• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2000.02a
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• pp.174-174
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• 2000

A strong antiferromagnetic coupling in Fe/Si multilayered films (MLF) had been recently discovered and much consideration has been given to whether the coupling in the Fe/Si MLF system has the same origin as the metal/metal MLF. Nevertheless, the nature of the interfacial ron silicide is still controversial. On one hand, a metal/ semiconductor structure was suggested with a narrow band-gap semiconducting $\varepsilon$-FeSi spacer that mediates the coupling. However, some features show that the nature of coupling can be well understood in terms of the conventional metal/metal multilayered system. It is well known that both magneto-optical (MO) and optical properties of a metal depend strongly on their electronic structure that is also correlated with the atomic and chemical ordering. In this study, the nature of the interfacial regions is the Fe/Si multilayers has been investigated by the experimental and computer-simulated MO and optical spectroscopies. The Fe/Si MLF were prepared by rf-sputtering onto glass substrates at room temperature with the number of repetition N=50. The thickness of Fe sublayer was fixed at 3.0nm while the Si sublayer thickness was varied from 1.0 to 2.0 nm. The topmost layer of all the Fe/Si MLF is Fe. In order to carry out the computer simulations, the information on the MO and optical parameters of the materials that may constitute a real multilayered structure should be known in advance. For this purpose, we also prepared Fe, Si, FeSi2 and FeSi samples. The structural characterization of Fe/Si MLF was performed by low- and high -angle x-ray diffraction with a Cu-K$\alpha$ radiation and by transmission electron microscopy. A bulk $\varepsilon$-FeSi was also investigated. The MO and optical properties were measured at room temperature in the 1.0-4.7 eV energy range. The theoretical simulations of MO and optical properties for the Fe/Si MLF were performed by solving exactly a multireflection problem using the scattering matrix approach assuming various stoichiometries of a nonmagnetic spacer separating the antiferromagnetically coupled Fe layers. The simulated spectra of a model structure of FeSi2 or $\varepsilon$-FeSi as the spacer turned out to fail in explaining the experimental spectra of the Fe/Si MLF in both intensity and shape. Thus, the decisive disagreement between experimental and simulated MO and optical properties ruled out the hypothesis of FeSi2 and $\varepsilon$-FeSi as the nonmagnetic spacer. By supposing the spontaneous formation of a metallic ζ-FeSi, a reasonable agreement between experimental and simulated MO and optical spectra was obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2024

The CaF₂ single crystal has notable characteristics such as a large band gap (12 eV), excellent transparency over a wide wavelength range, low refractive index and dispersion. Due to these outstanding properties, CaF₂ single crystal has considered as a promising material for short-wavelength light sources in recent lithography processes. However, there is an inherent birefringence of the material at 157 nm and the resulting aberration can be compensated for through the combination of the (100) plane and the (111) plane. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the characteristics according to the plane. In this study, we analyzed crystallinity, optical properties of commercial CaF₂ single crystal wafers grown by the Czochralski method. In particular, through chemical etching under various conditions, it was confirmed that the shape of etch pits appears differently depending on the plane and the shape and array of specific etch pits affected by dislocations and defects were examined.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

β-Ga₂O₃ is a material with a wide band gap of ~4.8 eV and a high breakdown-voltage of 8 MV/cm, and is attracting much attention in the field of power device applications. In addition, compared to representative WBG semiconductor materials such as SiC, GaN and Diamond, it has the advantage of enabling single crystal growth with high growth rate and low manufacturing cost [1-4]. In this study, we succeeded in growing a 10 mm thick β-Ga₂O₃ single crystal doped with 0.3 mol% SnO₂ through the EFG (Edge-defined Film-fed Growth) method using multi-slit structure. The growth direction and growth plane were set to [010]/(010), respectively, and the growth speed was about 12 mm/h. The grown β-Ga₂O₃ single crystal was cut into various crystal planes (010, 001, 100, ${\bar{2}}01$) and surface processed. The processed samples were compared for characteristics according to crystal plane through analysis such as XRD, UV/VIS/NIR/Spec., Mercury Probe, AFM and Etching. This research is expected to contribute to the development of power semiconductor technology in high-voltage and high-temperature applications, and selecting a substrate with better characteristics will play an important role in improving device performance and reliability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.375-375
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• 2010

CdTe as an absorber material is widely used in thin film solar cells with the heterostructure due to its almost ideal band gap energy of 1.45 eV, high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, low cost and stable performance. The deposition methods and preparation conditions for the fabrication of CdTe are very important for the achievement of high solar cell conversion efficiency. There are some rearranged reports about the deposition methods available for the preparation of CdTe thin films such as close spaced sublimation (CSS), physical vapor deposition (PVD), vacuum evaporation, vapor transport deposition (VTD), closed space vapor transport, electrodeposition, screen printing, spray pyrolysis, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and RF sputtering. The RF sputtering method for the preparation of CdTe thin films has important advantages in that the thin films can be prepared at low growth temperatures with large-area deposition suitable for mass-production. The authors reported that the optical and electrical properties of CdTe thin film were closely connected by the thickness-uniformity of the film in the previous study [1], which means that the better optical absorbance and the higher carrier concentration could be obtained in the better condition of thickness-uniformity for CdTe thin film. The thickness-uniformity could be controlled and improved by the some process parameters such as vacuum level and RF power in the sputtering process of CdTe thin films. However, there is a limitation to improve the thickness-uniformity only in the preparation process [1]. So it is necessary to introduce the external or additional method for improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film because the cell size of thin film solar cell will be enlarged. Therefore, the authors firstly applied the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process to improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin films with a G&P POLI-450 CMP polisher [2]. CMP process is the most important process in semiconductor manufacturing processes in order to planarize the surface of the wafer even over 300 mm and to form the copper interconnects with damascene process. Some important CMP characteristics for CdTe were obtained including removal rate (RR), WIWNU%, RMS roughness, and peak-to-valley roughness [2]. With these important results, the CMP process for CdTe thin films was performed to improve the thickness-uniformity of the sputtering-deposited CdTe thin film which had the worst two thickness-uniformities of them. Some optical properties including optical transmittance and absorbance of the CdTe thin films were measured by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer (Varian Techtron, Cary500scan) in the range of 400 - 800 nm. After CMP process, the thickness-uniformities became better than that of the best condition in the previous sputtering process of CdTe thin films. Consequently, the optical properties were directly affected by the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film. The absorbance of CdTe thin films was improved although the thickness of CdTe thin film was not changed.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2023

The β-Ga₂O₃ has the most thermodynamically stable phase, a wide band gap of 4.8~4.9 eV and a high dielectric breakdown voltage of 8MV/cm. Due to such excellent electrical characteristics, this material as a power device material has been attracted much attention. Furthermore, the β-Ga₂O₃ has easy liquid phase growth method unlike materials such as SiC and GaN. However, since the grown pure β-Ga₂O₃ single crystal requires the intentionally controlled doping due to a low conductivity to be applied to a power device, the research on doping in β-Ga₂O₃ single crystal is definitely important. In this study, various source powders of un-doped, Sn 0.05 mol%, Sn 0.1 mol%, Sn 1.5 mol%, Sn 2 mol%, Sn 3 mol%-doped Ga₂O₃ were prepared by adding different mole ratios of SnO₂ powder to Ga₂O₃ powder, and β-Ga₂O₃ single crystals were grown by using an edge-defined Film-fed Growth (EFG) method. The crystal direction, crystal quality, optical, and electrical properties of the grown β-Ga₂O₃ single crystal were analyzed according to the Sn dopant content, and the property variation of β-Ga₂O₃ single crystal according to the Sn doping were extensively investigated.