• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.143-145
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• 2009

The electrical and photovoltaic properties of single junction silicon quantum dot solar cells are investigated. A prototype solar cell with an effective area of 4.7 $mm^2$ showed an open circuit voltage of 394 mV and short circuit current density of 0.062 $mA/cm^2$. A diode model with series and shunt resistances has been applied to characterize the dark current-voltage data. The photocurrent of the quantum-dot solar cell was found to be strongly dependent on the applied voltage bias, which can be understood by consideration of the conduction mechanism of the activated carriers in the quantum dot imbedded material.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.606-610
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• 2010

Films consisting of a silicon quantum dot superlattice were fabricated by alternating deposition of silicon rich silicon nitride and $Si_3N_4$ layers using an rf magnetron co-sputtering system. In order to use the silicon quantum dot super lattice structure for third generation multi junction solar cell applications, it is important to control the dot size. Moreover, silicon quantum dots have to be in a regularly spaced array in the dielectric matrix material for in order to allow for effective carrier transport. In this study, therefore, we fabricated silicon quantum dot superlattice films under various conditions and investigated crystallization behavior of the silicon quantum dot super lattice structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra showed an increased intensity of the $840\;cm^{-1}$ peak with increasing annealing temperature due to the increase in the number of Si-N bonds. A more conspicuous characteristic of this process is the increased intensity of the $1100\;cm^{-1}$ peak. This peak was attributed to annealing induced reordering in the films that led to increased Si-$N_4$ bonding. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that peak position was shifted to higher bonding energy as silicon 2p bonding energy changed. This transition is related to the formation of silicon quantum dots. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis also confirmed the formation of silicon quantum dots. This study revealed that post annealing at $1100^{\circ}C$ for at least one hour is necessary to precipitate the silicon quantum dots in the $SiN_x$ matrix.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.207-207
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• 2012

Si quantum dot (QD) imbedded in a $SiO_2$ matrix is a promising material for the next generation optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells and light emission diodes (LEDs). However, low conductivity of the Si quantum dot layer is a great hindrance for the performance of the Si QD-based optoelectronic devices. The effective doping of the Si QDs by semiconducting elements is one of the most important factors for the improvement of conductivity. High dielectric constant of the matrix material $SiO_2$ is an additional source of the low conductivity. Active doping of B was observed in nanometer silicon layers confined in $SiO_2$ layers by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) depth profiling analysis and confirmed by Hall effect measurements. The uniformly distributed boron atoms in the B-doped silicon layers of $[SiO_2(8nm)/B-doped\;Si(10nm)]_5$ films turned out to be segregated into the $Si/SiO_2$ interfaces and the Si bulk, forming a distinct bimodal distribution by annealing at high temperature. B atoms in the Si layers were found to preferentially substitute inactive three-fold Si atoms in the grain boundaries and then substitute the four-fold Si atoms to achieve electrically active doping. As a result, active doping of B is initiated at high doping concentrations above $1.1{\times}10^{20}atoms/cm^3$ and high active doping of $3{\times}10^{20}atoms/cm^3$ could be achieved. The active doping in ultra-thin Si layers were implemented to silicon quantum dots (QDs) to realize a Si QD solar cell. A high energy conversion efficiency of 13.4% was realized from a p-type Si QD solar cell with B concentration of $4{\times}1^{20}atoms/cm^3$. We will present the diffusion behaviors of the various dopants in silicon nanostructures and the performance of the Si quantum dot solar cell with the optimized structures.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2019

Light induced degradation is one of the major research challenges of hydrogenated amorphous silicon related thin film silicon solar cells. Amorphous silicon shows creation of metastable defect states, originating from elevated concentration of dangling bonds during light exposure. The metastable defect states work as recombination centers, and mostly affects quality of intrinsic layer in solar cells. In this paper we present results of light induced degradation in thin film silicon solar cells and discussion on physical origin, mechanism and practical solutions of light induced degradation in thin film silicon solar cells. In-situ light-soaking IV measurement techniques are presented. We also present thin film silicon material with silicon nano-quantum dots embedded within amorphous matrix, which shows superior stability during light-soaking. Our results suggest that solar cell using silicon nano-quantum dots in abosrber layer shows superior stability under light soaking, compared to the conventional amorphous silicon solar cell.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.110-110
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• 2010

본 실험에서는 Silicon (001) 기판을 사용하여 silicon 기판상에 modified Stranski-Krastanow(S-K) 방식으로 InAs quantum dot (QD) 을 성장하고 그 위에 InSb layer를 형성하였다. 기판온도 $390^{\circ}$에서 In injection period를 4번 반복하여 제작된 InAs quantum dot layer를 buffer로 사용하였으며, QD layer의 밀도는 $1{\mu}m^2$ 당 600개, height가 $6.2\;{\pm}\;2.0\;nm$, width가 $36.1\;{\pm}\;9.2\;nm$ 정도이다. 성장된 $2.8{\mu}m$ 두께의 InSb film의 특성을 분석해 보면 AFM 상에서의 root mean square (rms) roughness는 5.142nm정도이며, electron mobility는 340 K 에서 $41,352cm^2/Vs$, 1.8 K에서는 $4,215cm^2/Vs$ 정도를 나타내었다. 본 실험에서는 다른 실험과는 달리 InAs QD 을 buffer layer로 사용하였으며, silicon기판도 아무런 처리가 되지 않은 (001)기판을 사용하였으므로 기존의 다른 연구 결과와는 차별성을 가진다. 또한 buffer로 사용된 InAs quantum dot layer의 종류를 한 가지로 고정하고 실험을 하였지만 추후 더욱 다양한 밀도와 크기의 quantum dot layer를 적용시키고, 기존의 다른 논문에서 적용된 방법들을 추가로 적용시켜 본다면 mobility값은 더욱 증가할 것으로 생각된다. 이러한 연구를 통해 값이 싸고 구하기 쉬운 silicon기판상에 silicon에 비하여 더 좋은 특성을 갖는 III-V족 화합물 반도체 소자를 구현 할 수 있을 것으로 생각된다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society Of Semiconductor Equipment Technology
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.137-141
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• 2005

Quantum dot(QD) 메모리용 silicon nano-particle을 corona 방전방법에 의해 상온에서 대량 발생하는 방법을 개발하였다. Silicon QD는 SiH4 가스를 코로나 방전 영역을 통과시켜 발생시켰으며, 코로나 전압은 2.75kV를 사용하였다. SiH4 몰농도 $0.33{\times}10^{-7}\;mol/l$ 일 경우 발생된 QD입자 크기는 약 10nm이며 기하학적 표준편차(geometric standard deviation)는 1.31이었다. 이 조건에서 nonvolatile quantum dot semiconductor memory (NVQDM)를 제작하였으며, 이렇게 제작된 NVQDM flat band voltage는 1.5 volt였다.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.75-75
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• 1999

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.653-657
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• 2015

A numerical investigation to simulate the selective growth of silicon-germanium quantum-dots via local surface diffusivity enhancement is presented. A nonlinear equation for the waviness evolution of film surface is derived to consider the effects of spatially-varying diffusivity, influenced by a surface temperature profile. Results show that the morphology of the initially planar film shapes into an undulated surface upon perturbation, and a steady-state solution describes a fully grown quantum-dot. The present study points toward a fabrication technique that can obtain selectivity for self-assembly.

• Proceedings of the Korea Association of Crystal Growth Conference
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• 2000.06a
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• pp.87-125
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• 2000

A new paradigm of crystal growth was suggested in a charged cluster model, where charged clusters of nanometer size are suspended in the gas phase in most thin film processes and are a major flux for thin film growth. The existence of these hypothetical clusters was experimentally confirmed in the diamond and silicon CVD processes as well as in gold and tungsten evaporation. These results imply new insights as to the low pressure diamond synthesis without hydrogen, epitaxial growth, selective deposition and fabrication of quantum dots, nanometer-sized powders and nanowires or nanotubes. Based on this concept, we produced such quantum dot structures of carbon, silicon, gold and tungsten. Charged clusters land preferably on conducting substrates over on insulating substrates, resulting in selective deposition. if the behavior of selective deposition is properly controlled, charged clusters can make highly anisotropic growth, leading to nanowires or nanotubes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.221-221
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• 2013

Striving to replace the well known silicon nanocrystals embedded in oxides with solution-processable charge-trapping materials has been debated because of large scale and cost effective demands. Herein, a silicon quantum dot-polystyrene nanocomposite (SiQD-PS NC) was synthesized by postfunctionalization of hydrogen-terminated silicon quantum dots (H-SiQDs) with styrene using a thermally induced surface-initiated polymerization approach. The NC contains two miscible components: PS and SiQD@PS, which respectively are polystyrene and polystyrene chains-capped SiQDs. Spin-coated films of the nanocomposite on various substrate were thermally annealed at different temperatures and subsequently used to construct metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) devices and thin film field effect transistors (TFTs) having a structure p-$S^{++}$/$SiO_2$/NC/pentacene/Au source-drain. C-V curves obtained from the MIS devices exhibit a well-defined counterclockwise hysteresis with negative fat band shifts, which was stable over a wide range of curing temperature ($50{\sim}250^{\circ}C$. The positive charge trapping capability of the NC originates from the spherical potential well structure of the SiQD@PS component while the strong chemical bonding between SiQDs and polystyrene chains accounts for the thermal stability of the charge trapping property. The transfer curve of the transistor was controllably shifted to the negative direction by chaining applied gate voltage. Thereby, this newly synthesized and solution processable SiQD-PS nanocomposite is applicable as charge trapping materials for TFT based memory devices.