soldering process. On the Ag-plated Bi-2212 tube, a Cu-Ni alloy tube was soldered using optimized solders and soldering conditions. The BSCCO/Cu-Ni composite was processed mechanically to have a helical shape for the improvement of the SFCL characteristics. The total current path of the SFCL element was 1330 mm long with 12 turns, and had critical current of 340 A at 77 K. Finally, we carried out the fault test using the fabricated SFCL element. It showed successful current limiting performance under the fault condition of 50 $V_{rms}$ and 5.5 kA. From the results, the rated voltage of the SFCL element was decided to be 0.4 V/cm, and the power capacity was 12 kVA at 77 K. The fabrication process of the SFCL and the fault test results will be presented.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.1018-1024
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• 1999

The effects of operating temperature and stress on degradation of components in high temperature steam generator were investigated. Several 2.25CrlMo tubes which had operated over 20 years and an unused 9CrlMoVNb tube were tested. For the former samples, the amount of $\textrm{M}_{6}\textrm{C}$ carbide and its size are increased with the aging or operating time. The precipitation behavior of carbides ($\textrm{M}_{2}\textrm{O}$, $\textrm{M}_{6}\textrm{C}$) is changed with the operating temperature of the tubes. However, unused 9CrlMoVNb samples show a different carbide precipitation process due to high chromium, vanadium, and niobium contents. The amount of Cr-rich $\textrm{M}_{23}\textrm{C}_{6}$ carbide is significantly increased with aging time, but that of $\textrm{M}_{6}\textrm{C}$ type carbide is rarely changed with aging time at elevated temperatures.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2008

Examination of two bronze vessels supposedly from the Koryo dynasty revealed that they consist of bowls and stands that are fixed together using rivet joints made of Cu-Ag alloys. The bowls and stands were forged out of unleaded bronze alloys of approximately 22 weight % Sn before being quenched from the ${\alpha}+{\beta}$ region of the Cu-Sn phase diagram. This specific alloy and the thermo-mechanical treatment constitute two key elements of the unique technical tradition called Bangcha (방짜) that has long been established in Korea. The high Sn content ensures better casting and the thermal treatment causes the brittle ${\delta}$ phase to be avoided in forging as well as in services. The experiment on the laboratory Cu-Ag alloys of varying Ag contents suggested that the Cu-Ag system was the best choice of materials for the rivets at the time in view of their color, availability, ductility and low melting points.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.232-238
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• 2001

Experimental study on the twin roll strip casting of BCuP-5(Cu-15wt%Ag-wt5%P) alloy was carried out using laboratory scale horizontal type twin roll caster. In this study, among the various operating parameters, such as tundish angle, contact angle, pouring temperature, roll speed, presetting gap of the rolls and kinds of roll and tundish materials, effect of pouring temperature for strip casting of BCuP-5 alloy which has long freezing range of about $170^{\circ}C$ was mainly investigated. BCuP-5 alloy strip was successfully produced when pouring molten metal at lower temperature than its liquidus temperature. Microstructure of the cast strip consists of primary Cu and eutectic. Especially the size of primary Cu phase increased with decreasing of pouring temperature.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 1997

Solderability, interfacial reaction and mechanical properties of joint between Sn-Bi-Ag base solder and Cu-substrate were studied. Solders were subjected to aging treatments to see the change of mechanical properties for up to 30 days at $100^{\circ}C$, and then also examined the changes of microstructure and morphology of interfacial compound. Sn-Bi-Ag base solder showed about double tensile strength comparing to Pb-Sn eutectic solder. Addition of 0.7wt%Al in the Sn-Bi-Ag alloy increase spread area on Cu substrate under R-flux and helps to reduce the growth of intermetallic compound during heat-treatment. According to the aging experiments of Cu/solder joint, interfacial intermetallic compound layer was exhibited a parabolic growth to aging time. The result of EDS, it is supposed that the soldered interfacial zone was composed of $Cu_6Sn_5$.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.49-55
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• 2011

The failure of electronic instruments is mostly caused by heat and shock. This shock causes the crack initiation at the solder joint interface of PCB component which is closely related with the formation of intermetallic compound(IMC). The Ag content in Pb-free Sn-xAg-0.5Cu solder alloy used in this study was 1.0, 1.2 and 3.0 wt.%, respectively. After soldering with PCB component, isothermal aging was performed to 1000 hrs. The growth of IMC layer was observed during isothermal aging. The drop impact property of solder joint was evaluated by impact bending test method. The solder joint made with the solder containing lower Ag content showed better impact bending property compared with that with higher Ag content. On the contrary to this result, the solder joint made with solder containing higher Ag content showed better impact bending property after aging. It should be caused by the formation of fine $Ag_3Sn$, which relieved the impact. It showed consequently the different effect of fine $Ag_3Sn$ and coarse $Cu_6Sn_5$ particles formed in the IMC layer on the impact bending property.