• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.593-596
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• 1999

This paper presents a process optimization of antireflectiun (AR) coating on crystalline Si solar cells. Theoretical and experimental investigations were performed on a doble-layer AR(DLAR) coating of MgF$_2$/CeO$_2$, We investigated CeO$_2$ films as an All layer because they hale a proper refractive index of 2.46 and demonstrate the same lattice constant as Si substrate. RF sputter grown CeO$_2$ film showed strong dependence on a deposition temperature. The CeO$_2$ film deposited at 400 $^{\circ}C$ exhibited a strong (111) preferred orientation and the lowest surface roughness of 6.87 $\AA$. Refractive index of MgF$_2$ film was measured as 1.386 for the most of growth temperature. An optimized DLAR coating showed a reflectance as low as 2.04 % in the wavelengths ranged from 0.4 7m to 1.1 7m. We achieved the efficiencies of solar cells greater than 15% with 3.12 % improvement with DLAR coatings . Further details on MgF$_2$, CeO$_2$ films, and cell fabrication Parameters are presented in this paper.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.281-281
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• 2010

Very low refractive index (<1.4) materials have been proved to be the key factor improving the performance of various optical components, such as reflectors, filters, photonic crystals, LEDs, and solar cell. Highly porous SiO2 are logically designed for ultralow refractive index materials because of the direct relation between porosity and index of refraction. Among them, ordered macroporous SiO2 is of potential material since their theoretically low refractive index ~1.10. However, in the conventional synthesis of ordered macroporous SiO2, the time required for the crystallization of organic nanoparticles, such as polystyrene (PS), from colloidal solution into well ordered template is typical long (several days for 1 cm substrate) due to the low interaction between particles and particle - substrate. In this study, polystyrene - polyacrylic acid (PS-AA) nanoparticles synthesized by miniemulsion polymerization method have hydrophilic polyacrylic acid tails on the surface of particles which increase the interaction between particle and with substrate giving rise to the formation of PS-AA film by simply spin - coating method. Less ordered with controlled thickness films of PS-AA on silicon wafer were successfully fabricated by changing the spinning speed or concentration of colloidal solution, as confirmed by FE-SEM. Based on these template films, a series of macroporous SiO2 films whose thicknesses varied from 300nm to ~1000nm were fabricated either by conventional sol - gel infiltration or gas phase deposition followed by thermal removal of organic template. Formations of SiO2 films consist of interconnected air balls with size ~100 nm were confirmed by FE-SEM and TEM. These highly porous SiO2 show very low refractive indices (<1.18) over a wide range of wavelength (from 200 to 1000nm) as shown by SE measurement. Refraction indices of SiO2 films at 633nm reported here are of ~1.10 which, to our best knowledge, are among the lowest values having been announced.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.7-11
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• 2012

SiNx films have been wildly used as anti-reflection coatings and passivation for crystalline silicon solar cells. In this study, the SiNx films were deposited by using high frequency (13.56MHz) PECVD and optical & passivation properties were investigated. The RF power was changed in a certain range for the film deposition. Then, the refractive index, etch rate, minority carrier lifetime and cell efficiency were measured to study the properties of the film respectively. The optimal deposition conditions for application to crystalline silicon solar cells were proposed as results of the study. Finally, the best cell efficiency of 16.98% was obtained from the solar cell with the SiNx films deposited by RF power of 550W.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.72-75
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• 2009

The Brillouin spectrum of 4'-n-pentyl-4-cyano-biphenyl (5CB) liquid crystals homogeneously confined in a planar liquid crystal (LC) cell was measured using a 6-pass tandem Fabry-Perot interferometer. By adopting a special right-angle scattering geometry, the sound velocity of 5CB was estimated from the Brillouin shift without knowing the refractive index. The sound velocity of the longitudinal wave propagating along the direction of the directors aligned parallel to the glass plates of the LC cell was 1784${\pm}$7 m/s at 300 K. The attenuation coefficient $\alpha$ was estimated to be approximately $1.9{\times}10^6m^{-1}$, which is about twice as large as that of the longitudinal sound wave propagating along the direction perpendicular to the directors. The present method may be very useful in the evaluation of the elastic properties of the materials used in display devices, whose refractive indices are not known.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.21-25
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• 2014

The silicon nitride ($SiN_x$) film for surface passivation and anti-reflection coating of crystalline silicon solar cell is very important and it is generally deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). PECVD can be divided into low and high frequency method. In this paper, the $SiN_x$ film deposited by low and high frequency PECVD method was studied. First, to optimize the $SiN_x$ film deposited by low frequency PECVD method, the refractive index was measured by varying the process conditions like $SiH_4$, $NH_3$, $N_2$ gas rate, and RF power. When $SiH_4$ gas rate was increased and $NH_3$ gas rate was decreased, the refractive index was increased. The refractive index was also increased with RF power decline. Second, to compare the characteristics of the low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film, the refractive index was measured by varying $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio and RF power and the minority carrier lifetime of before and after high temperature treatment process was also measured. The refractive index of both low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film was decreased with increase in $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio and RF power. After high temperature treatment process, the minority carrier lifetime of both low and high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ film was increased and increased degree was similar. The minority carrier lifetime of low frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ was increased from $11.03{\mu}m$ to $28.24{\mu}m$ and that of high frequency PECVD $SiN_x$ was increased from $11.60{\mu}m$ to $27.10{\mu}m$.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2010

In this paper, we conducted MATLAB simulation using the reflectance formula and the Planck's black body radiation principle, for the purpose of identifying the opimum material and thickness of anti-reflective coating from double layered structures. We found that the optimum condition was obtained when refractive index of upper layer is 1.44 and that of lower layer is 2.29. As materials close to these refractive indices, $MgF_2$ as the upper layer and $HfO_2$, ZnS, $TiO_2$ as the lower layer were suggested. The best result in an average reflectance of 2.759% was obtained from a double layered structure of $MgF_2$ 94 nm/ZnS 55 nm.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.174-179
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• 2014

Since in vitro neural recording and imaging applications based on a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique have expanded dramatically in recent years, cytotoxicity assessment to ensure the biosafety and biocompatibility for those applications is crucial. Here, we report the cytotoxicity of the SPR substrate incorporating a flint glass whose refractive index is larger than that of a conventional crown glass. A high refractive index glass substrate is essential in neural signal detection due to the advantages such as high sensitivity and wide dynamic range. From experimental data using primary hippocampal neurons, it is found that a lead-based flint glass is not appropriate as a neural recording template although the neuron cells are not directly attached to the toxic glass. We also demonstrate that the adhesion layer between the glass substrate and the gold film plays an important role in achieving the substrate stability and the cell viability.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2002

A surface plasmon sensor has been fabricated for detection of concentration and refractive-index of a mixed solution. Based on the Kretschmann-Raether attenuated-total-reflection configuration, the sensor consists of 54 nm-thick Ag metal layer under a prism and a cell containing the mixed solution. We have observed a nonlinear refractive-index change as the ethanol-water concentration increased. The experimental results show us that the detection limit of the SPR sensor is 3$\times$10$^{-2}$ % in ethanol mass ratio. The concentration-to-index curve shows a linear increase in the range of ethanol concentration from 0% to 50%, but a nonlinearity is observed beyond 50%. We have modeled the nonlinearity and compared it with the experimental results.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2020

The most important factor in enhancing the performance of an optical device is to minimize reflection and increasing transmittance of light for a broad wavelength range. The choice of appropriate coating material is crucial in decreasing reflection losses at the substrate. The purpose of this review is to highlight anti-reflection coating (ARC) materials that can be applied to silicon solar cell and glass substrate for minimizing reflection losses. The optical and electrical behavior of ARC on a substrate is highly dependent on thickness and refractive index (RI) of ARC films that are being deposited on it. The coating techniques and performance of single and multi-layered ARC films after coated on a substrate in a wide range of wavelength spectrum will be studied in the paper.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.95-100
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• 2022

Solar cell is a device that converts photon energy into electrical energy. Therefore, absorption of solar spectrum light is one of the most important characteristics to design the solar cell structures. Various methods have emerged to reduce optical losses, such as textured surfaces, back contact solar cells, anti-reflection layers. Here, the anti-reflection coating (ARC) layer is typically utilized whose refractive index value is between air (~1) and silicon (~4) such as SiN_x layer (~1.9). This research is to print a material called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form a double anti-reflection layer. Light with wavelength in the range of 0.3 to 1.2 micrometers does not share a wavelength with solar cells. It is confirmed that the refractive index of PDMS (~1.4) is an ARC layer which decreases the reflectance of light absorption region on typical p-type solar cells with SiN_x layer surface. Optimized PDMS printing with analyzing optical property for cell structure can be the effective way against outer effects by encapsulation.