• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2018

Current major photovoltaic (PV) market share (> 60%) is being occupied by the multicrystalline (mc)-silicon solar cells despite of low efficiency compared to single crystalline silicon solar cells. The diamond wire sawing technology reduces the production cost of crystalline silicon solar cells, it increases the optical loss for the existing mc-silicon solar cells and hence its efficiency is low in the current mass production line. To overcome the optical loss in the mc-crystalline silicon, caused by the diamond wire sawing, next generation texturing process is being investigated by various research groups for the PV industry. In this review, the limitation of surface structure and optical loss due to the reflectivity of conventional mc-silicon solar cells are explained by the typical texturing mechanism. Various texturing technologies that could minimize the optical loss of mc-silicon solar cells are explained. Finally, next generation texturing technology to survive in the fierce cost competition of photovoltaic market is discussed.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.47-50
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• 2011

Highly stable amorphous indium.gallium.zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated with an etchstopper and via-hole structure. The TFTs exhibited 40 $cm^2$/V s field-effect mobility and a 0.21 V/dec gate voltage swing. Gate-bias stress induced a negligible threshold voltage shift (${\Delta}V_{th}$) at room temperature. The excellent stability is attribute to the via-hole and etch-stopper structure, in which, the source/drain metal contacts the active a-IGZO layer through two via holes (one on each side), resulting in minimized damage to the a-IGZO layer during the plasma etching of the source/drain metal. The comparison of the effects of the DC and AC stress on the performance of the TFTs at $60^{\circ}C$ showed that there was a smaller ${\Delta}V_{th}$ in the AC stress compared with the DC stress for the same effective stress time, indicating that the trappin of the carriers at the active layer-gate insulator interface was the dominant degradation mechanism.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.07c
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• pp.1382-1383
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• 2006

ZnO 박막은 wide band gap(Eg=3.37eV)의 derect band gap을 갖고 있기 때문에 여러 소자로의 응용가능성에 큰 기대를 하고 있는 물질이다. 본 논문에서는 소자 제조과정에서 요구되는 ZnO 박막의 식각변수에 따른 식각율과 식각특성에 관하여 연구하였으며 Inductively coupled plasma(ICP)를 사용하여 $BCl_3$/Ar 가스를 혼합하여 식각을 하였다. $BCl_3$/Ar=8/2 플라즈마에서 화학적 식각의 도움을 받아 ZnO 박막의 식각률은 1724 ${\AA}/min$ 로 최고를 보였으며 이때의 공정 조건은 800 W 의 RF power, 400 W 의 bias power, 1 Pa 의 공정 압력이었다. 식각시에 플라즈마 내부의 이온 거동상태를 측정하기위해 quadrupolemass spectrometer(QMS)를 사용하여 분석하였고 식각후 ZnO 박막의 식각률은 surface profiler(KLA fencer, ${\alpha}$-step 500)을 이용하여 측정하고 ZnO 박막과 B, Cl 라디칼과의 표면 반응 상태를 고찰하기 위하여 식각된 ZnO 박막의 표면을 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)로 분석하였다. XPS를 통하여 ZnO 박막과 Cl 라디칼과 반응을 하여 식각된다는 것과 낮은 휘발성으로 인하여 Ar 이온에 의한 스퍼터링 효과의 도움에 의해서 식각이 진행됨을 확인하였다.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.417-422
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• 2010

Atmosphere Plasma of Gas Discharge (APGD) has been used in plasma sources for material processing such as etching, deposition, surface modification and so on due to having no thermal damages. The APGD researches on AC source with high frequency have been mainly processed. However, DC APGD studies have been not. In order to understand APGD further, it is necessary to study on fundamental properties of DC APGD. In this paper, we developed a one-dimensional fluid simulation model with capacitively coupled plasma chamber at the atmosphere pressure (760 [Torr]). Nine kinds of Ar discharge particles such as electron (e), positive ions ($Ar^+$, $Ar_2^+$) and neutral particles ($Ar_m^*$, $Ar_r^*$, $Ar_h^*$, $Ar_2^*$(1), $Ar_2^*$(3) and Ar gas) are considered in the computation. The simulation was worked at the current range of 1~15 [mA]. The characteristics of voltage-current were calculated and the structure of Joule heating were discussed. The spatial distributions of Ar DC APGD and the mechanism of power consumption were also investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.17-18
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• 2007

The etching characteristics of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and etch selectivity of ZnO to $SiO_2\;in\;BCl_3$/Ar plasma were investigated. It was found that ZnO etch rate shows a non-monotonic behavior with increasing both Ar fraction in $BCl_3$ plasma, RF power, and gas pressure. The maximum ZnO etch rate of 50.3 nm/min was obtained for $BCl_3$ (80%)/Ar(20%) gas mixture. The plasmas were characterized using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) analysis measurements while chemical state of etched surfaces was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From these data the suggestions on the ZnO etch mechanism were made.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.405-405
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• 2010

Thermocouple 을 통해 Inductively coupled plasma 에 노출된 실리콘 기판 표면온도를 공정조건 변화 에 따라 실시간 (in-situ) 측정하였다. 이를 바탕으로 공정변화에 따른 플라즈마 내 활성종의 거동을 연구하였다. 더 나아가 기판의 표면온도변화 및 활성종의 거동해석을 토대로 공정변화에 의한 딥 실리콘 구조형성 메커니즘을 해석하였다. 플라즈마에 노출된 기판표면 온도를 상승시키는 주 활성종은 positive ion 이며 ICP power, Bias power, 플라즈마 압력 변화에 따라 positive ion 의 밀도 및 가속에너지가 변화하는데 이러한 거동변화는 기판의 표면온도를 변화시킴을 알 수 있었다. 딥 실리콘 구조의 측벽 및 바닥에 형성되어 있는 passivaiton layer 즉 $SiO_xF_y$(silicon oxyflouride) 는 온도에 매우 민감한 물질이며 이는 딥 실리콘 구조 내부로 입사하는 positive ion 거동변화에 따라 그 성질이 변화하여 deep Si 구조 형상을 변화시킴을 알 수 있었다. 기판표면 온도가 $0^{\circ}C$ 이하의 극저온으로 유지된 상황에서 플라즈마를 방전할 경우 positive ions 의 가속에너지로 인해 기판표면온도가 상승하며 액화질소 유량증가를 통해 다시 기판의 표면온도를 유지시킬 수 있었다. 이를 통해 플라즈마 방전 전과 방전 후의 기판 표면온도는 상온의 기판뿐만 아니라 극저온의 기판에서도 다름을 알 수 있었다. 냉각환경 변화에 따른 딥 실리콘 구조형성 메커니즘을 positive ions 거동 그리고 온도 감소에 의한 $SiO_xF_y$ 성질 변화를 이용해 해석할 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.192-199
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• 2001

Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) has emerged as the planarization technique of choice in both front-end and back-end integrated circuit manufacturing. Conventional CMP process utilize a polyurethane polishing pad and liquid chemical slurry containing abrasive particles. There hale been serious problems in CMP in terms of repeatability and deflects in patterned wafers. Especial1y, dishing and erosion defects increase the resistance because they decrease the interconnection section area, and ultimately reduce the lifetime of the semiconductor. Methods to reduce dishing & erosion have recently been interface hardness of the pad, optimization of the pattern structure as dummy patterns. Dishing & erosion are initially generated an uneven pressure distribution in the materials. These defects are accelerated by free abrasives and chemical etching. Therefore, it is known that dishing & erosion can be reduced by minimizing the abrasive concentration. Minimizing the abrasive concentration by using CeO$_2$is the best solution for reducing dishing & erosion and for removal rate. This paper introduce dishing & erosion generating mechanism and a method fur developing a semi-rigid abrasive pad to minimize dishing & erosion during CMP.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.18-24
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• 2000

(Ba,Sr)$TiO_3$ thin films have attracted great interest as new dielectric materials of capacitors for ultra-large-scale integrated dynamic random access memories (ULSI-DRAMs) such as 1 Gbit or 4 Gbit. In this study, inductively coupled $BCl_3/Cl_2/Ar$ plasmas was used to etch (Ba,Sr)$TiO_3$ thin films. RF power/dc bias voltage=600 W/-250 V and chamber pressure was 10 mTorr. The $Cl_2/(Cl_2+Ar)$ was fixed at 0.2 the (Ba,Sr)$TiO_3$ thin films were etched adding $BCl_3$. The highest (Ba,Sr)$TiO_3$ etch rate is $480{\AA}/min$ at 10 % $BCl_3$ to $Cl_2/Ar$. The change of Cl, B radical density measured by optical emission spectroscopy(OES) as a function of $BCl_3$ percentage in $Cl_2/Ar$. The highest Cl radical density was shown at the addition of 10% $BCl_3$ to $Cl_2/Ar$. To study on the surface reaction of (Ba, Sr)$TiO_3$ thin films was investigated by XPS analysis. Ion bombardment etching is necessary to break Ba-O bond and to remove $BaCl_2$. There is a little chemical reaction between Sr and Cl, but Sr is removed by physical sputtering. There is a chemical reaction between Ti and Cl, and $TiCl_4$ is removed with ease. The cross-sectional of (Ba,Sr)$TiO_3$ thin film was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the etch slope is about 65~70$^{\circ}$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2000

To analyze the photodegradation mechanism of materials for fisheries facilities which stand for considerable time immediately under or even partly above the water surface, such as cage collar, cage net, stationary fishing gear, egc. after 900 hours exposure, weathering experiments on 3 kinds of netting twines like dyed polyethylene(PE) and nylon, and non-treated high strength PE(Hi-PE) were carried out by using xenon light source. The results obtained are as follows : It was observed by scanning electron micrograph(SEM) that a good protection by pigments was obtained in PE and nylon specimen, while crack was rapidly progressed at the surface of Hi-PE one owing to etching by UVR. There was a little increase in density resulting from reorientation of polymer chain, chain scission, etc. in Hi-PE specimen. A wide angle X-ray diffraction showed that 3 kinds of specimens had no fundamental changes in polymer crystalline structure considering each 2$\theta$ of diffraction peak. Remaining tenacity of netting twines was in order of PE, nylon, and Hi-PE after having been exposed to the effect of 900 hours. PE and nylon treated with stuffs were shown to be more resilient than non-treated Hi-PE as confirmed by SEM.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.379-384
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• 2013

In order to produce size-controllable Ag nanoparticles and a nanomesh-patterned Si substrate, we introduce a rapid thermal annealing(RTA) method and a metal assisted chemical etching(MCE) process. Ag nanoparticles were self-organized from a thin Ag film on a Si substrate through the RTA process. The mean diameter of the nanoparticles was modulated by changing the thickness of the Ag film. Furthermore, we controlled the surface energy of the Si substrate by changing the Ar or $H_2$ ambient gas during the RTA process, and the modified surface energy was evaluated through water contact angle test. A smaller mean diameter of Ag nanoparticles was obtained under $H_2$ gas at RTA, compared to that under Ar, from the same thickness of Ag thin film. This result was observed by SEM and summarized by statistical analysis. The mechanism of this result was determined by the surface energy change caused by the chemical reaction between the Si substrate and $H_2$. The change of the surface energy affected on uniformity in the MCE process using Ag nanoparticles as catalyst. The nanoparticles formed under ambient Ar, having high surface energy, randomly moved in the lateral direction on the substrate even though the etching solution consisting of 10 % HF and 0.12 % $H_2O_2$ was cooled down to $-20^{\circ}C$ to minimize thermal energy, which could act as the driving force of movement. On the other hand, the nanoparticles thermally treated under ambient $H_2$ had low surface energy as the surface of the Si substrate reacted with $H_2$. That's why the Ag nanoparticles could keep their pattern and vertically etch the Si substrate during MCE.