• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.141-141
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• 2010

The effect of thermal anneal on the characteristics of structural properties and the enhancement of luminescence and photovoltaic (PV) characteristics of silicon-rich silicon-nitride films were investigated. By using an ultra high vacuum ion beam sputtering deposition, B-doped silicon-rich silicon-nitride (SRSN) thin films, with excess silicon content of 15 at. %, on P-doped (n-type) Si substrate was fabricated, sputtering a highly B doped Si wafer with a BN chip by N plasma. In order to examine the influence of thermal anneal, films were then annealed at different temperature up to $1100^{\circ}C$ under $N_2$ environment. Raman, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy did not show any reliable evidence of amorphous or crystalline Si clusters allowing us concluding that nearly no Si nano-cluster could be formed through the precipitation of excess Si from SRSN matrix during thermal anneal. Instead, results of Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy clearly indicated that defective, amorphous Si-N matrix of films was changed to be well-ordered thanks to high temperature anneal. The measurement of spectral ellipsometry in UV-visible range was carried out and we found that the optical absorption edge of film was shifted to higher energy as the anneal temperature increased as the results of thermal anneal induced formation of $Si_3N_4$-like matrix. These are consistent with the observation that higher visible photoluminescence, which is likely due to the presence of Si-N bonds, from anneals at higher temperature. Based on these films, PV cells were fabricated by the formation of front/back metal electrodes. For all cells, typical I-V characteristic of p-n diode junction was observed. We also tried to measure PV properties using a solar-simulator and confirmed successful operation of PV devices. Carrier transport mechanism depending on anneal temperature and the implication of PV cells based on SRSN films were also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.301-311
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• 2012

Discharge property of plasma jet devices is investigated for the application to the doping processes of crystalline solar cells and others. Current-voltage characteristics are shown as the typical normal-glow discharge in the various gas pressure of plasma jets, such as in the atmospheric plasma jets of Ar-discharge, in the ambient pressure of atmospheric discharge, and in the ambient Ar-pressure of Ar-discharge. The discharge voltage of atmospheric plasma jet is required as low as about 2.5 kV while the operation voltage of low pressure below 200 Torr is low as about 1 kV in the discharge of atmospheric and Ar plasma jets. With a single channel plasma jet, the irradiated plasma current on the doped silicon wafer is obtained high as the range of 10~50 mA. The temperature increasement of wafer is normally about $200^{\circ}C$. In the result of silicon wafers doped by phosphoric acid with irradiating the plasma jets, the doping profiles of phosphorus atoms shows the possibility of plasma jet doping on solar cells.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.203-207
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• 2013

P-type Si wafers were dipped in HF solution. The minority carrier lifetime (lifetime) increased after HF treatment due to the hydrogen termination effect. To investigate the film passivation effect, PECVD was used to deposit $SiN_x$ on both HF-treated and untreated wafers. $SiN_x$ generally helped to improve the lifetime. A thermal process at $850^{\circ}C$ reduced the lifetime of all wafers because of the dehydrogenation at high temperature. However, the HF-treated wafers showed better lifetime than untreated wafers. PERCs both passivated and not passivated by HF treatment were fabricated on the rear side, and their characteristics were measured. The short-circuit current density and the open-circuit voltage were improved due to the effectively increased lifetime by HF treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.620-625
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• 2012

The sol-gel method has been widely used to synthesize the $TiO_2$ for dye sensitized solar cells and has advantages of easily fabrication process, controlling the $TiO_2$ phase and getting transparent thin-film composed of the $TiO_2$. In this paper, we synthesized the crystalline $TiO_2$ by sol-gel method controlled by the quantity ratio of Nitric acid and Ammonium hydroxide additives. The best efficiency result was obtained by 0.05 M Ammonium hydroxide and that results of Voc, Jsc, FF, and efficiency were 0.68 V, 3.28 mA/$cm_2$, 58.14 and 5.21%, respectively.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.56-63
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• 2011

Recently, $TiO_2$ nanotubes have considerably researched because of their novel application about photocatalysis, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), lithium ion battery, etc. In this work, self-standing $TiO_2$ nanotube arrays were fabricated by anodic oxidation method using pure Ti foil as a working electrode in ethylene glycole with 0.3M $NH_4F$ + $2%H_2O$. Growth behavior of $TiO_2$ nanotube arrays was compared according to temperature, voltage and time. The morphology, structure and crystalline of anodized $TiO_2$ nanotube arrays were observed by FE-SEM (field emission scanning electron microscope) and XRD (X-ray diffraction).

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2001.07c
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• pp.1427-1429
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• 2001

Polycrystalline silicon(poly-Si) films are deposited on low temperature glass substrate by Hot-Wire CVD(HWCVD). The structural properties of the poly-Si films are strongly dependent on the wire temperature($T_w$). The films deposited at high $T_w$ of 2000$^{\circ}C$ have superior crystalline properties; average lateral grain sizes are larger than $1{\mu}m$ and there at·e no vertical grain boundaries. The surface of the high $T_w$ samples are naturally textured like pyramid shape. These large grain size and textured surface are believed to give high current density when applied to solar cells. However, the poly-si films are structurally porous and contains high defect density, by which high concentration of C and O resulted within the films by air-penetration after removed from chamber.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07c
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• pp.1584-1586
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• 2002

CuIn$Se_2$ (CIS) and related compounds such as Cu($In_xGa_{1-x})Se_2$(CIGS) have been studied by their potential for use in photovoltaic devices. CIS thin film materials which have high absorption coefficient and wide bandgap, have attracted much attention as an alternative to crystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells currently in use. Cu-rich CIGS film have very low resistivity, due to coexistence of the semimetallic $Cu_{2-x}Se$. In-rich CIGS films show high resistivity, since these films are compensated films without the $Cu_{2-x}Se$ phase. Optical properties of the CIGS films also change in accordance with the resistivity for the Cu/(In+Ga) ratio. The Cu-rich films have different spectra from In-rich films in near infrared wavelengths.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.666-672
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• 1996

The optical property of CdTe thin film is important for applications such as the compound semiconductor type solar cells. CdTe films are prepared by RF sputtering at various substrate temperature between $25^{\circ}C$ and $300^{\circ}C$, then, annealed in argon gas environment at $400^{\circ}C$. The annealing process of the thin film caused variation in the film structure and the composition of films. The deformation of CdTe thin film was observed by X-ray diffractometry. After annealing, the grain size increased and the portion of the non-crystalline CdTe reduced. Futhermore, the structure of sputtered CdTe film grown at the substrate temperature more than $250^{\circ}C$ was enhanced in the (111) direction of zincblend structure. There was a discrepancy, in the spectroscopic ellipsometer spectrum, between the single crystal CdTe and the sputtered CdTe thin films, especially in the region over 3.2eV. An oxidation layer was found on the CdTe thin film by spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.48-53
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• 2018

One-dimensional rutile $TiO_2$ is an important inorganic compound with applicability in sensors, solar cells, and Li-based batteries. However, conventional synthesis methods for $TiO_2$ nanowires are complicated and entail risks of environmental contamination. In this work, we report the growth of $TiO_2$ nanowires on a Ti alloy powder (Ti-6wt%Al-4wt%V, Ti64) using simple thermal oxidation under a limited supply of $O_2$. The optimum condition for $TiO_2$ nanowire synthesis is studied for variables including temperature, time, and pressure. $TiO_2$ nanowires of ${\sim}5{\mu}m$ in length and 100 nm in thickness are richly synthesized under the optimum condition with single-crystalline rutile phases. The formation of $TiO_2$ nanowires is greatly influenced by synthesis temperature and pressure. The synthesized $TiO_2$ nanowires are characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.394-394
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• 2007

Transparent conductive films can serve as a critical component in displays, solar cells, lasers, optical communication devices, and solid state lighting. Carbon nanotube (CNT) based transparent conductive films are fabricated on glass and polymer substrates. CNTs typically exist in form of quasi-crystalline bundles or highly entangled bundles containing tens of individual nanotubes. To achieve full potential, CNTs must be dispersed in a solvent or other organic media. CNTs are acid treated with nitric acid then the stable dispersion of CNTs in polar solvent such as alcohols, DMF, etc. is achieved by sonication. The solubility of CNTs correlates well with the area ratio of the D and G bands from Raman spectrum. Thin films are formed from well dispersed CNT solutions using spray coating method. CNT thin films exhibit a sheet resistance ($R_s$) of nearby $10^3\;{\Omega}/sq$ with a transmittance of around 80% on the visible light range, which is attributed by excellent dispersion and interaction among CNTs, solvents and polymeric binders.