• 한국재료학회지
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.210-216
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• 2010

This paper investigates the dependence of a-Si:H/c-Si passivation and heterojunction solar cell performances on various cleaning processes of silicon wafers. It is observed that the passivation quality of a-Si:H thin-films on c-Si wafers depends highly on the initial H-termination properties of the wafer surface. The effective minority carrier lifetime (MCLT) of highly H-terminated wafer is beneficial for obtaining high quality passivation of a-Si:H/c-Si. The wafers passivated by p(n)-doped a-Si:H layers have low MCLT regardless of the initial H-termination quality. On the other hand, the MCLT of wafers incorporating intrinsic (i) a-Si:H as a passivation layer shows sensitive variation with initial cleaning and H-termination schemes. By applying the improved cleaning processes, we can obtain an MCLT of $100{\mu}sec$ after H-termination and above $600{\mu}sec$ after i a-Si:H thin film deposition. By adapting improved cleaning processes and by improving passivation and doped layers, we can fabricate a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells with an active area conversion efficiency of 18.42%, which cells have an open circuit voltage of 0.670V, short circuit current of $37.31\;mA/cm^2$ and fill factor of 0.7374. These cells show more than 20% pseudo efficiency measured by Suns-$V_{oc}$ with an elimination of series resistance.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.295-298
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• 2007

Reduction of optical losses in crystalline silicon solar cells by surface modification is one of the most important issues of silicon photovoltaics. Porous Si layers on the front surface of textured Si substrates have been investigated with the aim of improving the optical losses of the solar cells, because an anti-reflection coating(ARC) and a surface passivation can be obtained simultaneously in one process. We have demonstrated the feasibility of a very efficient porous Si ARC layer, prepared by a simple, cost effective, electrochemical etching method. Silicon p-type CZ (100) oriented wafers were textured by anisotropic etching in sodium carbonate solution. Then, the porous Si layers were formed by electrochemical etching in HF solutions. After that, the properties of porous Si in terms of morphology, structure and reflectance are summarized. The structure of porous Si layers was investigated with SEM. The formation of a nanoporous Si layer about 100nm thick on the textured silicon wafer result in a reflectance lower than 5% in the wavelength region from 500 to 900nm. Such a surface modification allows improving the Si solar cell characteristics. An efficiency of 13.4% is achieved on a monocrystalline silicon solar cell using the electrochemical technique.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.317-322
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• 2010

This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of surface micromachined poly 3C-SiC capacitive pressure sensors on silicon wafer operable in touch mode and normal mode for high temperature applications. FEM(finite elements method) simulation has been performed to verify the analytical mode. The sensing capacitor of the capacitive pressure sensor is composed of the upper metal and the poly 3C-SiC layer. Measurements have been performed in a temperature range from $25^{\circ}C$ to $500^{\circ}C$. Fabrication process of designed poly 3C-SiC touch mode capacitive pressure sensor was optimized and would be applicable to capacitive pressure sensors that are required high precision and sensitivity at high pressure and temperature.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제13권6호
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• pp.45-51
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• 1996

Silicon wafers are required to be finished under the roughness of nanometer order for the subsequent chip fabrication processes. Recently, the finish grinding techniques have been researched for the improvement of accuracy and surface roughness simultaneously. Among them, the grinding technique using fine abrasive has been known as an easily accessible method. However, the manufacture of the fine grit grinding wheel has been very difficult because of the coherence of the grits. In this paper, the development of the ultrafine grit silica($SiO_2$) grinding wheel by the combination of the binder coating and the vacuum forming techniques is reported. And, the mechanochemical removal effects of the grinding conditions are discussed. Finally, a successful result of Ra O.4nm. Rmax 4nm in the ground surface roughness of a 6 inch silicon wafer was achieved.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제29권7호
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• pp.1349-1352
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• 2008

We report a novel patterning method for a homo-polymeric poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofilm particularly capable of strong adhesion to a $SiO_2$ surface. An oxidized silicon wafer substrate was micro-contact printed with n-octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) monolayer, and subsequently its negative pattern was selfassembled with three different amino-functionalized alkylsilanes, (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APS), N- (2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltrimethoxy silane (EDAS), and (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl) diethylenetriamine (DETAS). Then, P3HT nanofilms were selectively grown on the aminosilane pre-patterned areas via the vapor phase polymerization method. To evaluate the adhesion, patterning, and the film itself, the PEDOT nanofilms and SAMs were investigated with a $Scotch^{(R)}$ tape test, contact angle analyzer, ATR-FT-IR, and optical and atomic force microscopes. The evaluation showed that the newly developed all bottom-up process can offer a simple and inexpensive patterning method for P3HT nanofilms robustly adhered to an oxidized Si wafer surface by the mediation of $FeCl_3$ and amino-functionalized alkylsilane SAMs.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• 제4권3호
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• pp.217-221
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• 2004

[ $CO_2$ ]laser ablation rates for bulk 4H-SiC substrates and GaN/AIN/SiC templates in the range 229-870 ${\mu}m.min^{-1}$ were obtained for pulse energies of 7.5-30 mJ over diameters of 50·500 ${\mu}m$ with a Q-switched pulse width of ${\sim}30$ nsec and a pulse frequency of 8 Hz. The laser drilling produces much higher etch rates than conventional dry plasma etching (0.2 - 1.3 ${\mu}m/min$) making this an attractive maskless option for creating through-wafer via holes in SiC or GaN/AlN/SiC templates for power metal-semiconductor field effect transistor applications. The via entry can be tapered to facilitate subsequent metallization by control of the laser power and the total residual surface contamination can be minimized in a similar fashion and with a high gas throughput to avoid redeposition. The sidewall roughness is also comparable or better than conventional via holes created by plasma etching.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.145-152
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• 2013

The growth behavior of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) film has been studied for three different substrates, i.e. bare Si wafer, 1 ${\mu}m$ thick W and Ti films deposited on Si wafer by DC sputter. The surface roughness values of the substrates measured by AFM were Si < W < Ti. After ultrasonic seeding treatment using nanometer sized diamond powder, surface roughness remained as Si < W < Ti. The contact angles of the substrates were Si ($56^{\circ}$) > W ($31^{\circ}$) > Ti ($0^{\circ}$). During deposition in the microwave plasma CVD system, NCD particles were formed and evolved to film. For the first 0.5h, the values of NCD particle density were measured as Si < W < Ti. Since the energy barrier for heterogeneous nucleation is proportional to the contact angle of the substrate, the initial nucleus or particle densities are believed to be Si < W < Ti. Meanwhile, the NCD growth rate up to 2 h was W > Si > Ti. In the case of W substrate, NCD particles were coalesced and evolved to the film in the short time of 0.5 h, which could be attributed to the fact that the diffusion of carbon species on W substrate was fast. The slower diffusion of carbon on Si substrate is believed to be the reason for slower film growth than on W substrate. The surface of Ti substrate was observed as a vertically aligned needle shape. The NCD particle formed on the top of a Ti needle should be coalesced with the particle on the nearby needle by carbon diffusion. In this case, the diffusion length is longer than that of Si or W substrate which shows a relatively flat surface. This results in a slow growth rate of NCD on Ti substrate. As deposition time is prolonged, NCD particles grow with carbon species attached from the plasma and coalesce with nearby particles, leaving many voids in NCD/Ti interface. The low adhesion of NCD films on Ti substrate is related to the void structure of NCD/Ti interface.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2013년도 제45회 하계 정기학술대회 초록집
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• pp.299.2-299.2
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• 2013

We investigated the potassium remaining on a crystalline silicon solar cell after potassium hydroxide (KOH) etching and its effect on the lifetime of the solar cell. KOH etching is generally used to remove the saw damage caused by cutting a Si ingot; it can also be used to etch the rear side of a textured crystalline silicon solar cell before atomic layer-deposited Al2O3 growth. However, the potassium remaining after KOH etching is known to be detrimental to the efficiency of Si solar cells. In this study, we etched a crystalline silicon solar cell in three ways in order to determine the effect of the potassium remnant on the efficiency of Si solar cells. After KOH etching, KOH and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) were used to etch the rear side of a crystalline silicon solar cell. To passivate the rear side, an Al2O3 layer was deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). After ALD Al2O3 growth on the KOH-etched Si surface, we measured the lifetime of the solar cell by quasi steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC, Sinton WCT-120) to analyze how effectively the Al2O3 layer passivated the interface of the Al2O3 layer and the Si surface. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) was also used to measure how much potassium remained on the surface of the Si wafer and at the interface of the Al2O3 layer and the Si surface after KOH etching and wet cleaning.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2014년도 제46회 동계 정기학술대회 초록집
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• pp.493-493
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• 2014

The manufacturing cost of thin-film photovoltics can potentially be lowered by minimizing the amount of a semiconductor material used to fabricate devices. Thin-film solar cells are typically only a few micrometers thick, whereas crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafer solar cells are $180{\sim}300\mu}m$ thick. As such, thin-film layers do not fully absorb incident light and their energy conversion efficiency is lower compared with that of c-Si wafer solar cells. Therefore, effective light trapping is required to realize commercially viable thin-film cells, particularly for indirect-band-gap semiconductors such as c-Si. An emerging method for light trapping in thin film solar cells is the use of metallic nanostructures that support surface plasmons. Plasmon-enhanced light absorption is shown to increase the cell photocurrent in many types of solar cells, specifically, in c-Si thin-film solar cells and in poly-Si thin film solar cell. By proper engineering of these structures, light can be concentrated and coupled into a thin semiconductor layer to increase light absorption. In many cases, silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NP) are formed either on the front surface or on the rear surface on the cells. In case of poly-Si thin film solar cells, Ag NPs are formed on the rear surface of the cells due to longer wavelengths are not perfectly absorbed in the active layer on the first path. In our cells, shorter wavelengths typically 300~500 nm are also not effectively absorbed. For this reason, a new concept of plasmonic nanostructure which is NPs formed both the front - and the rear - surface is worth testing. In this simulation Al NPs were located onto glass because Al has much lower parasitic absorption than other metal NPs. In case of Ag NP, it features parasitic absorption in the optical frequency range. On the other hand, Al NP, which is non-resonant metal NP, is characterized with a higher density of conduction electrons, resulting in highly negative dielectric permittivity. It makes them more suitable for the forward scattering configuration. In addition to this, Ag NP is located on the rear surface of the cell. Ag NPs showed good performance enhancement when they are located on the rear surface of our cells. In this simulation, Al NPs are located on glass and Ag NP is located on the rear Si surface. The structure for the simulation is shown in figure 1. Figure 2 shows FDTD-simulated absorption graphs of the proposed and reference structures. In the simulation, the front of the cell has Al NPs with 70 nm radius and 12.5% coverage; and the rear of the cell has Ag NPs with 157 nm in radius and 41.5% coverage. Such a structure shows better light absorption in 300~550 nm than that of the reference cell without any NPs and the structure with Ag NP on rear only. Therefore, it can be expected that enhanced light absorption of the structure with Al NP on front at 300~550 nm can contribute to the photocurrent enhancement.

• 한국결정성장학회지
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.234-238
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• 2005

[ $Cl_2/Ar$ ] 유도결합 플라즈마(ICP)내의 플라즈마 조성, 이온 flux 및 이온 에너지가 $La_3Ga_5SiO_{14}$ 단결정 wafer의 식각속도, 표면 양상 및 화학량론적 조성에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 비교적 높은 ICP source power$({\sim}1000W)$ 또는 높은 $Cl_2$ gas 유량 비율 조건으로부터 최고 약 $1600{\AA}/min$의 실용적이고 조절이 용이한 식각속도를 확보하였다. 식각된 $La_3Ga_5SiO_{14}$ 표면은 식각 이전과 비슷하거나 더 낮은 표면 조도 특성을 나타내었으며 식각 공정 전, 후 표면의 화학량론적 조성에 있어서의 변화는 없는 것으로 조사되었다.