• Journal of Information Display
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.109-112
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• 2010

The solid phase compositions and dielectric properties of silicon nitride ($SiN_x$) films prepared using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique at a low temperature ($200^{\circ}C$) were studied. Controlling the source gas mixing ratio, R = $[N_2]/[SiH_4]$, and the plasma power successfully produced both silicon-rich and nitrogen-rich compositions in the final films. The composition parameter, X, varied from 0.83 to 1.62. Depending on the film composition, the dielectric properties of the $SiN_x$ films also varied substantially. Silicon-rich silicon nitride (SRSN) films were obtained at a low plasma power and a low R. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of these films revealed the existence of nano-sized silicon particles even in the absence of a post-annealing process. Nitrogen-rich silicon nitride (NRSN) films were obtained at a high plasma power and a high R. These films showed a fairly high dielectric constant ($\kappa$ = 7.1) and a suppressed hysteresis window in their capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.12-14
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• 2005

Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition(ICP-CVD)를 이용하여 공정온도 $150^{\circ}C$에서 Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) 박막을 증착하였다. 실험에서 헬륨(He)가스, 수소($H_2$)가스 그리고 헬륨(He)과 수소($H_2$)의 혼합가스로 희석한 사일렌($SiH_4$)을 반응가스로 이용하였다. 이 혼합가스는 3sccm의 사일렌($SiH_4$)에 헬륨(He)과 수소($H_2$)의 주입율을 20sccm에서부터 60sccm까지 변화시켜 조건을 달리하여 사용했다. 증착한 Nc-Si 박막을 X-ray diffraction (XRD)으로 분석하여 각각의 조건에 대한 Nc-Si 박막의 속성을 연구하였다. 헬륨(He) 또는 수소($H_2$) 혼합가스의 주입율이 커지면서 <111>과 <222>의 최고점(peak)이 더 높아졌으며 결정화 되지 않고 비결정질로 남아 있는 성장층(incubation layer)이 얇아졌다. 이 결과는 nc-Si를 증착할 때 사용한 수소($H_2$) 플라즈마와 헬륨(He) 플라즈마의 효과로 설명할 수 있다. 실험을 통해 ICP-CVD로 증착한 nc-Si 박막을 박막 전계효과트랜지스터 (TFT)에서 우수한 특성의 전자수송층(active layer)으로 사용할 수 있는 것을 확인하였다.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.2909-2912
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• 2010

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c$-Si:H) thin film for solar cells is prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and physical properties of the ${\mu}c$-Si:H p-layer has been investigated. With respect to stable efficiency, this film is expected to surpass the performance of conventional amorphous silicon based solar cells and very soon be a close competitor to other thin film photovoltaic materials. Silicon in various structural forms has a direct effect on the efficiency of solar cell devices with different electron mobility and photon conversion. A Raman microscope is adopted to study the degree of crystallinity of Si film by analyzing the integrated intensity peaks at 480, 510 and $520\;cm^{-1}$, which corresponds to the amorphous phase (a-Si:H), microcrystalline (${\mu}c$-Si:H) and large crystals (c-Si), respectively. The crystal volume fraction is calculated from the ratio of the crystalline and the amorphous phase. The results are compared with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) for the determination of crystallinity factor. Optical properties such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, and band gap are studied with reflectance spectra.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.257.2-257.2
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• 2015

In this paper, we report on the 10.33% efficient thin film/bulk tandem solar cells with the top cell made of amorphous silicon thin film and p-type bulk crystalline silicon bottom cell. The tunneling junction layers were used the doped nanocrystalline Si layers. It has to allow an ohmic and low resistive connection. For player and n-layer, crystalline volume fraction is ~86%, ~88% and dark conductivity is $3.28{\times}10-2S/cm$, $3.03{\times}10-1S/cm$, respectively. Optimization of the tunneling junction results in fill factor of 66.16 % and open circuit voltage of 1.39 V. The open circuit voltage was closed to the sum of those of the sub-cells. This tandem structure could enable the effective development of a new concept of high-efficiency and low cost cells.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.312-315
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• 2004

The monolayer of oxygen atoms sandwiched between the adjacent nanocrystalline silicon layers was formed by ultra high vacuum-chemical vapor deposition (UHV-CVD). This multilayer Si-O structure forms a new type of superlattice, semiconductor-atomic superlattice (SAS). According to the experimental results, high-resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) shows epitaxial system. Also, the current-voltage (Ⅰ-Ⅴ) measurement results show the stable and good insulating behavior with high breakdown voltage. It is apparent that the system may form an epitaxially grown insulating layer as possible replacement of silicon-on-insulator (SOI), a scheme investigated as future generation of high efficient and high density CMOS on SOI.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.162-164
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• 2004

Nanocrystalline silicon(nc-Si) thin films on the silicon substrates have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition(PLD). The optical and structural properties of films have been investigated depending on deposition temperature, annealing, and oxidation process. When the deposition temperature increased, photoluminescence(PL) intensity abruptly decreased and peaks showed red shift. Annealing process could reduce the number of defect centers. Oxidation had a considerable effect upon the formation and isolation of the nanocrystals. These results indicate that the formation mechanism of Si nanocrystals grown by PLD can be explained by three steps of growth, passivating defect centers, and isolation, sequentially.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.103-109
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• 2014

Highly efficient hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) thin-film solar cells were prepared on flexible stainless steel substrates using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. To enhance the performance of solar cells, material properties of back reflectors, n-doped seed layers and wide bandgap nc-SiC:H window layers were optimized. The light scattering efficiency of Ag back reflectors was improved by increasing the surface roughness of the films deposited at elevated substrate temperatures. Using the n-doped seed layers with high crystallinity, the initial crystal growth of intrinsic nc-Si:H absorber layers was improved, resulting in the elimination of the defect-dense amorphous regions at the n/i interfaces. The nc-SiC:H window layers with high bandgap over 2.2 eV were deposited under high hydrogen dilution conditions. The vertical current flow of the films was enhanced by the formation of Si nanocrystallites in the amorphous SiC:H matrix. Under optimized conditions, a high conversion efficiency of 9.13% ($V_{oc}=0.52$, $J_{sc}=25.45mA/cm^2$, FF = 0.69) was achieved for the flexible nc-Si:H thin-film solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2002.06a
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• pp.121-121
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• 2002

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.166-166
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• 2004

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.8
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• pp.1230-1235
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• 2017

We studied surface texture-etching of glass substrate by using reactive ion etching process with various working pressure (0.7~9.0 mT). With the increase in the pressure, a haze parameter, which means diffusive transmittance/total transmittance, was increased in overall wavelength regions, as measured by spectrophotometer. Also, atomic force microscopy (AFM) study also showed that the surface topography transformed from V-shaped, keen surface to U-shaped, flattened surface, which is beneficial for nanocrystalline silicon semiconductor growth with suppressing defective crack formation. The texture-etched ZnO:Al combined with textured glass exhibited pronounced haze properties that showed 60~90 % in overall spectral wavelength regions. This promising optical properties of double textured, transparent conducting substrate can be widely applied in silicon thin film photovoltaics and other optoelectronic devices.