• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.341-341
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• 2016

The discovery of light emission in nanostructured silicon has opened up new avenues of research in nano-silicon based devices. One such pathway is the application of silicon quantum dots in advanced photovoltaic and light emitting devices. Recently, there is increasing interest on the silicon quantum dots (c-Si QDs) films embedded in amorphous hydrogenated silicon-nitride dielectric matrix (a-SiNx: H), which are familiar as c-Si/a-SiNx:H QDs thin films. However, due to the limitation of the requirement of a very high deposition temperature along with post annealing and a low growth rate, extensive research are being undertaken to elevate these issues, for the point of view of applications, using plasma assisted deposition methods by using different plasma concepts. This work addresses about rapid growth and single step development of c-Si/a-SiNx:H QDs thin films deposited by RF (13.56 MHz) and ultra-high frequency (UHF ~ 320 MHz) low-pressure plasma processing of a mixture of silane (SiH4) and ammonia (NH3) gases diluted in hydrogen (H2) at a low growth temperature ($230^{\circ}C$). In the films the c-Si QDs of varying size, with an overall crystallinity of 60-80 %, are embedded in an a-SiNx: H matrix. The important result includes the formation of the tunable QD size of ~ 5-20 nm, having a thermodynamically favorable <220> crystallographic orientation, along with distinct signatures of the growth of ${\alpha}$-Si3N4 and ${\beta}$-Si3N4 components. Also, the roles of different plasma characteristics on the film properties are investigated using various plasma diagnostics and film analysis tools.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.147.2-148
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• 2016

Light management technology is very important for thin film solar cells, which can reduce optical reflection from the surface of thin film solar cells or enhance optical path, increasing the absorption of the incident solar light. Using proper light trapping structures in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells, the thickness of absorber layers can be reduced. Instead, the internal electric field in the absorber can be strengthened, which helps to collect photon generated carriers very effectively and to reduce light-induced loss under long-term light exposure. In this work, we introduced a chemical etching technology to make honey-comb textures on glass substrates and analyzed the optical properties for the textured surface such as transmission, reflection and scattering effects. Using ray optics and finite difference time domain method (FDTD) we represented the behaviors of light waves near the etched surfaces of the glass substrates and discussed to obtain haze parameters for the different honey-comb structures. The simulation results showed that high haze values were maintained up to the long wavelength range over 700 nm, and with the proper design of the honey-comb structure, reflection or transmission of the glass substrates can be enhanced, which will be very useful for the multi-junction (tandem or triple junction) thin film a-Si:H solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.136.1-136.1
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• 2015

In the present study, UHF (320 MHz) in combination with RF (13.56 MHz) plasmas was used for the synthesis of hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiNx:H) films by PECVD process at low temperature. RF/UHF hybrid plasmas were maintained at a fixed pressure of 410 mTorr in the N2/SiH4 and N2/SiH4/NH3 atmospheres. To investigate the radical generation and plasma formation and their control for the growth of the film, plasma diagnostic tools like vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy (VUVAS), optical emission spectroscopy (OES), and RF compensated Langmuir probe (LP) were utilized. Utilization of RF/UHF hybrid plasmas enables very high plasma densities ~ 1011 cm-3 with low electron temperature. Measurements using VUVAS reveal the UHF source is quite effective in the dissociation of the N2 gas to generate more active atomic N. It results in the enhancement of the Si-N bond concentration in the film. Consequently, the deposition rate has been significantly improved up to 2nm/s for the high rate synthesis of highly transparent (up to 90 %) SiNx:H film. The films properties such as optical transmittance and chemical composition are investigated using different analysis tools.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2016.11a
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• pp.181-181
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• 2016

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c-Si:H$) films have attracted much attention as materials of the bottom-cells in Si thin film tandem photovoltaics due to their low bandgap and excellent stability against light soaking. However, in PECVD, the source gas $SiH_4$ must be highly diluted by $H_2$, which eventually results in low deposition rate. Moreover, it is known that high-rate ${\mu}c-Si:H$ growth is usually accompanied by a large number of dangling-bond (DB) defects in the resulting films, which act as recombination centers for photoexcited carriers, leading to a deterioration in the device performance. During film deposition, Si nanoparticles generated in $SiH_4$ discharges can be incorporated into films, and such incorporation may have effects on film properties depending on the size, structure, and volume fraction of nanoparticles incorporated into films. Here we report experimental results on the effects of nonoparticles incorporation at the different substrate temperature studied using a multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD method in which such incorporation can be significantly suppressed in upstream region by setting the gas flow velocity high enough to drive nanoparticles toward the downstream region. All experiments were performed with the multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD reactor at RT, 100, and $250^{\circ}C$, respectively. The gas flow rate ratio of $SiH_4$ to $H_2$ was 0.997. The total gas pressure P was kept at 2 Torr. The discharge frequency and power were 60 MHz, 180 W, respectively. Crystallinity Xc of resulting films was evaluated using Raman spectra. The defect densities of the films were measured with electron spin resonance (ESR). The defect density of fims deposited in the downstream region (with nonoparticles) is higher defect density than that in the upstream region (without nanoparticles) at low substrate temperature of RT and $100^{\circ}C$. This result indicates that nanoparticle incorporation can change considerably their film properties depending on the substrate temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.312-312
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• 2011

In SiH4/H2 discharge for growth process of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), silane polymers, produced by SiH2 + Sin-1H2n ${\rightarrow}$ SinH2n+2, have no reactivity on the film-growing surface. However, under the SiH2 rich condition, high silane reactive species (HSRS) can be produced by electron collision to silane polymers. HSRS, having relatively strong reactivity on the surface, can react with dangling bond and form Si-H2 networks which have a close correlation with photo-induced degradation of a-Si:H thin film solar cell [1]. To find contributions of suggested several external plasma conditions (pressure, frequency and ratio of mixture gas) [2,3] to suppressing productions of HSRS, some plasma characteristics are studied by numerical methods. For this study, a zero-dimensional global model for SiH4/H2 discharge and a one-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte-Carlo-collision model (PIC-MCC) for pure SiH4 discharge have been developed. Densities of important reactive species of SiH4/H2 discharge are observed by means of the global model, dealing 30 species and 136 reactions, and electron energy probability functions (EEPFs) of pure SiH4 discharge are obtained from the PIC-MCC model, containing 5 charged species and 15 reactions. Using global model, SiH2/SiH3 values were calculated when pressure and driving frequency vary from 0.1 Torr to 10 Torr, from 13.56 MHz to 60 MHz respectively and when the portion of hydrogen changes. Due to the limitation of global model, frequency effects can be explained by PIC-MCC model. Through PIC-MCC model for pure SiH4, EEPFs are obtained in the specific range responsible for forming SiH2 and SiH3: from 8.75 eV to 9.47 eV [4]. Through densities of reactive species and EEPFs, polymerization reactions and production of HSRS are discussed.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.370-378
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• 2017

A fluid model of 2D axis-symmetry based on inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactor using $N_2/NH_3/SiH_4$ gas mixture has been developed for hydrogenated silicon nitride ($SiN_x:H$) deposition. The model was comprised of 62 species (electron, neutral, ions, and excitation species), 218 chemical reactions, and 45 surface reactions. The pressure (10~40 mTorr) and gas mixture ratio ($N_2$ 80~96 %, $NH_3$ 2~10 %, $SiH_4$ 2~10 %) were considered simulation variables and the input power fixed at 1000 W. Different distributions of electron, ions, and molecules density were observed with pressure. Although ionization rate of $SiH_2{^+}$ is higher than $SiH_3{^+}$ by electron direct reaction with $SiH_4$, the number density of $SiH_3{^+}$ is higher than $SiH_2{^+}$ in over 30 mTorr. Also, number density of $NH^+$ and $NH_4{^+}$ dramatically increased by pressure increase because these species are dominantly generated by gas phase reactions. The change of gas mixture ratio not affected electron density and temperature. With $NH_3$ and $SiH_4$ gases ratio increased, $SiH_x$ and $NH_x$ (except $NH^+$ and $NH_4{^+}$) ions and molecules are linearly increased. Number density of amino-silane molecules ($SiH_x(NH_2)_y$) were detected higher in conditions of high $SiH_x$ and $NH_x$ molecules density.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07d
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• pp.1928-1930
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• 1999

This paper describes on the growth of a ${\mu}c$-Si:H film on low cost substrate like glass by Hot Wire CVD method. The ${\mu}c$-Si:H film, prepared in 50mTorr pressure, $1800^{\circ}C$ wire temperature, and $H_2/SiH_4$ 10 showed three clear peaks. (111), (220), and (311) in X-ray spectroscopy. The crystallite size and crystalline volume fraction, calculated from Raman spectroscopy, was about 6nm and 70%, respectively. The FTIR transmission spectra of the film showed a different absorption peak with a-Si:H film around $2000-2100cm^{-1}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.242-242
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• 2012

Transparent oxide semiconductors are increasingly becoming one of good candidates for high efficient channel materials of thin film transistors (TFTs) in large-area display industries. Compare to the conventional hydrogenated amorphous silicon channel layers, solution processed ZnO-TFTs can be simply fabricated at low temperature by just using a spin coating method without vacuum deposition, thus providing low manufacturing cost. Furthermore, solution based oxide TFT exhibits excellent transparency and enables to apply flexible devices. For this reason, this process has been attracting much attention as one fabrication method for oxide channel layer in thin-film transistors (TFTs). But, poor electrical characteristic of these solution based oxide materials still remains one of issuable problems due to oxygen vacancy formed by breaking weak chemical bonds during fabrication. These electrical properties are expected due to the generation of a large number of conducting carriers, resulting in huge electron scattering effect. Therefore, we study a novel technique to effectively improve the electron mobility by applying environmental annealing treatments with various gases to the solution based Li-doped ZnO TFTs. This technique was systematically designed to vary a different lithium ratio in order to confirm the electrical tendency of Li-doped ZnO TFTs. The observations of Scanning Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy were performed to investigate structural properties and elemental composition of our samples. In addition, I-V characteristics were carried out by using Keithley 4,200-Semiconductor Characterization System (4,200-SCS) with 4-probe system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.315-315
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• 2016

The hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film solar cells using n/Al or n/Ag/Al back reflector have low short circuit current (Jsc) due to high absorption coefficients of Al or work function difference between n-layer and the metal. In this article, we utilized aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) to raise the internal reflectance for the improvement of short current density (Jsc) in a-Si:H thin film solar cells. It was found that there was a slight increase in the reflectance in the long wavelength range at the process temperature of 125oC due to improved crystalline quality of the AZO back reflector. The optical band gap (Eg) and work function were affected by the temperature and so did the internal reflectance. The increased internal reflectance within the solar cell resulted in Jsc of 14.94 mA/cm2 and the efficiency of 8.84%. Jsc for the cell without back reflector was 12.29 mA/cm2.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.41-41
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• 2003

비정질 실리콘 박막은 단결정 실리콘에 비해 저가이고 저온형성이 가능하여, 대면적/고효율의 실리콘 박막 태양전지 제작에 응용되고 있다. 태양전지에 적용하기 위해서는 우수한 암전류 및 광전류 특성을 나타내야 하고, 광학적 밴드 갭 특성 또한 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 HDP(High Density Plasma) PECVD 장비를 이용하여 나노결정립 및 비정질 실리콘 박막을 형성하고, 각 박막의 전기적, 광학적 특성을 측정, 평가하였다. 나노결정립 및 비정질 실리콘 박막의 전기적 특성은 Keithley 4200을 이용하여 암전류를 특성을 측정하였고, Solar Simulator를 이용하여 AM1.5, 100mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$ 조건에서 광전류 특성을 측정하였다. 또한, Spectrometer를 이용하여 박막의 투과율을 측정하여 Tauc Plot을 통해 광학적 밴드 갭을 계산하였다. 본 연구에서 형성된 비정질 실리콘 박막은 -$10^{6}$의 우수한 Photoresponse($\sigma$$_{ph}$ $\sigma$$_{d}$) 특성을 나타내었다. 또한, 비정질 실리콘 박막 내에 나노결정립이 형성됨에 따라 암전류는 증가하고, 광학적 밴드 갭도 증가하는 것을 알 수 있었다. 이렇게 밴드 갭이 증가된 나노결정립 실리콘 박막은 태양전지의 Window 층에 적용하면 효율 증가에 크게 기여할 것으로 판단된다.