• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2009년도 제38회 동계학술대회 초록집
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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.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.264-275
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• 2008

Electron mobility has been investigated theoretically in undoped double-gate (DG) MOSFETs of different channel architectures: a relaxed-Si DG SOI, a strained-Si (sSi) DG SSOI (strained-Si-on-insulator, containing no SiGe layer), and a strained-Si DG SGOI (strained-Si-on-SiGe-on-insulator, containing a SiGe layer) at 300K. Electron mobility in the DG SSOI device exhibits high enhancement relative to the DG SOI. In the DG SGOI devices the mobility is strongly suppressed by the confinement of electrons in much narrower strained-Si layers, as well as by the alloy scattering within the SiGe layer. As a consequence, in the DG SGOI devices with thinnest strained-Si layers the electron mobility may drop below the level of the relaxed DG SOI and the mobility enhancement expected from the strained-Si devices may be lost.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제49권4호
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• pp.301-307
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• 2012

SiAlON glasses are silicates or alumino-silicates, containing Mg, Ca, Y or rare earth (RE) ions as modifiers, in which nitrogen atoms substitute for oxygen atoms in the glass network. These glasses are found as intergranular films and at triple point junctions in silicon nitride ceramics and these grain boundary phases affect their fracture behaviour. This paper provides an overview of the preparation of M-SiAlON glasses and outlines the effects of composition on properties. As nitrogen substitutes for oxygen in SiAlON glasses, increases are observed in glass transition temperatures, viscosities, elastic moduli and microhardness. These property changes are compared with known effects of grain boundary glass chemistry in silicon nitride ceramics. Oxide sintering additives provide conditions for liquid phase sintering, reacting with surface silica on the $Si_3N_4$ particles and some of the nitride to form SiAlON liquid phases which on cooling remain as intergranular glasses. Thermal expansion mismatch between the grain boundary glass and the silicon nitride causes residual stresses in the material which can be determined from bulk SiAlON glass properties. The tensile residual stresses in the glass phase increase with increasing Y:Al ratio and this correlates with increasing fracture toughness as a result of easier debonding at the glass/${\beta}-Si_3N_4$ interface.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제47권6호
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• pp.572-577
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• 2010

Reaction-bonded $Si_3N_4$ has cost-reduction merit because inexpensive silicon powder was used as a start material. But its density was not so high enough to be used for structural materials. So the sintered reaction-bonded $Si_3N_4$techniques were developed to solve the low density problem. In this study the sintered reaction-bonded $Si_3N_4$ manufacturing method by using polymer precursor which recently attained significant interest owing to the good shaping and processing ability was proposed. The formations, properties of reaction-bonded $Si_3N_4$ from silicon and polysilazane mixture were investigated. High density reaction-bonded $Si_3N_4$ was manufactured from silicon and silicon-containing preceramic polymers and post-sintering technique. The mixtures of silicon powder and polysilazane were prepared and reaction sintered in $N_2$ atmosphere at $1350^{\circ}C$ and post-sintered at 1600~$1950^{\circ}C$. Density and phase were analyzed and correlated to the resulting material properties.

• Journal of Information Display
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.109-112
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• 2010

The solid phase compositions and dielectric properties of silicon nitride ($SiN_x$) films prepared using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique at a low temperature ($200^{\circ}C$) were studied. Controlling the source gas mixing ratio, R = $[N_2]/[SiH_4]$, and the plasma power successfully produced both silicon-rich and nitrogen-rich compositions in the final films. The composition parameter, X, varied from 0.83 to 1.62. Depending on the film composition, the dielectric properties of the $SiN_x$ films also varied substantially. Silicon-rich silicon nitride (SRSN) films were obtained at a low plasma power and a low R. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of these films revealed the existence of nano-sized silicon particles even in the absence of a post-annealing process. Nitrogen-rich silicon nitride (NRSN) films were obtained at a high plasma power and a high R. These films showed a fairly high dielectric constant ($\kappa$ = 7.1) and a suppressed hysteresis window in their capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.137-141
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• 1996

Ambient air aged anodically etched porous silicon (PS) and spark-processed silicon (sp-Si) show interesting similarities and dissimilarities in some of their luminescence-related properties. Among these similarties are: (1) the photoluminescence (PL) peak maximum in the blue/violet (410 nm);(2) the blue/violet PL peak positions are essentially unchanged with temperature ; (3) PL decay times in the nanosecond region which are independent of the detection wavelength, which is much faster in decay times compared to that of observed decay time in $SiO_2$.Among the dissimilarities are: (1) the PL intensity of blue/violet luminescence, namely, the PL intensity of sp-Si is at least 2 orders of magnitude larger than that of an ambient air aged PS; (2) the blue/violet PL intensity of sp-Si is more stable than that of ambient air aged PS under UV illuminations; (3) FTIR spectra of sp-Si favor those modes, which involve silicon -oxygen bonds in $SiO_2$ stoichiometry, whereas ambient air aged PS can be considered as a nonstoichiometric oxide judging from the observed vibrational spectra.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2010년도 하계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.365-365
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• 2010

In this paper, silicon nitride thin films with different silane and ammonia gas ratios were deposited and characterized for the antireflection and passivation layer of high efficiency single crystalline silicon solar cells. As the flow rate of the ammonia gas increased, the refractive index decreased and the band gap increased. Consequently, the transmittance increased due to the higher band gap and the decrease of the defect states which existed for the 1.68 and 1.80 eV in the SiNx films. The reduction in the carrier lifetime of the SiNx films deposited by using a higher $NH_3/SiH_4$ flow ratio was caused by the increase of the interface traps and the defect states in/on the interface between the SiNx and the silicon wafer. The silicon and nitrogen rich films are not suitable for generating both higher carrier lifetimes and transmittance. These results indicate that the band gap and the defect states of the SiNx films should be carefully controlled in order to obtain the maximum efficiency for c-Si solar cells.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제31권10호
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• pp.2909-2912
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• 2010

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c$-Si:H) thin film for solar cells is prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and physical properties of the ${\mu}c$-Si:H p-layer has been investigated. With respect to stable efficiency, this film is expected to surpass the performance of conventional amorphous silicon based solar cells and very soon be a close competitor to other thin film photovoltaic materials. Silicon in various structural forms has a direct effect on the efficiency of solar cell devices with different electron mobility and photon conversion. A Raman microscope is adopted to study the degree of crystallinity of Si film by analyzing the integrated intensity peaks at 480, 510 and $520\;cm^{-1}$, which corresponds to the amorphous phase (a-Si:H), microcrystalline (${\mu}c$-Si:H) and large crystals (c-Si), respectively. The crystal volume fraction is calculated from the ratio of the crystalline and the amorphous phase. The results are compared with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) for the determination of crystallinity factor. Optical properties such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, and band gap are studied with reflectance spectra.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제44권6호
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• pp.338-342
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• 2007

Porous silicon nitride ceramics were prepared by SHS (Self-Propagating High Temperature Synthesis) from silicon powder, silicon nitride powder and pore-forming precursor. The microstructure, porosity and the flexural strength of the porous silicon nitride ceramics were varied according to the Si/Si3N4 ratio, size and amount of the pore-forming precursors. Some sample exhibited as high flexural strength as $162{\pm}24\;MPa$. The high strength is considered to result from the fine pore size and the strong bonding amoung the silicon nitride particles.

• 한국표면공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국표면공학회 2015년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.167-167
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• 2015

SiC thin films made by vapor silicon infiltration into porous graphite can be obtained for shorter time than liquid silicon. Si diffusion coefficient is estimated by comparing experiment results with quadratic equation obtained by Fick's second law.