• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.440-440
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• 2009

Semiconductor nanowires offer exciting possibilities as components of solar cells and have already found applications as active elements in organic, dye-sensitized, quantum-dot sensitized, liquid-junction, and inorganic solid-state devices. Among many semiconductors, silicon is by far the dominant material used for worldwide photovoltaic energy conversion and solar cell manufacture. For silicon wire to be used for solar device, well aligned wire arrays need to be fabricated vertically or horizontally. Macroscopic silicon wire arrays suitable for photovoltaic applications have been commonly grown by the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process using metal catalysts such as Au, Ni, Pt, Cu. In the case, the impurity issues inside wire originated from metal catalyst are inevitable, leading to lowering the efficiency of solar cell. To escape from the problem, the wires of purity of wafer are the best for high efficiency of photovoltaic device. The fabrication of wire arrays by the electrochemical etching of silicon wafer with photolithography can solve the contamination of metal catalyst. In this presentation, we introduce silicon wire arrays by electrochemical etching method and then fabrication methods of radial p-n junction wire array solar cell and the various merits compared with conventional silicon solar cells.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.126-131
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• 2009

To overcome short channel effects, wrap-around field effect transistors have drawn a great deal of attention for their superior electrostatic coupling between the channel and the surrounding gate electrode. In this paper, we introduce a bottom-up technique to fabricate a wrap-around field effect transistor using silicon nanowires as the conduction channel. Device fabrication was consisted mainly of electron-beam lithography, dielectrophoresis to accurately align the nanowires, and the formation of gate electrode using electrochemical deposition. The electrolyte for electrochemical deposition was made up of non-toxic organic-based solution and liquid nitrogen was used as a method of maintaining the shape of polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA) during the process of electrochemical deposition. Patterned PMMA can be used as a nano-template to produce wrap-around gate nano-structures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.125.2-125.2
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• 2016

Semiconductor nanowires are essential building blocks for various nanotechnologies including energy conversion, optoelectronics, and thermoelectric devices. Bottom-up synthetic approach utilizing metal catalyst and vapor phase precursor molecules (i.e., vapor - liquid - solid (VLS) method) is widely employed to grow semiconductor nanowires. Al has received attention as growth catalyst since it is free from contamination issue of Si nanowire leading to the deterioration of electrical properties. Al-catalyzed Si nanowire growth, however, unlike Au-Si system, has relatively narrow window for stable growth, showing highly tapered sidewall structure at high temperature condition. Although surface chemistry is generally known for its role on the crystal growth, it is still unclear how surface adsorbates such as hydrogen atoms and the nanowire sidewall morphology interrelate in VLS growth. Here, we use real-time in situ infrared spectroscopy to confirm the presence of surface hydrogen atoms chemisorbed on Si nanowire sidewalls grown from Al catalyst and demonstrate they are necessary to prevent unwanted tapering of nanowire. We analyze the surface coverage of hydrogen atoms quantitatively via comparison of Si-H vibration modes measured during growth with those obtained from postgrowth measurement. Our findings suggest that the surface adsorbed hydrogen plays a critical role in preventing nanowire sidewall tapering and provide new insights for the role of surface chemistry in VLS growth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.179.1-179.1
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• 2014

Si nanowires have exhibited unique optical characteristics, including nano-antenna effects due to the guided mode resonance, significant optical absorption enhancement in wide wavelength and incident angle range due to resonant optical modes, graded refractive index, and scattering. Since Si poor optical absorption coefficient due to indirect bandgap, all such properties have stimulated proposal of new optoelectronic devices whose performance can surpass that of conventional planar devices. We have carried out finite-difference time-domain simulation studies to design optimal Si nanowire array for solar cell applications. Optical reflectance, transmission, and absorption can be calculated for nanowire arrays with various diameter, length, and period. From the absorption, maximum achievable photocurrent can be estimated. In real devices, serious recombination loss occurring at the surface states is known to limit the photovoltaic performance of the nanowire-based solar cells. In order to address such issue, we will discuss how the geometric parameters of the array can influence the spatial distribution of the optical field (resulting optical generation rate) in the nanowires.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.51-51
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• 2012

There is a growing interest in innovative chemical synthesis in microreactors owing to high efficiency, selectivity, and yield. In microfluidic systems, the low-volume spatial and temporal control of reactants and products offers a novel method for chemical manipulation and product generation. Glass, silicon, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), and plastics have been used for the fabrication of miniaturized devices. However, these materials are not the best due to either of low chemical durability or expensive fabrication costs. In our group, we have recently addressed the demand for economical resistant materials that can be used for easy fabrication of microfluidic systems with reliable durability. We have suggested the use of various specialty polymers such as silicon-based inorganic polymers and fluoropolymer, flexible polyimide (PI) films that have not been used for microfluidic devices, although they have been used for other areas. And inexpensive lithography techniques were used to fabricate Lab-on-a-Chip type of microreactors with differently devised microchannel design. These microreactors were demonstrated for various synthetic reactions: liquid, liquid-gas organic chemical reactions in heterogeneous catalytic processes, syntheses of polymer and non-trivial inorganic materials. The microreactors were inert, and withstand even harsh conditions, including hydrothermal reaction. In addition, various built-in microstructures inside the microchannels, for example Pd decorated peptide nanowires, definitely enhance the uniqueness and performance of microreactors. These user-friendly Lab-on-a-Chip devices are useful alternatives for chemist and chemical engineer to conventional chemical tools such as glass.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.728-731
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• 2009

We report numerical simulations to investigate of the dependendce of the on/off current ratio and channel charge distributions in silicon nanowire (SiNW) field-effect transistors (FETs) on the channel width and thicknesses. In order to investigate the transport behavior in devices with different channel geometries, we have performed detailed two-dimensional simulations of SiNWFETs and control FETs with a fixed channel length L of $10\;{\mu}m$, but varying the channel width W from 5 nm to $5\;{\mu}m$, and thickness t from 10 nm to 30 nm. We have show that $Q_{ON}/Q_{OFF}$ drastically decreases (from $^{\sim}2.9{\times}10^4$ to $^{\sim}9.8{\times}10^3$) as the channel thickness increases (from 10 nm to 30 nm). As a result of the simulation using a quantum model, even higher charge density in the bottom of SiNW channel was observed then in the bottom of control channel.

• Vacuum Magazine
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.15-18
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• 2016

In future wearable electronic systems, 3-dimensional (3D) devices have attracted much attention due to their high density integration and low-power functionality. Among 3D devices, gate-all-around (GAA) nanowire transistor provides superior gate controllability, resulting in suppressing short channel effect and other drawbacks in 2D metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are the most promising building block for GAA structure device due to their compatibility with the current Si-based ultra large scale integration (ULSI) technology. Moreover, the theoretical limit for subthreshold swing (SS) of MOSFET is 60 mV/dec at room temperature, which causes the increase in Ioff current. To overcome theoretical limit for the SS, it is crucial that research into new types of device concepts should be performed. In our present studies, we have experimentally demonstrated feedback FET (FBFET) and tunnel FET (TFET) with sub-60 mV/dec based on SiNWs. Also, we fabricated SiNW based complementary TFET (c-TFET) and SiNW complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) inverter. Our research demonstrates the promising potential of SiNW electronic devices for future wearable electronic systems.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.34-43
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• 2018

Silicon has become of increasing importance as the basic element of many high-technology products. Its synthesis is very difficult requiring high temperature solid-state reactions (> $1000^{\circ}C$) or lower temperature methods ($100-200^{\circ}C$) involving hydrothermal and solvothermal reactions under extreme pH conditions. In nature, on the other hand, a wide range of living organisms have collectively evolved the means of biosilicification at the astounding rate of gigatons/year. This is impressive because biosilicification in these organisms occurs under mild physiological conditions. Marine sponges possess the ability to sequester soluble silicon sources from their environments and assemble them into intricate 3D architecture. The advent of molecular biology has recently made it possible to glean molecular information about biosilicification from these systems and it turned out that enzyme silicatein is the core of biosilicification. In this review, biosilicification regulated by silicatein and its mechanism are described. Also, production of silicatein through recombinant technology and several applications of recombinant silicatein are described including immobilization of silicatein, formation of Au or Ag nanoparticles on nanowires, nanolithography approaches, core-shell materials, encapsulation, bone replacement materials, and microstructured optical fibers.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.699-704
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• 2018

One-dimensional nanostructures have attracted increasing attention because of their unique electronic, optical, optoelectrical, and electrochemical properties on account of their large surface-to-volume ratio and quantum confinement effect. Vertically grown nanowires have a large surface-to-volume ratio. The vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process has attracted considerable attention for its self-alignment capability during the growth of nanostructures. In this study, vertically aligned silicon oxide nano-pillars were grown on Si\$SiO_2$(300 nm)\Pt substrates using two-zone thermal chemical vapor deposition system via the VLS process. The morphology and crystallographic properties of the grown silicon oxide nano-pillars were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The diameter and length of the grown silicon oxide nano-pillars were found to be dependent on the catalyst films. The body of the silicon oxide nano-pillars exhibited an amorphous phase, which is consisted with Si and O. The head of the silicon oxide nano-pillars was a crystalline phase, which is consisted with Si, O, Pt, and Ti. The vertical alignment of the silicon oxide nano-pillars was attributed to the preferred crystalline orientation of the catalyst Pt/Ti alloy. The vertically aligned silicon oxide nano-pillars are expected to be applied as a functional nano-material.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.1330_1331
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• 2009

n형 특성을 가진 실리콘 나노선을 금확산을 이용하여 p형 특성을 가진 상태의 나노선으로 변환하였다. Back-gate 형태로 제작된 n형의 실리콘 나노선 전계 효과 트랜지스터를 제작한 후, 채널로 사용되는 나노선 위에 금을 열증착방법을 이용하여 증착했다. 이후, 급속열처리공정을 통해 실리콘 나노선에 금이온을 확산시켰다. 나노선의 특성 변환을 확인하기 위하여 전계 효과 트랜지스터의 특성곡선을 통해 그 변화를 관찰하였다.