• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07d
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• pp.1361-1363
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• 1998

Poly-Si grain boundaries act as potential barriers as well as recombination centers for the photo-generated carriers in solar cells. Thereby, grain boundaries of poly-Si are considered as a major source of the poly-Si cell efficiency was reduced This paper investigated grain boundary effect of poly-Si wafer prior to the solar cell fabrication. By comparing I-V characteristics inner grain, on and across the grain boundary, we were able to detect grain potentials. To reduce grain boundary effect we carried out pretreatment, $POCl_3$ gettering, and examined carrier lifetime. This paper focuses on resistivity variation effect due to grain boundary of poly-Si. The resistivity of the inner grain was $2.2{\Omega}-cm$, on the grain boundary$2.3{\Omega}-cm$, across the grain boundary $2.6{\Omega}-cm$. A measured resistivity varied depending on how many grains were included inside the four point probes. The resistivity increased as the number of grain boundaries increased. Our result can contribute to achieve high conversion efficiency of poly-Si solar cell by overcoming the grain boundary influence.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 1998

Conductivities of polycrystalline ceria doped with several rare earth oxides were measured by AC admittance and DC four probe method. The conductions were separated into grain and grain boundary contributions using the complex admittance technique as well as grain size dependence of conductivity. The grain size dependence of polycrystalline conductivity, which can be adequately described by the so-called brick layer model, appears to give a more reliable measure of the grain conductivity compared to the complex admittance method. Polycrystalline resistivity(1/conductivity) increases linearly with the reciprocal of grain size. The intercept of resistivity vs. inverse grain size plot gives a measure of the grain resistivity and the slope gives a measure of the grain boundary resistivity. It was also noted that errors involved in the analysis of experimental data may be different between the complex admittance method and the impedance method. A greater resolution of the spectra was found in the complex admittance method, insofar as the present work is concerned, suggesting that the commonly used equivalent circuit may require re-evaluation.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.69-74
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• 2008

The effects of $SiO_2$ impurity on the high temperature resistivities of AIN ceramics have been investigated. When $SiO_2$ was added into 1 wt% $Y_2O_3$-doped AIN, DC resistivities have decreased and electrode polarizations disappeared. Impedance spectroscopy showed two semi-circles at $600^{\circ}C$, which were attributed to grain and grain boundary, respectively. $SiO_2$ doping had more significant effects on the grain resistivity than grain boundary resistivity, implying that doped Si acted as a donor in AIN lattice. In addition, voltage dependency of DC resistivity was observed, which might be related to dependency of size of grain boundary semi-circle on the bias voltage in impedance spectroscopy.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.39 no.9
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• pp.818-821
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• 2002

The grain boundary resistivity of a 1-mol%-$Al_2O_3$-dopedd CaO-Stabilized Zirconia(CSZ) specimen was determined by impedance spectroscopy using sub-millimeter-scale electrodes. At the initial stage of sintering, the grain-boundary resistivity of the specimen interior was observed to be higher than that of the surface. However, upon further sintering the boundary resistivity of the specimen interior became lower than that of the surface. The results were explained in terms of a redistribution of the intergranular liquid phase. The liquid phase was predicted to initially coagulate at the interior of the specimen then spread outward during sintering.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 1996

The influence of grain boundary on the electrical properties of WO3-doped SrTiO3 ceramics has been investi-gated. From the result resistivity and capacitance of grains and boundaries were obtained by employing impedance spectrocopy. And the temperature dependance of capacitance of WO3-doped SrTiO3. was influenced directly by the variation of grain boundary capacitance. It was also found by impedance spectroscopy that the dispersion frequency characteristics showed discernibly that the resistivity of the specimen varied with WO3 content.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.553-561
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• 1993

In this study, thr effect of $Bi_2O_3$ and BN addition as grain boundary modifiers on sintering and electrical properties of semiconducting PTCR(Positive Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity) mate rial were analyzed using TMA, XRD and Complex Impedance Spectroscopy method. Bismut.h Ox~de and Boron Nitride were added to Y-doped $BaTiO_3$ respectively. Bismuth sesquioxide up to O.lmol%solubil~ ty limit of $Bi_2O_3$ in Y--$BaTiO_3$ ceramics-retarded densification and grain growth, and further addition mitigated these retardation effects. The resistivity at room temperature increased with increasing amount of $Bi_2O_3$ and thus decreased the PTCR effect, probably due to the $Bi_2O_3$ segregation on the grain boundaries. From the complex ~mpedance pattern, it is known that the grain boundary resisitivity is dominant on the whole resistivity of sample. In the result of applying the defect chemistry, $Bi^{3+} \;and \; Bi^[5+}$ are substituted for Ua and Ti site, respectively. Boron nitride decomposed and formed liquid phase among the $BaTiO_3$ grains. The decomposed com~ ponents made the second phase and existed the tr~ple juntion from the result of EPMA. From the complex impendencc pattern, the gram and grain boundary resistivity were small. The grain size increased with increasing BN contents, and decreased grain boundary resistivity enhanced the PTCR effect.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.597-600
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• 1999

A solar cell conversion efficiency was degraded by grain boundary effect in polycrystalline silicon To reduce grain boundary effect, we performed a preferential grain boundary etching, POC$_3$ n-type emitter doping, and then ITO film growth on poly- Si. Among the various preferential etchants, Schimmel etch solution exhibited the best result having grain boundary etch depth higher than 10 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. RF magnetron sputter grown ITO films showed a low resistivity of 10$^{-4}$ $\Omega$ -cm and high transmittance of 85 %. With well fabricated poly-Si solar cells, we were able to achieve as high as 15 % conversion efficiency at the input power of 20 mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.243.2-243.2
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• 2016

Tungsten (W) is recently gaining attention as a potential candidate to replace Cu in semiconductor metallization due to its expected improvement in material reliability and reduced resistivity size effect. In this study, the impact of electron scattering at grain boundaries in a polycrystalline W thin film was investigated. Two nominally 300 nm-thick films, a (110)-oriented single crystal film and a (110)-textured polycrystalline W film, were prepared onto (11-20) Al2O3 substrate and thermally oxidized Si substrate, respectively in identical fabrication conditions. The lateral grain size for the polycrystalline film was determined to be $119{\pm}7nm$ by TEM-based orientation mapping technique. The film thickness was chosen to significantly exceed the electron mean free path in W (16.1 and 77.7 nm at 293 and 4.2 K, respectively), which allows the impact of surface scattering on film resistivity to be negligible. Then, the difference in the resistivity of the two films can be attributed to grain boundary scattering. quantitative analyses were performed by employing the Mayadas-Shatzkes (MS) model, where the grain boundary reflection coefficient was determined to be $0.42{\pm}0.02$ and $0.40{\pm}0.02$ at 293 K and 4.2 K, respectively.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 1992

PTC thermistor has been fabricated with as-received $BaTiO_{3}$ powder and its electrical properties were investigated. The resistivity of the PTC thermistor was measured at $20^{\circ}C$ intervals from $20^{\circ}C$ to $200^{\circ}C$. The electrical characteristics of the PTC thermistor are determined by the ac complex impedance analysis. The average grain size measured with a scanning electron microscope increased from $3.8{\mu}m$ to $8.8{\mu}m$ with increasing sintering temperature between $1280^{\circ}C$ and $1400^{\circ}C$. The maximum resistivity jump was $4{\times}10^{5}$. The bulk resistivity of the thermistor sintered above $1340^{\circ}C$ decreased with increasing temperature of the measurement. The grain boundary resistance increased exponentially, the grain boundary capacitance decreased, and the built-in potential at the grain boundary increased with increasing temperature of the measurement. The charge densiy at the grain boundary increased with increasing temperature up to $110^{\circ}C$, which leveled off with further increase in measuring temperature.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07d
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• pp.1738-1740
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• 1999

This paper deals with a novel structure of poly-Si solar cell. A solar cell conversion efficiency was degraded by grain boundary effect in Polycrystalline silicon. To reduce grain boundary effect, we performed a preferential grain boundary etching, $POCl_3$ n-type emitter doping, and then ITO film growth on poly-Si. Among the various preferential etchants, Schimmel etch solution exhibited the best result having grain boundary etch depth about $10{\mu}m$. RF magnetron sputter grown ITO films showed a low resistivity of $10^{-4}\Omega-cm$ and high transmittance of 85%. With well fabricated poly-Si solar cells. we were able to achieve as high as 15% conversion efficiency at the input power of 20mW/$cm^2$.