• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.17-20
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• 2018

The dependency of the photovoltaic performance of p-/n-type silicon solar-cells on the metallic contaminant type (Fe, Cu, and Ni) and concentration was investigated. The minority-carrier recombination lifetime was degraded with increasing metallic contaminant concentration, however, the degradation sensitivity of recombination lifetime was lower at n-type than p-type silicon wafer, which means n-type silicon wafer have an immunity to the effect of metallic contamination. This is because heavy metal ions with positive charge have a much larger capture cross section of electron than hole, so that reaction with electrons occurs much more easily. The power conversion efficiency of n-type solar-cells was degraded by 9.73% when metallic impurities were introduced in the silicon bulk, which is lower degradation compared to p-type solar-cells (15.61% of efficiency degradation). Therefore, n-type silicon solar-cells have a potential to achieve high efficiency of the solar-cell in the future with a merit of immunity against metal contamination.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.133-145
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• 2020

Soil in mine waste-rock fields, and at the pithead, sediments and farmlands around an abandoned mine in the Chungcheong Province of South Korea were investigated to assess the distribution of metallic elements and to understand the scope of the pollution. Reddening was observed from the mine up to a distance of 61 m. Losses of waste rock around the mine were assessed over a section of 1800 ㎥. Yellowish precipitates on the bottom of a stream were identified as ferrihydrite and goethite. For anions, a mean sulfate ion level over 773.6 mg/L was found during August in the river water samples. Mine drainage at the site was shown to have a pH of 4.9 and a sulfate concentration of 1557.8 mg/L during the August rainy season. A possible cause of the metallic element contamination in the mine is waste-rock loss, because mine waste-rock is located on the slope in this area. In conclusion, the total soil area to be treated, based on the amount that exceeded the recommended Korean soil pollution levels, was assessed to be 10,297 ㎡.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.209-212
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• 2006

Using sulfur sotope analysis of dissolved sulfate in surface water, we have investigated the source of sulfate in order to identify the abandoned metallic mines, which have the potential of heavy metal contamination within watershed. The range of the sulfur isotope values for dissolved sulfate in stream waters (DD-1 and 2) are similar to those of sulfides from the Dunjun mine, which suggests that oxidation of sulfides is the principal source of $SO_4^{2-}$ in these stream waters. Also, heavier sulfur isotopes in waters near Baekjun and Hamchang mines imply the possibility of contamination in waters by these metallic mines.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2010

This study investigated the change of metal contamination levels according to amendment of enforcement regulation of the Soil Environmental Conservation Act in Korea. As an analytical result of 87 samples in abandoned metallic mine area, the extracted amount of As, Pb and Cu with aqua regia was 4.3~29.6 times higher than that with hydrochloric acid extraction and the number of samples, which contamination levels were found to exceed soil contamination standards, was also increased. On the other hand, in case of Cd, Zn, and Ni, the number of samples, which contamination levels were found to exceed soil contamination standards, was decreased or similar. These results can be used as a preliminary material in comparison between the soil pollution data accumulated previously and the data obtained by the revised standard method for the examination of soil pollution.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.881-895
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• 2002

Sediments and river waters form the channel of Hwasun-cheon were studied in sedimentological size and geochemical analyses of metallic elements for the purposes of identification of depositional environments and geochemical characteristics. The sizes of sediments are assigned to pebble to coarse sand in mean size and polymodal in distribution. And the sediments are poorly to very poorly sorted and positively skewed. According to the grain size distributions of the sediments, the Hwasun-cheon belongs to gravel-bed river on the basis of the grain size distribution of the sediments. The behaviors of metallic elements in the sediments mainly depend on not grain size distribution but the geology connected with geomorphological reliefs near the stream. Contamination indices(CI) of Zn, Cu and Pb are 2.83 to 6.96 with average 4.31 in the sediments. Hwasun-cheon is assigned to general stream type in accordance with water quality of physical factors and chemical characteristics by Piper's diagram. Though meaningful values of BOD, T-N, T-P were locally depicted near Masan-ri, Hwasun-eup and Jiseok-cheon areas, artificial metal concentration do not represent in the most area of the stream. Sediments and river water are considered that the relatively more or less high metallic contents in the stream are originated from coal mine and urban area.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.779-781
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• 2010

After preliminary tests indicated an increased number of heterotrophic bacteria, we investigated possible sources of contamination in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) water distribution system. Scanning electron microscopic examination of flexible metallic hoses associated with the system revealed the presence of a biofilm; partial 16S rDNA sequencing revealed that the biofilm contained Blastomonas natatoria. Purgation of the water system three times a day, reinforced faucet cleaning, decreasing the cold water temperature to $12^{\circ}C$, and six repeated chlorinations at concentrations as high as 2 mg/l were not sufficient to eradicate the bacterial contamination. Replacing all of the rubber-interior flexible metallic hoses with teflon-lined hoses, followed by heating the water to $70^{\circ}C$, successfully controlled the bacteria.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.239-243
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• 1999

At Present, 200mm wafer technology is being applied for commercial fabrications of 64, 128, and 256 M DRAM devices, and 300mm technology will be evolved for 1G DRAM devices in the early 21th century, recognizing limitations of several process technologies. In particular recognition has been realized in harmful effects of surface contamination of trace metals introduced during devicing processes. Such a guide line for surface metal contamination has been proposed as 1E9 and 1E10 atoms/$\textrm{cm}^2$ of individual metal contamination for wafering and devicing of 1G DRAM, respectively, and so its measurement limit should be at least 1E8 atoms/$\textrm{cm}^2$. The detection limit of present measurement systems is 2E9 atoms/$\textrm{cm}^2$ obtainable with TRXFA(Total Reflection X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis). TRXFA is nondestructive and the simplest in terms of operation, and it maps the whole wafer surfaces but needs detection improvement. X-Ray intensity produced with synchrotron accelerator is much higher than that of conventional X-ray sources by order of 4-5 magnitudes. Hence theoretically its reactivity with silicon surfaces is expected to be much higher than the conventional one, realizing improvement of detection limit. X-ray produced with synchrotron accelerator is illuminated at a very low angle with silicon wafer surfaces such as 0.1 degree and reflects totally. Hence informations only from surface can be collected and utilized without overlapping with bulk informations. This study shows the total reflection phenomenon and quantitative improvement of detection limit for metallic contamination. It is confirmed that synchrotron X-ray can be a very promising alternative for realizing improvement of detection limit for the next generation devices.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.491-495
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• 1999

In this study, we focus on Ca contaminant which affects on the roughness Si substrate after thermal process. The initial Si substrates were contaminated intentionally by using a standard Ca solution. The contamination levels of Ca impurity were measured by TXRF and the chemical composition of that was analyzed by AES. Then we gre the thermal oxide to investigate the effect of Ca contaminants. The microroughness of the Si surface, the thermal oxide surface, and the surface after removing the thermal oxide were measured to examine the electrical characteristics. The initial substrates that were contaminated with the standard solution of Ca exhibited the contamination levels of 10\ulcorner~10\ulcorneratoms/$\textrm{cm}^2$ which was measured by TXRF. The Ca contaminants were detected by AES and exhibited the peaks of Ca, SI, C and O.After intentional contamination, the surface microroughness of this initial substrate was increased from $1.5\AA$ to 4$\AA$ as contamination levels became higher. The microroughness of the thermal oxide surfaces of both contaminated and bare Si substrates exhibits similar values. But the microroughness of the contaminated$ Si/SiO_2$ interface was increased as contamination increased. The thermal oxide of contaminated substrate exhibited the small minority carrier diffusion length, low breakdown voltage, and slightly high leakage current.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.131-136
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• 2014

An attempt was made to assess metal ionic toxicity levels of different fishes in the polluted rivers viz., Buriganga and Turag. Fish samples collected from two polluted rivers were analyzed for the levels of metals such as Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn in order to elucidate the status of these contaminants in fish meant for human consumption. The detected concentrations of Cr, Cu, Mn, and Zn ions in fish species collected from the polluted rivers were below the toxic levels and did not appear to pose a threat. Among the analyzed metals, Cd and Pb ions were detected above the permissible levels in liver and muscle tissues of stinging catfish (Heteropneustesfossilis), spotted snakehead (Channapunctata) and wallago (Wallagoattu) collected from the polluted rivers causing toxicity for human consumption. Stinging catfish (Heteropneustesfossilis) was the species found to highly bioaccumulate these metals. Fish species bioconcentrated appreciable amounts of Cd and Pb as toxic metals in the liver as compared to the muscle. Levels of these toxic metals varied depending on different tissues in fish species.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.82-86
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• 2012

A sensitive eight-channel high-Tc Superconducting Interference Device (SQUID) detection system for magnetic contaminant in a lithium ion battery anode was developed. Finding ultra-small metallic foreign matter is an important issue for a manufacturer because metallic contaminants carry the risk of an internal short. When contamination occurs, the manufacturer of the product suffers a great loss from recalling the tainted product. Metallic particles with outer dimensions smaller than 100 microns cannot be detected using a conventional X-ray imaging system. Therefore, a highly sensitive detection system for small foreign matter is required. We have already developed a detection system based on a single-channel SQUID gradiometer and horizontal magnetization. For practical use, the detection width of the system should be increased to at least 65 mm by employing multiple sensors. In this paper, we present an 8-ch high-Tc SQUID roll-to-roll system for inspecting a lithium-ion battery anode with a width of 65 mm. A special microscopic type of a cryostat was developed upon which eight SQUID gradiometers were mounted. As a result, small iron particles of 35 microns on a real lithium-ion battery anode with a width of 70 mm were successfully detected. This system is practical for the detection of contaminants in a lithium ion battery anode sheet.