• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.197-200
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• 2014

We investigated the influence of blistering on $Al_2O_3$/SiON stacks and $Al_2O_3$/SiNx:H stacks passivation layers. $Al_2O_3$ film provides outstanding Si surface passivation quality. $Al_2O_3$ film as the rear passivation layer of a p-type Si solar cell is usually stacked with a capping layer, such as $SiO_2$, SiNx, and SiON films. These capping layers protect the thin $Al_2O_3$ layer from an Al electrode during the annealing process. We compared $Al_2O_3$/SiON stacks and $Al_2O_3$/SiNx:H stacks through surface morphology and minority carrier lifetime after annealing processes at $450^{\circ}C$ and $850^{\circ}C$. As a result, the $Al_2O_3$/SiON stacks were observed to produce less blister phenomenon than $Al_2O_3$/SiNx:H stacks. This can be explained by the differences in the H species content. In the process of depositing SiNx film, the rich H species in $NH_3$ source are diffused to the $Al_2O_3$ film. On the other hand, less hydrogen diffusion occurs in SiON film as it contains less H species than SiNx film. This blister phenomenon leads to an increase insurface defect density. Consequently, the $Al_2O_3$/SiON stacks had a higher minority carrier lifetime than the $Al_2O_3$/SiNx:H stacks.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.12S
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• pp.1175-1180
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• 2003

Transformer Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposited (TCP-CVD) silicon nitride (SiNx) is widely used as a gate dielectric material for thin film transistors (TFT). This paper reports the SiNx films, grown by TCP-CVD at the low temperature (30$0^{\circ}C$). Experimental investigations were carried out for the optimization o(SiNx film as a function of $N_2$/SiH$_4$ flow ratio varying ,3 to 50 keeping rf power of 200 W, This paper presents the dielectric studies of SiNx gate in terms of deposition rate, hydrogen content, etch rate and leakage current density characteristics lot the thin film transistor applications. And also, this work investigated means to decrease the leakage current of SiNx film by employing $N_2$ plasma treatment. The insulator layers were prepared by two step process; the $N_2$ plasma treatment and then PECVD SiNx deposition with SiH$_4$, $N_2$gases.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.58-63
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• 1995

The effects of substrate temperature, RF power, and $NH_{3}/SiH_{4}$ gas flow ratio on the dielectric constant and optical bandgap of amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiNx:H) thin films prepared by PECVD method using RF glow discharge decomposition of $SiH_{4}$ and $NH_{3}$ gas mixtures have been studied. The dielectric constant and optical bandgap of a-SiNx:H thin films were greatly exchanged as by increasing substrate temperature, RF power, and $NH_{3}/SiH_{4}$ gas flow ratio. The dielectric constant of a-SiNx:H films was increased and optical bandgap of a-SiNx:H films was decreased as the substrate temperature was increased. When the substrate temperature, RF power, gas pressure, $NH_{3}/SiH_{4}$ gas flow ratio, and thickness were $250^{\circ}C$, 20 W, 500 mTorr, 10 and $1500\;{\AA}$, respectively, the dielectric constant, breakdown field and optical bandgap of a-SiNx:H film were 4.3, 1 MV/cm, and 2.9 eV, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.398-398
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• 2007

Most recently, the Liquid Crystal (LC) aligning capabilities achieved by ion beam exposure on the diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin film layer have been successfully studied. The DLC thin films have a high mechanical hardness, a high electrical resistance, optical transparency and chemical inertness. Nitrogen doped Diamond Like Carbon (NDLC) thin films exhibit properties similar to those of the DLC films and better thermal stability than the DLC films because C:N bonding in the NDLC film is stronger against thermal stress than C:H bonding in the DLC thin films. Moreover, our research group has already studied ion beam alignment method using the NDLC thin films. The nematic liquid crystal (NLC) alignment effects treated on the SiNx thin film layers using ion beam irradiation for three kinds of N rations was successfully studied for the first time. The SiNx thin film was deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and used three kinds of N rations. In order to characterize the films, the atomic force microscopy (AFM) image was observed. The good LC aligning capabilities treated on the SiNx thin film with ion beam exposure for all N rations can be achieved. The low pretilt angles for a NLC treated on the SiNx thin film with ion beam irradiation were measure.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.215-219
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• 2008

The bonding structure and composition of silicon nitride (SiNx) films were investigated by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). SiNx films were deposited on Si substrate at $340^{\circ}C$ using a conventional PECVD system. The compositions of Si and N in SiNx films were confirmed by using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and photoluminescence (PL) analysis. The surface morphology of SiNx films was also analyzed by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that the contents of NH(at. %) is the reverse related with those of SiH corresponding to the result of FT-IR. we conclude that a quantitative analysis on SiNx films can be possible through a precise detection of the contents of H in SiNx films with a FT-IR analysis only.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.738-742
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• 2007

The variations in the device characteristics of hydrogenated amorphous thin-film transistors (a-Si:H TFTs) were studied according to the processes of pixel electrode fabrication to make active-matrix flat-panel displays. The off-state current was about 1 pA and the switching ratio was over $10^6$ before fabrication of pixel electrodes; however, the off-state current increased over 10 pA after fabrication of pixel electrodes. Surface treatment on SiNx passivation layers using plasma could improve the off-state characteristics after pixel electrode process. $N_2$ plasma treatment gave the best result. Charge accumulation on the SiNx passivation layer during the deposition of transparent conducting layer might cause the increase of off-state current after the fabrication of pixel electrodes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.180-180
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• 2016

최근 디스플레이 시장의 주요 키워드는 flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) 이다. OLED 소자의 수명을 결정하는 가장 큰 요인 중의 하나는 공기 중의 O2와 H2O에 의한 유기물의 열화이다. 따라서 공기 중의 O2나 H2O가 유기물에 쉽게 침투하는 것을 막는 것은 소자의 수명 향상을 위하여 필수적이라 할 수 있다[1-3]. SiNx 박막은 경질로 투과성이 우수하며, 화학적 불활성인 특성으로 이러한 Barrier 역할로 연구되어 산업분야에 다양하게 응용되고 있다[4]. SiNx 박막은 일반적으로 plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) 기술을 이용하여 증착되는데 기존의 PECVD 기술을 이용한 SiNx 박막은 낮은 water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) 등의 문제점들로 인해 한계점이 들어났다. 본 연구에서는, flexible display의 thin film encapsulation (TFE) 공정에서의 적용을 알아보기 위해 $370{\times}470$ size를 증착할 수 있는 In-line 장비를 이용하였으며, 기존의 PECVD 기술의 문제점으로 지적되고 있는 낮은 WVTR을 해결하기 위하여 저온 (<$100^{\circ}C$) 선형 PECVD 기술을 이용하여 WVTR을 개선하고자 하였다. 공정가스로는 SiH4와 NH3를 사용하였으며, SiH4 Carrier 가스로 He을 추가적으로 사용하였다. 또한 공정 압력은 100mTorr를 유지하였다. 증착된 SiNx 박막의 물리적, 화학적 특성 분석을 위해 분광엘립소메타, field emission electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) 등을 이용하여 측정하였으며, 박막에 투습되는 수분의 양은 MOCON사의 AQUATRAN 2(W)로 측정하였다. OLED 소자를 구현하기 위해서는 기본적으로 봉지층에 투습되는 양을 $10-6g/m2{\cdot}day$ 이하로 막아줘야 한다고 알려져 있으나, 기존의 PECVD 기술을 이용하여 제작된 SiNx 박막의 WVTR은 $10-2{\sim}10-3g/m2{\cdot}day$ 레벨의 WVTR 결과를 보이고 있다. 본 연구에서 사용된 저온 선형 PECVD 기술을 이용하여 제작된 SiNx 박막의 WVTR은 $5.0{\times}10-5g/m2{\cdot}day$ 이하의 개선된 결과를 확인 할 수 있었다. 또한 flexible display에 적용하기 위해 SiNx 박막의 두께를 최소화한 100nm의 두께에서도 WVTR은 $5.0{\times}10-5g/m2{\cdot}day$ 이하의 결과가 유지됨을 알 수 있었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.334.2-334.2
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• 2016

Silicon nitride (SiNx:H) films are generally used as passivation layer on solar cell and they are usually made by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). In this study, we investigated the properties of silicon nitride (SiNx:H) films made by PECVD. Effects of mixture ratio of process gases with silane (SiH4) and ammonia (NH3) on the passivation qualities of silicon nitride film are evaluated. Passivation properties of SiNx:H are focused by making antireflection properties identical with thickness and refractive index controlled. The absorption coefficient of each film was evaluated by spectrometric ellipsometery and the minority carrier lifetimes were evaluated by quasi-steady-state photo-conductance (QSSPC) measurement. The optical properties were obtained by UV-visible spectrophotometer. The interface properties were measured by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement and the film components were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy detection (RBS) - elastic recoil detection (ERD).

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.563-566
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• 2002

We investigated to decrease the leakage current of SiNx film by employing $N_2$ plasma treatment. The insulator layers were prepared by two step process; the $N_2$ plasma treatment and then PECVD SiNx deposition with $SiH_4$, $N_2$ gases. To prove the influence of the $N_2$ plasma treatment, the Si substrate was exposed to the plasma, which was generated in Ne gas ambient. Without plasma treatment SiNx film grow at the rate of 7. 03 nm/min, has a refractive index n = 1.77 and hydrogen content of $2.16{\times}10^{22}cm^{-3}$ for $N_2/SiH_4$ gas flow ratio of 20. The obtained films were analyzed in terms of deposition rates, refractive index, hydrogen concentration, and electrical properties. By employing $N_2$ plasma treatment, interface traps such as mobile charges and injected charges were removed, hysteresis of capacitance-voltage (C-V) disappeared. We observed plasma treated sample were decreased the leakage current density reduces by 2 orders with respect to the sample having no plasma treatment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.341-341
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• 2016

The discovery of light emission in nanostructured silicon has opened up new avenues of research in nano-silicon based devices. One such pathway is the application of silicon quantum dots in advanced photovoltaic and light emitting devices. Recently, there is increasing interest on the silicon quantum dots (c-Si QDs) films embedded in amorphous hydrogenated silicon-nitride dielectric matrix (a-SiNx: H), which are familiar as c-Si/a-SiNx:H QDs thin films. However, due to the limitation of the requirement of a very high deposition temperature along with post annealing and a low growth rate, extensive research are being undertaken to elevate these issues, for the point of view of applications, using plasma assisted deposition methods by using different plasma concepts. This work addresses about rapid growth and single step development of c-Si/a-SiNx:H QDs thin films deposited by RF (13.56 MHz) and ultra-high frequency (UHF ~ 320 MHz) low-pressure plasma processing of a mixture of silane (SiH4) and ammonia (NH3) gases diluted in hydrogen (H2) at a low growth temperature ($230^{\circ}C$). In the films the c-Si QDs of varying size, with an overall crystallinity of 60-80 %, are embedded in an a-SiNx: H matrix. The important result includes the formation of the tunable QD size of ~ 5-20 nm, having a thermodynamically favorable <220> crystallographic orientation, along with distinct signatures of the growth of ${\alpha}$-Si3N4 and ${\beta}$-Si3N4 components. Also, the roles of different plasma characteristics on the film properties are investigated using various plasma diagnostics and film analysis tools.