• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.254-255
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• 2012

Interest in nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films has been growing because of their favorable processing conditions for certain electronic devices. In particular, there has been an increase in the use of nc-Si thin films in photovoltaics for large solar cell panels and in thin film transistors for large flat panel displays. One of the most important material properties for these device applications is the macroscopic charge-carrier mobility. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) or nc-Si is a basic material in thin film transistors (TFTs). However, a-Si:H based devices have low carrier mobility and bias instability due to their metastable properties. The large number of trap sites and incomplete hydrogen passivation of a-Si:H film produce limited carrier transport. The basic electrical properties, including the carrier mobility and stability, of nc-Si TFTs might be superior to those of a-Si:H thin film. However, typical nc-Si thin films tend to have mobilities similar to a-Si films, although changes in the processing conditions can enhance the mobility. In polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films, the performance of the devices is strongly influenced by the boundaries between neighboring crystalline grains. These grain boundaries limit the conductance of macroscopic regions comprised of multiple grains. In much of the work on poly-Si thin films, it was shown that the performance of TFTs was largely determined by the number and location of the grain boundaries within the channel. Hence, efforts were made to reduce the total number of grain boundaries by increasing the average grain size. However, even a small number of grain boundaries can significantly reduce the macroscopic charge carrier mobility. The nano-crystalline or polymorphous-Si development for TFT and solar cells have been employed to compensate for disadvantage inherent to a-Si and micro-crystalline silicon (${\mu}$-Si). Recently, a novel process for deposition of nano-crystralline silicon (nc-Si) thin films at room temperature was developed using neutral beam assisted chemical vapor deposition (NBaCVD) with a neutral particle beam (NPB) source, which controls the energy of incident neutral particles in the range of 1~300 eV in order to enhance the atomic activation and crystalline of thin films at room temperature. In previous our experiments, we verified favorable properties of nc-Si thin films for certain electronic devices. During the formation of the nc-Si thin films by the NBaCVD with various process conditions, NPB energy directly controlled by the reflector bias and effectively increased crystal fraction (~80%) by uniformly distributed nc grains with 3~10 nm size. The more resent work on nc-Si thin film transistors (TFT) was done. We identified the performance of nc-Si TFT active channeal layers. The dependence of the performance of nc-Si TFT on the primary process parameters is explored. Raman, FT-IR and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to study the microstructures and the crystalline volume fraction of nc-Si films. The electric properties were investigated on Cr/SiO2/nc-Si metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.12-14
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• 2005

Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition(ICP-CVD)를 이용하여 공정온도 $150^{\circ}C$에서 Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) 박막을 증착하였다. 실험에서 헬륨(He)가스, 수소($H_2$)가스 그리고 헬륨(He)과 수소($H_2$)의 혼합가스로 희석한 사일렌($SiH_4$)을 반응가스로 이용하였다. 이 혼합가스는 3sccm의 사일렌($SiH_4$)에 헬륨(He)과 수소($H_2$)의 주입율을 20sccm에서부터 60sccm까지 변화시켜 조건을 달리하여 사용했다. 증착한 Nc-Si 박막을 X-ray diffraction (XRD)으로 분석하여 각각의 조건에 대한 Nc-Si 박막의 속성을 연구하였다. 헬륨(He) 또는 수소($H_2$) 혼합가스의 주입율이 커지면서 <111>과 <222>의 최고점(peak)이 더 높아졌으며 결정화 되지 않고 비결정질로 남아 있는 성장층(incubation layer)이 얇아졌다. 이 결과는 nc-Si를 증착할 때 사용한 수소($H_2$) 플라즈마와 헬륨(He) 플라즈마의 효과로 설명할 수 있다. 실험을 통해 ICP-CVD로 증착한 nc-Si 박막을 박막 전계효과트랜지스터 (TFT)에서 우수한 특성의 전자수송층(active layer)으로 사용할 수 있는 것을 확인하였다.

• Korean Journal of Crystallography
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.56-61
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• 2003

Nanocrystalline hydrogenated silicon (nc-Si : H) thin films were deposited at room temperature by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD): a mixture of SiH₄ and H₂ gas was introduced into the evacuated reaction chamber. When the H₂ gas flow rate was low, the density of Si-H₃ bonds was high in the films. On the other hand, when the H₂ gas flow rate was high, e.g., 100 sccm, a large number of Si-H bonds contributed to the passivation of the surface of the large volume of Si nanocrystallites. The relative fraction of the Si-H₃ and Si-H₂ bonds in the amorphous matrix varied sensitively with the H₂ gas flow rate. The variation was associated with the change in the intensity as well as the wavelength of the main PL peaks, indicating the change in the total volume as well as the size of the Si nanocrystallites in the films.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.359-365
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• 2013

We investigated the nanostructural, chemical and optical properties of nc-Si:H films according to deposition conditions. Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) techniques were used to produce nc-Si:H thin films. The hydrogen dilution ratio in the precursors, [$SiH_4/H_2$], was fixed at 0.03; the substrate temperature was varied from room temperature to $600^{\circ}C$. By raising the substrates temperature up to $400^{\circ}C$, the nanocrystalite size was increased from ~2 to ~7 nm and the Si crystal volume fraction was varied from ~9 to ~45% to reach their maximum values. In high-resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM) images, Si nanocrystallites were observed and the crystallite size appeared to correspond to the crystal size values obtained by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and Raman Spectroscopy. The intensity of high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy(EELS) peaks at ~99.9 eV(Si $L_{2,3}$ edge) was sensitively varied depending on the formation of Si nanocrystallites in the films. With increasing substrate temperatures, from room temperature to $600^{\circ}C$, the optical band gap of the nc-Si:H films was decreased from 2.4 to 1.9 eV, and the relative fraction of Si-H bonds in the films was increased from 19.9 to 32.9%. The variation in the nanostructural as well as chemical features of the films with substrate temperature appears to be well related to the results of the differential scanning calorimeter measurements, in which heat-absorption started at a substrate temperature of $180^{\circ}C$ and the maximum peak was observed at ${\sim}370^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.136-136
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• 2011

반도체 및 전자기기 산업에 있어서 NVM은 아주 중요한 부분을 차지하고 있다. NVM은 디스플레이 분야에 많은 기여를 하고 있는데, 측히 AMOLED에 적용이 가능하여 온도에 따라 변하는 구동 전류, 휘도, color balance에 따른 문제를 해결하는데 큰 역할을 한다. 본 연구에서는 bottom gate 구조의 nc-Si NVM 실험을 진행하였다. P-type silicon substrate (0.01~0.02 ${\Omega}-cm$) 위에 Blocking layer 층인 SiO2 (SiH4:N2O=6:30)를 12.5nm증착하였고, Charge trap layer 층인 SiNx (SiH4:NH3=6:4)를 20 nm 증착하였다. 마지막으로 Tunneling layer 층인 SiOxNy은 N2O (2.5 sccm) 플라즈마 처리를 통해 2.5 nm 증착하였다. 이러한 ONO 구조층 위에 nc-Si을 50 nm 증착후에 Source와 Drain 층을 Al 120 nm로 evaporator 이용하여 증착하였다. 제작한 샘플을 전기적 특성인 Threshold voltage, Subthreshold swing, Field effect mobility, ON/OFF current ratio, Programming & Erasing 특성, Charge retention 특성 등을 알아보았다.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.103-109
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• 2014

Highly efficient hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) thin-film solar cells were prepared on flexible stainless steel substrates using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. To enhance the performance of solar cells, material properties of back reflectors, n-doped seed layers and wide bandgap nc-SiC:H window layers were optimized. The light scattering efficiency of Ag back reflectors was improved by increasing the surface roughness of the films deposited at elevated substrate temperatures. Using the n-doped seed layers with high crystallinity, the initial crystal growth of intrinsic nc-Si:H absorber layers was improved, resulting in the elimination of the defect-dense amorphous regions at the n/i interfaces. The nc-SiC:H window layers with high bandgap over 2.2 eV were deposited under high hydrogen dilution conditions. The vertical current flow of the films was enhanced by the formation of Si nanocrystallites in the amorphous SiC:H matrix. Under optimized conditions, a high conversion efficiency of 9.13% ($V_{oc}=0.52$, $J_{sc}=25.45mA/cm^2$, FF = 0.69) was achieved for the flexible nc-Si:H thin-film solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.38.1-38.1
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• 2011

최근 중동정세의 변화와 유류 소비의 증가에 따른 유가의 급등과, 일본 지진사태로 일어난 원자력 발전의 안정성에 대한 문제로 인하여 안전하고 깨끗하게 에너지를 생산할 수 있는, 저탄소 녹색성장을 구현할 수 있는 신재생 에너지에 관련된 연구에 많은 관심이 모아지고 있다. 특히 태양광 에너지를 전기로 변환하여 사용하는 것은 최근 가장 큰 관심사 중 하나이다. 나노결정 Si (nc-Si) 박막은 이러한 광전자 산업 및 태양 에너지 분야에서의 폭넓은 응용 가능성으로 많은 연구가 진행되고 있다. 이러한 nc-Si 박막의 발광 특성은 비정질 박막내 Si 나노결정에 기인한 양자제한효과(quantum confinement effect)에 의한 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구에서는 증착시 기판에 AC (alternating current) Bias를 인가하여 PE CVD 기법으로 nc-Si:H 박막을 증착하였다. H2와 SiH4를 각기 45, 20 sccm으로, 100 W의 RF 전압을 주어 플라즈마를 생성하였으며, 60~900 Hz의 주파수 범위에서 60 V의 Bias를 인가하여 박막을 증착하였다. 이들 박막의 결정 크기, 결정화도, 나노 구조 및 광학적, 화학적, 기계적 특성을 XRD, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopey, AFM, PL, Nano indenter 등을 사용하여 조사하였으며, 기판에 인가된 전압과 주파수에 따른 결정크기와 박막의 광학적 특성과 상관관계를 고찰하였다. Bias 전압에 따라 ~1에서 ~4 nm의 크기를 갖는 나노 크리스탈이 생성 되었으며, 최고 10%의 나노결정 분율을 가지는 박막을 증착하였다. 이는 광학적 특성에도 영향을 주어 PL (photoluminescence)의 피크는 470~710 nm의 영역에서 관찰되었다. 또한 AC-Bias의 영향으로 박막 내 응력 해소에도 영향을 주어 박막내 존재하는 응력이 결정에 미치는 영향도 알 수 있었다. 이번 발표에선 증착 조건에 따른 박막의 나노구조 및 광학적 특성의 변화와 이들 간의 상관관계를 발표하고자 한다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.37-37
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• 2008

Hydrogenated nanocrystalline Si (nc-Si:H) thin films were prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The films were deposited with a radio frequency power of 100 W, while substrates were exposed to direct current (DC) biases in the range from 0 to -400 V. The effects of the DC bias on the formation of nanoscale Si crystallites in the films and on their optical characteristics were investigated. The size of the Si crystallites in the films ranges from ~ 1.9 to ~ 4.1 nm. The relative fraction of the crystallites in the films reached up ~ 56.5 % when the DC bias of -400 V was applied. Based on the variation in the structural, chemical, and optical features of the films with DC bias voltages, a model for the formation of nanostructures of the nc-Si:H films prepared by PECVD was suggested. This model can be utilized to understand the evolution in the size and relative fraction of the nanocrystallites as well as the amorphous matrix in the nc-Si:H films.

• 한국전자현미경학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.98-99
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.306-306
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• 2010

A high density (> $10^{11}\;cm^{-3}$) and low electron temperature (< 2 eV) plasma is produced by using a conventional HF (13.56 MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with an additional ultra high frequency (UHF, 314 MHz) plasma source utilizing two parallel antenna assembly. It is applied for the high rate synthesis of high quality nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) films. A high deposition rate of 1.8 nm/s is achieved with a high crystallinity (< 70%), a low spin density (< $3{\times}10^{16}\;cm^{-3}$) and a high light soaking stability (< 1.5). Optical emission spectroscopy measurements reveal emission intensity of $Si^*$ and $SiH^*$, intensity ratio of $H{\alpha}/Si^*$ and $H{\alpha}/SiH^*$ which are closely related to film deposition rate and film crystallinity, respectively. A high flux of precursor and atomic hydrogen which are produced by an additional high excitation frequency is effective for the fast deposition of highly crystallized nc-Si films without additional defects.