• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.462-462
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• 2014

The effect of rear passivation for passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) using ozone and H2O oxidant of atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al2O3 was studied by post-annealing in N2 and forming gas ambients. Rear surface of PERC solar cell was passivated by Al2O3 grown by ALD with ozone and H2O oxidant. Al2O3 grown by ALD with ozone oxidant has been known to have many advantages, such as lower interface defects, low leakage current density. Its passivation quality is better than Al2O3 with H2O. Al2O3 layer with 10 nm and 20 nm thickness was grown at $150^{\circ}C$ with ozone oxidant and at $250^{\circ}C$ with H2O oxidant. And then each samples were post-annealled at $450^{\circ}C$ in N2 ambients and at $850^{\circ}C$ in forming gas ambients. The passivation quality was investigated by measuring the minority carrier lifetime respectively. We examined atomic layer deposited Al2O3 such as growth rate, film density, thickness, negative fixed charge density at AlOx/Si interface, and reflectance. The influences of process temperature and heat treatment were investigated using Sinton (WCT-120) by Quasi-Steady State Photoconductance (QSSPC) mode. Ozone-based ALD Al2O3 film shows the best carrier lifetime at lower deposition temperature than H2O-based ALD.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.33-39
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• 2015

In this work, SU-8 passivated IZO thin-film transistors(TFTs) made by solution-processes was investigated for enhancing stability of indium zinc oxide(IZO) TFT. A very viscous negative photoresist SU-8, which has high mechanical and chemical stability, was deposited by spin coating and patterned on top of TFT by photo lithography. To investigate the enhanced electrical performances by using SU-8 passivation layer, the TFT devices were analyzed by X-ray phtoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR). The TFTs with SU-8 passivation layer show good electrical characterestics, such as ${\mu}_{FE}=6.43cm^2/V{\cdot}s$, $V_{th}=7.1V$, $I_{on/off}=10^6$, SS=0.88V/dec, and especially 3.6V of ${\Delta}V_{th}$ under positive bias stress (PBS) for 3600s. On the other hand, without SU-8 passivation, ${\Delta}V_{th}$ was 7.7V. XPS and FTIR analyses results showed that SU-8 passivation layer prevents the oxygen desorption/adsorption processes significantly, and this feature makes the effectiveness of SU-8 passivation layer for PBS.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.430-430
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• 2012

The surface recombination velocity of the silicon solar cell could be reduced by passivation with insulating layers such as $SiO_2$, SiNx, $Al_2O_3$, a-Si. Especially, the aluminium oxide has advantages over other materials at rear surface, because negative fixed charge via Al vacancy has an additional back surface field effect (BSF). It can increase the lifetime of the hole carrier in p-type silicon. The aluminium oxide thin film layer is usually deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique, which is expensive and has low deposition rate. In this study, ICP-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering technique was adopted to overcome drawbacks of ALD technique. In addition, it has been known that by annealing aluminium oxide layer in nitrogen atmosphere, the negative fixed charge effect could be further improved. By using ICP-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering technique, oxygen to nitrogen ratio could be precisely controlled. Fabricated aluminium oxy-nitride (AlON) layer on silicon wafers were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate the atomic concentration ratio and chemical states. The electrical properties of Al/($Al_2O_3$ or $SiO_2/Al_2O_3$)/Si (MIS) devices were characterized by the C-V measurement technique using HP 4284A. The detailed characteristics of the AlON passivation layer will be shown and discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.256-256
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• 2012

Oxide semiconductors such as zinc tin oxide (ZTO) or indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) have attracted a lot of research interest owing to their high potential for application as thin film transistors (TFTs) [1,2]. However, the instability of oxide TFTs remains as an obstacle to overcome for practical applications to electronic devices. Several studies have reported that the electrical characteristics of ZnO-based transistors are very sensitive to oxygen, hydrogen, and water [3,4,5]. To improve the reliability issue for the amorphous InGaZnO (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor, back channel passivation layer is essential for the long term bias stability. In this study, we investigated the instability of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) by the back channel contaminations. The effect of back channel contaminations (humidity or oxygen) on oxide transistor is of importance because it might affect the transistor performance. To remove this environmental condition, we performed vacuum seasoning before the deposition of hybrid passivation layer and acquired improved stability. It was found that vacuum seasoning can remove the back channel contamination if a-IGZO film. Therefore, to achieve highly stable oxide TFTs we suggest that adsorbed chemical gas molecules have to be eliminated from the back-channel prior to forming the passivation layers.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.57-61
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• 2011

To develop high efficiency crystalline solar cells, the rear surface passivation is very important. In this paper, $Al_2O_3$ films deposited by thermal ALD(atomic layer deposition) method were studied for rear surface passivation of crystalline solar cells and their passivation properties were evaluated. After the deposition of $Al_2O_3$ films on p-type Si wafers, the lifetime was increased very much due to the reduction of interface state density and the field effects of the negative fixed charge in the films. Also, optimum annealing condition and effects of SiNx capping layer were investigated. The best lifetime was obtained when the films were annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ for 15min. And the lifetime degradation of the $Al_2O_3$ films with SiNx capping layers was improved compared to those without the capping layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.71-72
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• 2006

We report on plasma damage free chemical vapor deposition technique for the thin film passivation of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic thin film transistor (OTFT) and flexible displays using catalyzer enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CECVD). Specially designed CECVD system has a ladder-shaped tungsten catalyzer and movable electrostatic chuck for low temperature deposition process. The top emitting OLED with thin film $SiN_x$ passivation layer shows electrical and optical characteristics comparable to those of the OLED with glass encapsulation. This indicates that the CECVD technique is a promising candidate to grow high-quality thin film passivation layer on OLED, OTFT, and flexible displays.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.75-83
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• 2021

The tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) structure got more consideration for development of high performance solar cells by the introduction of a tunnel oxide layer between the substrate and poly-Si is best for attaining interface passivation. The quality of passivation of the tunnel oxide layer clearly depends on the bond of SiO in the tunnel oxide layer, which is affected by the subsequent annealing and the tunnel oxide layer was formed in the suboxide region (SiO, Si₂O, Si₂O₃) at the interface with the substrate. In the suboxide region, an oxygen-rich bond is formed as a result of subsequent annealing that also improves the quality of passivation. To control the surface morphology, annealing profile, and acceleration rate, an oxide tunnel junction structure with a passivation characteristic of 700 mV or more (V_oc) on a p-type wafer could achieved. The quality of passivation of samples subjected to RTP annealing at temperatures above 900℃ declined rapidly. To improve the quality of passivation of the tunnel oxide layer, the physical properties and thermal stability of the thin layer must be considered. TOPCon silicon solar cell has a boron diffused front emitter, a tunnel-SiO_x/n⁺-poly-Si/SiN_x:H structure at the rear side, and screen-printed electrodes on both sides. The saturation currents J_o of this structure on polished surface is 1.3 fA/cm² and for textured silicon surfaces is 3.7 fA/cm² before printing the silver contacts. After printing the Ag contacts, the J_o of this structure increases to 50.7 fA/cm² on textured silicon surfaces, which is still manageably less for metal contacts. This structure was applied to TOPCon solar cells, resulting in a median efficiency of 23.91%, and a highest efficiency of 24.58%, independently. The conversion efficiency of interdigitated back-contact solar cells has reached up to 26% by enhancing the optoelectrical properties for both-sides-contacted of the cells.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2014

In this paper, $Al_2O_3$ film deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) with diluted $NH_4OH$ instead of $H_2O$ was suggested for passivation layer and anti-reflection (AR) coating of the p-type crystalline Si (c-Si) solar cell application. It was confirmed that the deposition rate and refractive index of $Al_2O_3$ film was proportional to the $NH_4OH$ concentration. $Al_2O_3$ film deposited with 5 % $NH_4OH$ has the greatest negative fixed oxide charge density ($Q_f$), which can be explained by aluminum vacancies ($V_{Al}$) or oxygen interstitials ($O_i$) under O-rich condition. $Al_2O_3$ film deposited with $NH_4OH$ 5 % condition also shows lower interface trap density ($D_{it}$) distribution than those of other conditions. At $NH_4OH$ 5 % condition, moreover, $Al_2O_3$ film shows the highest excess carrier lifetime (${\tau}_{PCD}$) and the lowest surface recombination velocity ($S_{eff}$), which are linked with its passivation properties. The proposed $Al_2O_3$ film deposited with diluted $NH_4OH$ is very promising for passivation layer and AR coating of the p-type c-Si solar cell.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.405-410
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• 2013

During sintering of Ni-electrode multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), the Ni electrode often becomes discontinuous because of its lower sintering temperature relative to that of $BaTiO_3$. In an attempt to retard the sintering of Ni, we introduced passivation of the Ni powder. To find the optimal passivation conditions, a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted in air. After passivation at $250^{\circ}C$ for 11 h in air, a nickel oxide shell with a thickness of 4-5 nm was formed on nickel nanoparticles of 180 nm size. As anticipated, densification of the compacts of the passivated Ni/NiO core-shell powder was retarded: the starting temperature of densification increased from ${\sim}400^{\circ}C$ to ${\sim}600^{\circ}C$ in a $97N_2-3H_2$ (vol %) atmosphere. Grain growth was also retarded during sintering at temperatures of 750 and $1000^{\circ}C$. When the sintering atmosphere was changed from wet $99.93N_2-0.07H_2$ to wet $99.98N_2-0.02H_2$, the average grain size decreased at the same sintering temperature. The conductivity of the passivated powder sample sintered at $1150^{\circ}C$ for 8 h in wet $99.93N_2-0.07H_2$ was measured to be $3.9{\times}10^4S/cm$, which is comparable with that, $4.6{\times}10^4S/cm$, of the Ni powder compact without passivation. These results demonstrate that passivation of Ni is a viable means of retarding sintering of a Ni electrode and hence improving its continuity in the fabrication of $BaTiO_3$-based multi-layer ceramic capacitors.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.1779-1783
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• 2006

The hybrid thin-film (HTF) passivation layer composed of the UV curable acrylate layer and MS-31 (MgO:SiO2=3:1wt%) layer was adopted in organic light emitting diode (OLED) to protect organic light emitting materials from penetrations of oxygen and water vapors. The moisture resistance of the deposited HTF layer was measured by the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR). The results showed that the HTF layer possessed a very low WVTR value of lower than $0.007g/m^2$ per day at $37.8^{\circ}C$ and 100% RH. Therefore, the HTF on the OLED was found to be very effective in protect what from the penetrations of oxygen and moisture.