• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2011

Reactive ion etching (RIE) technique for maskless surface texturing of mc-silicon solar wafers has been applied and succeed in fabricating a grass-like black-silicon with an average reflectance of $4{\pm}1%$ in a wavelength range of 300~1,200 nm. In order to investigate the optimized texturing conditions for mass production of high quantum efficiency solar cell Surface characteristics such as the spatial distribution of average reflectance, micrscopic surface morphology and minority carrier lifetime were monitored for samples from saw-damaged $15.6{\times}15.6\;cm^2$ bare wafer to key-processed wafers as well as the mc-Si solar cells. We observed that RIE textured wafers reveal lower average reflectance along from center to edges by 1% and referred the origin to the non-uniform surface structures with a depth of 2 times deeper and half-maximum width of 3 times. Samples with anti-reflection coating after forming emitter layer also revealed longer minority carrier lifetime by 40% for the edge compared to wafer center due to size effects. As results, mc-Si solar cells with RIE-textured surface also revealed higher efficiency by 2% and better external quantum efficiency by 15% for edge positions with higher height.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.11
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• pp.496-500
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• 2003

A low-cost, large area, random, maskless texturing scheme independent of crystal orientation is expected to significantly impact terrestrial photovoltaic technology. We investigated silicon surface microstructures formed by reactive ion etching (RIE) in Multi-Hollow cathode system. Desirable texturing effect has been achieved when radio-frequency (rf) power of about 20 Watt per one hollow cathode glow is applied for our RF Multi-Hollow cathode system. The black silicon etched surface shows almost zero reflectance in the visible region as well as in near IR region. The etched silicon surface is covered by columnar microstructures with diameters from 50 to 100 nm and depth of about 500 nm. We have successfully achieved 11.7% efficiency of mono-crystalline silicon solar cell and 10.2% multi-crystalline silicon solar cell.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.255-260
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• 2020

In this study, we developed a method of improving the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) response characteristics by depositing a nanoporous Ag metal thin film through cluster source sputtering after forming a pyramidal texture structure on the Si substrate surface. A reactive ion etching (RIE) system with a metal mesh inside the system was used to form a pyramidal texture structure on the Si surface without following a complicated photolithography process, unlike in case of the conventional RIE system. The size of the texture structure increased with the RIE process time. However, after a process time of 60 min, the size of the structure did not increase but tended to saturate. When the RF power increased from 200 to 250 W, the size of the pyramidal texture structure increased from 0.45 to 0.8 ㎛. The SERS response characteristics were measured by depositing approximately 1.5 ㎛ of nanoporous Ag metal thin film through cluster sputtering on the formed texture structure by varying the RIE process conditions. The Raman signal strength of the nanoporous Ag metal thin film deposited on the Si substrate with the texture structure was higher than that deposited on the general silicon substrate by up to 19%. The Raman response characteristics were influenced by the pyramid size and the number of pyramids per unit area but appeared to be influenced more by the number of pyramids per unit area. Therefore, further studies are required in this regard.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.309-312
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• 2004

Two-dimensionally arrayed nanocolumn lattices were fabricated by using double-exposure laser holographic method. The hexagonal lattice was formed by rotating the sample with 60 degree while the square lattice by 90 degree before the second laser-exposure. The size and period of nanocolumns could be controlled accurately from 125 to 145 nm in diameter and 220 to 290 nm in period for square lattice by changing the incident angle of laser beam. The reactive ion etching for a typical time of 30 min using CH$_4$/H$_2$ plasma enhanced the aspect-ratio by more than 1.5 with a slight increase of the bottom width of columns.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.267-272
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• 2021

In this study, Ag was deposited to investigate its applicability as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate after forming a grass-type black silicon structure through maskless reactive ion etching. Grass-structured black silicon with heights of 2 - 7 ㎛ was formed at radio-frequency (RF) power of 150 - 170 W. The process pressure was 250 mTorr, the O₂/SF₆ gas ratio was 15/37.5, and the processing time was 10 - 20 min. When the processing time was increased by more than 20 min, the self-masking of Si_xO_yF_z did not occur, and the black silicon structure was therefore not formed. Raman response characteristics were measured based on the Ag thickness deposited on a black silicon substrate. As the Ag thickness increased, the characteristic peak intensity increased. When the Ag thickness deposited on the black silicon substrate increased from 40 to 80 nm, the Raman response intensity at a Raman wavelength of 1507 / cm increased from 8.2 × 10³ to 25 × 10³ cps. When the Ag thickness was 150 nm, the increase declined to 30 × 10³ cps and showed a saturation tendency. When the RF power increased from 150 to 170 W, the response intensity at a 1507/cm Raman wavelength slightly increased from 30 × 10³ to 33 × 10³ cps. However, when the RF power was 200 W, the Raman response intensity decreased significantly to 6.2 × 10³ cps.