• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2007.06a
• /
• pp.192-193
• /
• 2007

An evaporated Ti/Pd/Ag contact system is most widely used to make high-efficiency silicon solar cells, however, the system is not cost effective due to expensive materials and vacuum techniques. Commercial solar cells with screen-printed contacts formed by using Ag paste suffer from a low fill factor and a high shading loss because of high contact resistance and low aspect ratio. Low-cost Ni and Cu metal contacts have been formed by using electro less plating and electroplating techniques to replace the Ti/Pd/Ag and screen-printed Ag contacts. Ni/Cu alloy is plated on a silicon substrate by electro-deposition of the alloy from an acetate electrolyte solution, and nickel-silicide formation at the interface between the silicon and the nickel enhances stability and reduces the contact resistance. It was, therefore, found that nickel-silicide was suitable for high-efficiency solar cell applications. Cu was electroplated on the Ni layer by using a light induced plating method. The Cu electroplating solution was made up of a commercially available acid sulfate bath and additives to reduce the stress of the copper layer. In this paper, we investigated low-cost Ni/Cu contact formation by electro less and electroplating for crystalline silicon solar cells.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.12 no.3 s.36
• /
• pp.259-265
• /
• 2005

Characteristics of electroplated Ni films and $Ni-Al_2O_3$ composite films, such as yield strength, fracture elongation, and $Al_2O_3$ content, were evaluated as a function of electroplating current density. $Al_2O_3$ content was $11.48\~11.64\;vol\%$ for $Ni-Al_2O_3$ composite films electroplated at $5\~20\;mA/cm^2$, and decreased to $8.41\;vol\%$ at $30\;mA/cm^2$ $Ni-Al_2O_3$ possessed yield strengths higher than those of Ni films. Especially, $Ni-Al_2O_3$ fabricated at $5\;mA/cm^2$ exhibited $50\%$ improved yield strength. Fracture elongations of Ni and $Ni-Al_2O_3$ decreased with increasing the electroplating current density. $Ni-Al_2O_3$ electroplated at $5\;mA/cm^2$ exhibited more uniform dispersion of $Al_2O_3$ and higher yield strength and larger fracture elongation than the composite films processed at other current densities.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2006.10a
• /
• pp.95-95
• /
• 2006

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 1998.11a
• /
• pp.80-80
• /
• 1998

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 1997.10a
• /
• pp.224-227
• /
• 1997

In Ni and Zn plating, microstructure and corrosion behavior of electrodeposits with various electroplating condition were investigated. Optical microstructure, SEM images and polarization curves of electrodeposits are different with plating time and temperature.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.62-67
• /
• 2015

Nickel is a commercially important and versatile element in electroplating. The applications of nickel electroplating fall into three main categories: decorative, functional and electroforming. In decorative applications, electroplated nickel is most often applied in combination with electrodeposited chromium. Nickel is deposited on surfaces to improve corrosion and wear resistance or modify magnetic and other properties. Electroforming is electroplating applied to the fabrication of products of various kinds. Nickel is deposited onto a substrate and then removed from it to create a part made entirely of nickel. In this study, mechanical property of Ni electrodeposits in various manufacturing condition such as temperature, current density, pH and electrolyte content, was investigated to understand effect of electrolysis condition on mechanical property. Vickers hardness increased as the temperature and pH increased and current density and electrolyte content decreased and pH increased. The results were explained by cathode overvoltage and hydrogen evolution.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.16-22
• /
• 2007

Recently, mesoporous metallic materials are becoming more and more important in various applications like catalysts, electrochemical detectors, batteries, and fuel cells because of their high surface area. Among the various methods for manufacturing mesoporous structure, surfactant templating method followed by electroplating has been tried in this study. A mesoporous metallic film was prepared by electrodeposition from electroplating solution mixed with surfactant template. Nonionic type lyotropic liquid crystalline surfactant, Brij56, and nickel acetate based solution were selected as a template material and electroplating solution, respectively. To determine the content of surfactant forming a hexagonal column structure, the phase diagram of electroplating solution and surfactant mixture has been exploited by polarized optical microscopy equipped with heating and cooling stage. Nickel films were electroplated on Cu foil by stepwise potential input method to alleviate the concentration polarization occurred during the electroplating process. TEM and XRD analyses were performed to characterize the size and shape of mesostructures in manufactured nickel films, and electrochemical characterization was also carried out using cyclic voltammetry.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.141-146
• /
• 2014

Nickel (Ni) electroplating was implemented by using a metal Ni powder in order to establish a $^{63}Ni$ plating condition on the PN junction semiconductor needed for production of beta-voltaic battery. PN junction semiconductors with a Ni seed layer of 500 and $1000{\AA}$ were coated with Ni at current density from 10 to $50mA\;cm^{-2}$. The surface roughness and average grain size of Ni deposits were investigated by XRD and SEM techniques. The roughness of Ni deposit was increased as the current density was increased, and decreased as the thickness of Ni seed layer was increased. The results showed that the optimum surface shape was obtained at a current density of $10mA\;cm^{-2}$ in seed layer with thickness of $500{\AA}$, $20mA\;cm^{-2}$ of $1000{\AA}$. Also, pure Ni deposit was well coated on a PN junction semiconductor without any oxide forms. Using the line width of (111) in XRD peak, the average grain size of the Ni thick firm was measured. The results showed that the average grain size was increased as the thickness of seed layer was increased.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.48 no.3
• /
• pp.773-777
• /
• 2016

A betavoltaic battery was prepared using radioactive $^{63}Ni$ attached to a three-dimensional single trenched P-N absorber. The optimum thickness of a $^{63}Ni$ layer was determined to be approximately $2{\mu}m$, considering the minimum self-shielding effect of beta particles. Electroplating of radioactive $^{63}Ni$ on a nickel (Ni) foil was carried out at a current density of $20mA/cm^2$. The difference of the short-circuit currents ($I_{sc}$) between the pre- and post-deposition of $^{63}Ni$ (16.65 MBq) on the P-N junction was 5.03 nA, as obtained from the I-V characteristics. An improved design with a sandwich structure was provided for enhancing performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2001.11a
• /
• pp.56-56
• /
• 2001

Ni-W alloy deposit is one of the best alternatives to hard chromium plating because of its good mechanical properties (high hardness, high strength, and good wear resistance). Ni-W alloy is deposited from weakly acidic or alkaline electrolytic bath with nickel sulfate, sodium tungstate or APT, and some kinds of organic hydroxy-acid complex and ammonia salts. W content of the deposit can be changed from 0 to 5Owt% and the coating with high W content is more attracted. But, meanwhile, the deposited layers are always found high internal stress, which cause them to become brittle and to bond insufficiently with the substrate. On the second hand, as the W content is incresed, the current efficiency reduced, which results in large quantities of hydrogen evolution and then produces bubbles on surface and pitting appearance In this paper, the influence of some additives on Ni-W alloy electroplating was investigated by means of compositional analysis and SEM. The initial results showed that 2-butyne-1,4-diol was the best brightener for Ni-W plating process. It could brighten and level deposit, but decreased the cathodic current efficiency. Its optimum concentration range is from O.lgjL to 0.5gjL. Besides, three kinds of additives including 2-butyne-1,4-diol were examined with Dagguchi method.