• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.438-438
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• 2009

We have investigated the effect of forming gas annealing for Upgraded Metallurgical Grade (UMG)-silicon solar cell in order to obtain low-cost high-efficiency cell using post deposition anneal at a relatively low temperature. We have observed that high concentration hydrogenation effectively passivated the defects and improved the minority carrier lifetime, series resistance and conversion efficiency. It can be attributed to significantly improved hydrogen-passivation in high concentration hydrogen process. This improvement can be explained by the enhanced passivation of silicon solar cell with antireflection layer due to hydrogen re-incorporation. The results of this experiment represent a promising guideline for improving the high-efficiency solar cells by introducing an easy and low cost process of post hydrogenation in optimized condition.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.255-262
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• 2020

Grain boundaries play a major role in determining device performance, particularly of polysilicon-based photodetectors. Through the post-annealing of as-deposited polysilicon and then, the analysis of electric behavior for a metal-polysilicon-metal (MSM) photodetector, we were able to identify the influence of grain boundaries. A modified model of polysilicon grain boundaries in the MSM structure is presented, which uses a crystalline-interfacial layer-SiO_x layer- interfacial layer-crystalline system that is similar to the Si-SiO₂ system in MOS device. Hydrogen passivation was achieved through a hydrogen ion implantation process and was used to passivate the defects at both interfacial layers. The thin SiO_x layer at the grain boundary can enhance the photosensitivity of an MSM photodetector by decreasing the dark current and increasing the light absorption.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.704-709
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• 2019

In this paper, the electrical characteristics of tunneling field effect transistor(TFET) was studied for different annealing conditions. The TFET samples annealed using hydrogen forming gas(4 %) and Deuterium($D_2$) forming gas(4 %). All the measurements were conducted in noise shielded environment. The results show that subthreshold slope(SS) decreased by 33 mV/dec after annealing process compared to before annealing. Under various temperature range, the noise is improved by average of 31.2 % for 10 atm Deuterium gas at $V_G=3V$ condition. It is also noticed that, post metal annealing with $D_2$ gas reduces the noise by average of 30.7 % at $I_D=100nA$ condition.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.237-244
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• 1998

In this stydy, submicron shallow trenches applied to STI(shallow tench isolation) were etched using inductively coupled $CI_2$/HBr and $CI_2/N_2$plasmas and the physical and electrical defects remaining on the etched silicon trench surfaces and the effects of various annealing and oxidation on the removal of the defects were studied. Using high resolution electron microscopy(HRTEM), Physical defects were investigated on the silicon trench surfaces etched in both 90%$CI_2$/ 10%$N_2$ and 50%$CI_2$/50%HBr. Among the areas in the tench such as trench bottom, bottom edge, and sidewall, the most dense defects were found near the trench bottom edge, and the least dense defects were found near the trench bottom edge, and least dense defects compared to that etched with ment as well as hydrogen permeation. Thermal oxidation of 200$\AA$ atthe temperature up to $1100^{\circ}C$apprars not to remove the defects formed on the etched silicon trenches for both of the etch conditions. To remove the physicall defects, an annealing treatment at the temperature high than $1000^{\circ}C$ in N for30minutes was required. Electrical defects measured using a capacitance-voltage technique showed the reduction of the defects with increasing annealing temperature, and the trends were similar to the results on the physical defects obtained using transmission electron microscopy.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07d
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• pp.1333-1336
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• 1998

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si:H) films which were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical deposition(PECVD) have been recrystallized by the two-step rapid thermal annealing(RTA) employing the halogen lamp. The a-Si:H films evolve hydrogen explosively during the high temperature crystallzation step. In result, the recrystallized polycrystalline silicon(poly-Si) films have poor surface morphology. In order to avoid the hydrogen evolution, the films have undergone the dehydrogenation step prior to the crystallization step Before the RTA process, the active area of thin film transistors (TFT's) was patterned. The prepatterning of the a-Si:H active islands may reduce thermal damage to the glass substrate during the recrystallization. The computer generated simulation shows the heat propagation from the a-Si:H islands into the glass substrate. We have fabricated the poly-Si TFT's on the silicon wafers. The maximun ON/OFF current ratio of the device was over $10^5$.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 2017

ZnO nanowires were synthesized and annealed at various temperatures of $500-800^{\circ}C$ in oxygen atmosphere to investigate hydrogen gas sensing properties. The diameter and length of the synthesized ZnO nanowires were approximately 50-100 nm and a few $10s\;{\mu}m$, respectively. $H_2$ gas sensing performance of the ZnO nanowires sensor was measured with electrical resistance changes caused by $H_2$ gas with a concentration of 0.1-2.0%. The response of ZnO nanowires at room temperature to 2.0% $H_2$ gas is found to be two times enhanced by annealing process in $O_2$ atmosphere at $800^{\circ}C$. In the current study, the effect of heat treatment in $O_2$ atmosphere on the gas sensing performance of ZnO nanowires was studied. And the underlying mechanism for the sensing improvement of the ZnO nanowires was also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.789-794
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• 2008

Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been widely studied for its practical applications such as transparent conduction electrodes for flat panel displays and solar cells. Especially, ZnO films show good chemical stability against hydrogen plasma, absence of toxicity, abundance in nature, and then suitable for photovoltaic applications. However, the fabrication process of thin film solar cells require a high substrate temperature and/or post heat treatment. Therefore, the layers have to withstand high temperatures, requiring an excellent stability without degrading their electronic and optical properties. In this paper, we investigated the stability of zinc oxide (ZnO) films doped with aluminum and hydrogen. Doped ZnO films were prepared by r.f. magnetron sputter and followed by heat treatment at different temperatures and for various times.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.646-648
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• 2008

The multi-films of a metallic film and a transparent conducting oxide (TCO, indium-tin oxide, ITO) film were formed on the stainless steel 316 and 304 plates by a sputtering method and an E-beam method and then the external metallic region of the stainless steel bipolar plates was converted into the metal nitride films through an annealing process. The multi-film formed on the stainless steel bipolar plates showed the XRD patterns of the typical indium-tin oxide, the metallic phase and the metal substrate and the external nitride film. The XRD pattern of the thin film on the bipolar plates modified showed two metal nitride phases of CrN and $Cr_2N$ compound. Surface microstructural morphology of the multi-film deposited bipolar plates was observed by AFM and FE-SEM. The electrical resistivity of the stainless steel bipolar plates modified was evaluated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.236.1-236.1
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• 2015

The surface morphology of front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films is very important to achieve high current density in amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cells since it can scatter the light in a better way. In this study, we present the low cost hydrothermal deposited uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-flower structure with various aspect ratios for a-Si thin film solar cells. The ZnO nano-flower structures with various aspect ratios were grown on the RF magnetron sputtered AZO films. The diameters and length of the ZnO nano-flowers was controlled by varying the annealing time. The length of ZnO nano-flowers were varied from 400 nm to $2{\mu}m$ while diameter was kept higher than 200 nm to obtain different aspect ratios. The ZnO nano-flowers with higher surface area as compared to conventional ZnO nano structure are preferred for the better light scattering. The conductivity and crystallinity of ZnO nano-flowers can be enhanced by annealing in hydrogen atmosphere at 350 oC. The vertical aligned ZnO nano-flowers showed higher haze ratio as compared to the commercially available FTO films. We also observed that the scattering in the longer wavelength region was favored for the high aspect ratio of ZnO nano-flowers. Therefore, we proposed low cost and vertically aligned ZnO nano-flowers for the high performance of thin film solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.480-480
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• 2010

In the present work, we studied effect of the deposition parameters on the structure and properties of ZnO films deposited by DC arc plasmatron. The varied parameters were gas flow rates, precursor composition, substrate temperature and post-deposition annealing temperature. Vapor of Zinc acetylacetone was used as source materials, oxygen was used as working gas and argon was used as the cathode protective gas and a transport gas for the vapor. The plasmatron power was varied in the range of 700-1,500 watts. Flow rate of the gases and substrate temperature rate were varied in the wide range to optimize the properties of the deposited coatings. After deposition films were annealed in the hydrogen atmosphere in the wide range of temperatures. Structure of coatings was investigated using XRD and SEM. Chemical composition was analyzed using x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy. Sheet conductivity was measured by 4-point probe method. Optical properties of the transparent ZnO-based coatings were studied by the spectroscopy. It was shown that deposition by a DC Arc plasmatron can be used for low-cost production of zinc oxide films with good optical and electrical properties. Sheet resistance of 4 Ohms cm was achieved after the deposition and 30 min annealing in the hydrogen at $350^{\circ}C$. Elevation of the substrate temperature during the deposition process up to $350^{\circ}C$ leads to decreasing of the film's resistance due to rearrangement of the crystalline structure.