• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.21-25
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• 2014

The silicon nitride ($SiN_x$) film for surface passivation and anti-reflection coating of crystalline silicon solar cell is very important and it is generally deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). PECVD can be divided into low and high frequency method. In this paper, the $SiN_x$ film deposited by low and high frequency PECVD method was studied. First, to optimize the $SiN_x$ film deposited by low frequency PECVD method, the refractive index was measured by varying the process conditions like $SiH_4$, $NH_3$, $N_2$ gas rate, and RF power. When $SiH_4$ gas rate was increased and $NH_3$ gas rate was decreased, the refractive index was increased. The refractive index was also increased with RF power decline. Second, to compare the characteristics of the low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film, the refractive index was measured by varying $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio and RF power and the minority carrier lifetime of before and after high temperature treatment process was also measured. The refractive index of both low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film was decreased with increase in $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio and RF power. After high temperature treatment process, the minority carrier lifetime of both low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film was increased and increased degree was similar. The minority carrier lifetime of low frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ was increased from $11.03{\mu}m$ to $28.24{\mu}m$ and that of high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ was increased from $11.60{\mu}m$ to $27.10{\mu}m$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.306-306
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• 2010

A high density (> $10^{11}\;cm^{-3}$) and low electron temperature (< 2 eV) plasma is produced by using a conventional HF (13.56 MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with an additional ultra high frequency (UHF, 314 MHz) plasma source utilizing two parallel antenna assembly. It is applied for the high rate synthesis of high quality nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) films. A high deposition rate of 1.8 nm/s is achieved with a high crystallinity (< 70%), a low spin density (< $3{\times}10^{16}\;cm^{-3}$) and a high light soaking stability (< 1.5). Optical emission spectroscopy measurements reveal emission intensity of $Si^*$ and $SiH^*$, intensity ratio of $H{\alpha}/Si^*$ and $H{\alpha}/SiH^*$ which are closely related to film deposition rate and film crystallinity, respectively. A high flux of precursor and atomic hydrogen which are produced by an additional high excitation frequency is effective for the fast deposition of highly crystallized nc-Si films without additional defects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.322.1-322.1
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• 2014

Many research groups have studied tandem or multi-junction cells to overcome this low efficiency and degradation. In multi-junction cells, band-gap engineering of each absorb layer is needed to absorb the light at various wavelengths efficiently. Various absorption layers can be formed using multi-junctions, such as hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H), amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) and microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c$-Si:H), etc. Among them, ${\mu}c$-Si:H is the bottom absorber material because it has a low band-gap and does not exhibit light-induced degradation like amorphous silicon. Nevertheless, ${\mu}c$-Si:H requires a much thicker material (>2 mm) to absorb sufficient light due to its smaller light absorption coefficient, highlighting the need for a high growth rate for productivity. ${\mu}c$-SiGe:H has a much higher absorption coefficient than ${\mu}c$-Si:H at the low energy wavelength, meaning that the thickness of the absorption layer can be decreased to less than half that of ${\mu}c$-Si:H. ${\mu}c$-SiGe:H films were prepared using 40 MHz very high frequency PECVD method at 1 Torr. SiH4 and GeH4 were used as a reactive gas and H2 was used as a dilution gas. In this study, the ${\mu}c$-SiGe:H layer for triple solar cells applications was performed to optimize the film properties.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.459-465
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• 1993

By making the inter-metal PECVD $SiO_2$ as a Si rich oxide under the SOG, the hydrogen and water related diffusants could be captured a t SI dangling bonds. This gettering process was known to prevent the device characteristics degradations related to the H, $H_20$. The basic characteristics of Si rich oxide have been studied according to changing high/low frequency power and $SiH_4/N_2O$ gas flow ratio in PECVD. As increase in low frequency power, deposition rate decreased but K.I. and compressive stress increased. Decrease of the water peaks of FTIR spectra at the wave number range of 3300~3800$\textrm{cm}^{-1}$' also indicated that intensty the films were densified. As increase in SiH, gas flow rate, deposition rate, R.I. and etch rate increased while compressive stress decreased. F'TIK spectra showed that peak intensity corresponding to Si-0-Si stretching vibration decreased and shifted to the lower wave numbers. But AES showed that Si dangl~ng bonds were increased as a result of lower Si:O(l: 1.23) ratlo inthe Si rich oxide as compared to Si : O(1 : 1.98) ratio of usual oxide.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.127-130
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• 2006

DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) films show very desirable surface interactions with high hardness, low friction coefficient, and good wear-resistance properties. The friction behavior of hydrogenated DLC film is dependent on tribological environment, especially surrounding temperature. In this work, the tribological behaviors of DLC (Diamond-like carbon) films, prepared by the radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) method, were studied in elevated temperatures. The ball-on-disk tests with DLC films on steel specimens were conducted at a sliding speed of 60 rpm, a load of 10N, and surrounding various temperatures of $25^{\circ}C,\;40^{\circ}C,\;55^{\circ}C\;and\;75^{\circ}C$. The results show considerable dependency of DLC tribological parameters on temperature. The friction coefficient decreased as the surrounding temperature increased. After tests the wear tracks of hydrogenated DLC film were analyzed by optical microscope, scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The surface roughness and 3-D images of wear track were also obtained by an atomic force microscope (AFM).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2016

Thin films synthesized by plasma processes have been widely applied in a variety of industrial sectors. The structure control of thin film is one of prime factor in most of these applications. It is well known that the structure of this film is closely associated with plasma parameters and species of plasma which are electrons, ions, radical and neutrals in plasma processes. However the precise control of structure by plasma process is still limited due to inherent complexity, reproducibility and control problems in practical implementation of plasma processing. Therefore the study on the fundamental physical properties that govern the plasmas becomes more crucial for molecular scale control of film structure and corresponding properties for new generation nano scale film materials development and application. The thin films are formed through nucleation and growth stages during thin film depostion. Such stages involve adsorption, surface diffusion, chemical binding and other atomic processes at surfaces. This requires identification, determination and quantification of the surface activity of the species in the plasma. Specifically, the ions and neutrals have kinetic energies ranging from ~ thermal up to tens of eV, which are generated by electron impact of the polyatomic precursor, gas phase reaction, and interactions with the substrate and reactor walls. The present work highlights these aspects for the controlled and low-temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapour disposition (PECVD) of Si-based films like crystalline Si (c-Si), Si-quantum dot, and sputtered crystalline C by the design and control of radicals, plasmas and the deposition energy. Additionally, there is growing demand on the low-temperature deposition process with low hydrogen content by PECVD. The deposition temperature can be reduced significantly by utilizing alternative plasma concepts to lower the reaction activation energy. Evolution in this area continues and has recently produced solutions by increasing the plasma excitation frequency from radio frequency to ultra high frequency (UHF) and in the range of microwave. In this sense, the necessity of dedicated experimental studies, diagnostics and computer modelling of process plasmas to quantify the effect of the unique chemistry and structure of the growing film by radical and plasma control is realized. Different low-temperature PECVD processes using RF, UHF, and RF/UHF hybrid plasmas along with magnetron sputtering plasmas are investigated using numerous diagnostics and film analysis tools. The broad outlook of this work also outlines some of the 'Grand Scientific Challenges' to which significant contributions from plasma nanoscience-related research can be foreseen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.05c
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• pp.83-87
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• 2002

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) silicon nitride ($SiN_X$) is widely used as a gate dielectric material for the hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si:H) thin film transistors (TFT's). We investigated $SiN_X$ films were deposited PECVD at low temperature ($300^{\circ}C$). The reaction gases were used pure nitrogen and a helium diluted of silane gas(20% $SiH_4$, 80% He). Experimental investigations were carried out with the variation of $N_2/SiH_4$ flow ratios from 3 to 50 and the rf power of 200 W. This article presents the $SiN_X$ gate dielectric studies in terms of deposition rate, hydrogen content, etch rate and C-V, leakage current density characteristics for the gate dielectric layer of thin film transistor applications. Electrical properties were analyzed through high frequency (1MHz) C-V and current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The thickness and the refractive index on the films were measured by ellipsometry and chemical bonds were determined by using an FT-IR equipment.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.9 no.1_2
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• pp.31-35
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• 2008

DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) films have predominant tribological properties like a high hardness, low friction and high chemical resistance; therefore, DLC films are applied in a wide range of industrial fields. This paper evaluated the characteristics of DLC films deposited on bearing steel with different hardness by RF-PECVD (Radio Frequency - Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) method. Si-interlayer was deposited on bearing steel to improve adhesion strength by RF-Sputtering method. The DLC film structures were analyzed with Raman spectra and Gaussian function. Adhesion strength of DLC films was measured with a scratch tester. Friction and wear test were carried out with a ball-on -disc type to investigate the tribological characteristics. Experimental results showed that DLC films deposited on bearing steel under same deposition condition have typical structure DLC films regardless of hardness of bearing steel. Adhesion strength of DLC film is increased with a hardness of bearing steel. Friction coefficient of DLC film showed lower at the high hardness of bearing steel.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.149-149
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• 2010

The double-layer antireflection (DLAR) coatings have significant advantages over single-layer antireflection (SLAR) coatings. This is because they will be able to cover a broad range of the solar spectrum which would enhance the overall performance of solar cells. Moreover films deposited at high frequency are expected to show excellent and UV-stable passivation in the refractive index that we adopted. In this work, we present a novel DLAR coating using SiNx:H thin films with refractive indices 1.9 and 2.3 as the top and bottom layers. This approach is cost effective when compared to earlier DLAR coatings with two different materials. SiNx:H films were deposited by Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique using $SiH_4$, $NH_3$ and $N_2$ gases with flow rates 20~80sccm, 200sccm and 85 sccm respectively. The RF power, plasma frequency and substrate temperature for the deposition were 300W, 13.56 MHz and $450^{\circ}C$, respectively. The optimum thickness and refractive indices values for DLAR coatings were estimated theoretically using Macleod simulation software as 82.24 nm for 1.9 and 68.58 nm for 2.3 respectively. Solar cells were fabricated with SLAR and DLAR coatings of SiNx:H films and compared the cell efficacy. SiNx:H> films deposited at a substrate temperature of $450^{\circ}C$ and that at 300 W power showed best effective minority carrier lifetime around $50.8\;{\mu}s$. Average reflectance values of SLAR coatings with refractive indices 1.9, 2.05 and 2.3 were 10.1%, 9.66% and 9.33% respectively. In contrast, optimized DLAR coating showed a reflectance value as low as 8.98% in the wavelength range 300nm - 1100nm.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.339-343
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• 1999

This paper reports the characteristics of poly-Si TFT unitary CMOS circuits fabricated with various techniques, in order to investigate the optimum process conditions. The active films were deposited by PECVD and LPCVD using $SiH_4\; and\; Si_2H_6$ as source gas, and annealed by SPC and ELA methods. The impurity doping of the oource and drain electrodes was performed by ion implantation and ion shower. In order to investigate the AC characteristics of the poly-Si TFTs processed with various methods, we have examined the current driving characteristics of the polt-Si TFT and the frequency characteristics of 23-stage CMOS ring oscillators. Ithas been observed that the circuits fabricated using $Si_2H_6$ with low-temperature process of ELA exhibit high switching speed and current driving performances, thus suitable for real application of large area electronics.