• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.47-51
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• 2015

Ground Level Enhancements (GLEs) in cosmic ray intensity observed during the period of 1997-2012 have been studied with energetic solar features and disturbances in solar wind plasma parameters and it is seen that all the GLEs have been found to be associated with coronal mass ejections, hard X-ray solar flares and solar radio bursts. All the GLEs have also been found to be associated with sudden jumps in solar proton flux of energy of ${\geq}60Mev$. A positive correlation with correlation coefficient of 0.48 has been found between the maximum percentage intensity (Imax%) of Ground Level Enhancements and the peak value of solar proton flux of energy (${\geq}60Mev$). All the Ground Level Enhancements have been found to be associated with jumps in solar wind plasma velocity (JSWV) events. A positive correlation with correlation coefficient of 0.43 has been found between the maximum percentage intensity (Imax %) of Ground Level Enhancements and the peak value of solar wind plasma velocity of associated (JSWV) events. All the Ground Level Enhancements have been found to be associated with jumps in solar wind plasma pressure (JSWP) events. A positive correlation with correlation coefficient of 0.67 has been found between the maximum percentage intensity (Imax %) of Ground Level Enhancements and the peak value of solar wind plasma pressure of associated (JSWP) events and of 0.68 between the maximum percentage intensity (Imax %) of Ground Level Enhancements and the magnitude of the jump in solar wind plasma pressure of associated (JSWP) events.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.171-171
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• 2012

We have studied the effects of plasma treatments on CdS buffer layers in CIGS thin film solar cells. The CdS layers were deposited on CIGS films by chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The RF plasma treatments of the CdS thin films were performed with Ar, $O_2 and $N_2 gases, respectively. After plasma treatments, the solar cells with Al:ZnO/i-ZnO/CdS/CIGS structures were fabricated. The surface properties of the CdS/CIGS thin films after plasma treatments were investigated with SEM, EDX and AFM measurements. The electrical properties of manufactured solar cell were discussed with the results of current-voltage measurements. The plasma treatments have a strong influence on the open circuit voltage (VOC) and the fill factor of the solar cells. Finally, a correlation between the surface properties of CdS layer and the efficiencies of the CIGS thin film solar cells is discussed.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.61-64
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• 2011

In order to grow the crystalline solar cells industry continuously, development of alternate low-cost manufacturing processes is required. Plasma doping system is the technique for introducing dopants into semiconductor wafers in CMOS devices. In photovoltaics, plasma doping system could be an interesting alternative to thermal furnace diffusion processes. In this paper, plasma doping system was applied for phosphorus doping in crystalline solar cells. The Plasma doping was carried out in 1~4 KV bias voltages for four minutes. For removing surface damage and formation of pn junction, annealing steps were carried out in the range of $800{\sim}900^{\circ}C$ with $O_2$ ambient using thermal furnace. The junction depth in about $0.35{\sim}0.6{\mu}m$ range have been achieved and the doping profiles were very similar to emitter by thermal diffusion. So, It could be confirmed that plasma doping technique can be used for emitter formation in crystalline solar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.211-215
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• 2017

Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) and wet etching are employed in existing texturing processes to fabricate solar cells. Laser etching is used for particular purposes such as selective etching for grooves. However, such processes require a higher level of cost and longer processing time and those factors affect the unit cost of each process of fabricating solar cells. As a way to reduce the unit cost of this process of making solar cells, an atmospheric plasma source will be employed in this study for the texturing of crystalline silicon wafers. In this study, we produced the atmospheric plasma source and examined its basic properties. Then, using the prepared atmospheric plasma source, we performed the texturing process of crystalline silicon wafers. The results obtained from texturing processes employing the atmospheric plasma source and employing RIE were examined and compared with each other. The average reflectance of the specimens obtained from the atmospheric plasma texturing process was 7.88 %, while that of specimens obtained from the texturing process employing RIE was 8.04 %. Surface morphologies of textured wafers were examined and measured through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and similar shapes of reactive ion etched wafers were found. The Power Conversion Efficiencies (PCE) of the solar cells manufactured through each process were 16.97 % (atmospheric plasma texturing) and 16.29 % (RIE texturing).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.403.1-403.1
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• 2016

일반적으로 실리콘 태양전지의 표면 텍스쳐링 공정방식은 습식 텍스쳐링 방식과 건식 텍스쳐링 방식 2가지로 나뉘어진다. 하지만 현재 습식 텍스쳐링 방식의 경우 Solution을 사용하기 때문에 폐용액으로 인한 환경오염 및 Wafer 오염과 같은 단점을 가지고 있다. 또한 건식 텍스쳐링 방식의 경우는 진공 상태에서 진행되므로 높은 유지 비용이 가장 큰 단점으로 대두 되고 있다. 그러므로 기존의 방식과 다르게 진공을 사용하지 않는 대기압 플라즈마 소스를 텍스쳐링 공정에 적용하였다. 본 연구에서는 대기압 플라즈마 소스로 식각한 Wafer의 반사율을 가스 종류와 유량별 측정하여 분석하였다. 측정된 반사율을 통해 대기압 플라즈마 소스가 텍스쳐링 공정에 적용할 수 있는지 확인하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.35D no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 1998

In order to simulataneously achieve surface type conversion and sulfur passivation of p-type InP, a Ha$_{2}$S plasma dry passivation technique was firstly proposed and successfully applied to the fabrication of ITO/InP solar cells. This new technique was expected to improve the performance of solar cells. The devices, fabricated by changing the process parameters such as RF power and plasma exposure time, were characterized and PL measurements were performed to investigate the passivation effects. As a result, H$_{2}$S plasma treated solar cells demonstrated better performance than that of (NH$_{4}$)$_{2}$S$_{x}$ treated ones.s.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.301-301
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• 2010

In order to enhance the efficiency of the organic solar cells, the effects of plasma surface treatment with using $CF_4$ and $O_2$ gas on the anode ITO were studied. The polymer solar cell devices were fabricated on ITO glasses an active layer of P3HT (poly-3-hexylthiophene) and PCBM ([6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester) mixture, without anode buffer layer, such as PEDOT:PSS layer. The metallic electrode was formed by thermally evaporated Al. Before the coating of organic layers, ITO surface was exposed to plasma made of $CF_4$ and $O_2$ gas, with/without heat treatment. In order to identify the effect the surface treatment, the current density and voltage characteristics were measured by solar simulator and the chemical composition of plasma treated ITO surface was analyzed by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). In addition, the work function of the plasma treated ITO surface was measured by using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy(UPS). The effects of plasma surface treatment can be attributed to the removal organic contaminants of the ITO surface, to the improvement of contact between ITO and buffer layer, and to the increase of work function of the ITO.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.454-454
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• 2010

In order to achieve a high efficient a-Si solar cell, the TCO (transparent conductive oxide) substrates are required to be a low sheet resistivity, a high transparency, and a textured surface with light trapping effect. Recently, a zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film attracts our attention as new coating material having a good transparent and conductive for TCO of solar cells. In this paper the optical properties of $H_2$ post-treated BZO (boron doped ZnO, ZnO:B) thin film are investigated with $O_2$-plasma treatment. The BZO thin films by MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) are investigated and the samples of $H_2$ post-treated BZO thin film are tested with $O_2$-plasma treatment by plasma treatment system with 13.56 MHz as RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) type. We measured the optical properties and surface morphology of BZO thin film with and without $O_2$-plasma treatment. The optical properties such as transmittance, reflectance and haze are measured with integrating sphere and ellipsometer. This result of the BZO thin film with and without $O_2$-plasma treatment is application to the TCO for solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.230-230
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• 2013

In amorphous or microcrystalline thin-film silicon solar cells, p-i-n structure is used instead of p/n junction structure as in wafer-based Si solar cells. Hence, these p-i-n structured solar cells inevitably consist of many interfaces and the cell efficiency critically depends on the effective control of these interfaces. In this study, in-situ plasma treatment process of the interfaces was developed to improve the efficiency of a-Si:H solar cell. The p-i-n cell was deposited using a single-chamber VHF-PECVD system, which was driven by a pulsed-RF generator at 80 MHz. In order to solve the cross-contamination problem of p-i layer, high RF power was applied without supplying SiH4 gas after p-layer deposition, which effectively cleaned B contamination inside chamber wall from p-layer deposition. In addition to the p-i interface control, various interface control techniques such as thin layer of TiO2 deposition to prevent H2 plasma reduction of FTO layer, multiple applications of thin i-layer deposition and H2 plasma treatment, H2 plasma treatment of i-layer prior to n-layer deposition, etc. were developed. In order to reduce the reflection at the air-glass interface, anti-reflective SiO2 coating was also adopted. The initial solar cell efficiency over 11% could be achieved for test cell area of 0.2 $cm^2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.583-588
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• 2008

A spacecraft propulsion system utilizing the energy of the solar wind was reviewed. The first plasma sail concept was proposed by Prof. Winglee in 2000, and that was called M2P2(mini-magnetospheric plasmapropulsion). However, the first M2P2 design adopting a small(20-cm-diamter) coil and a small helicon plasma source design was criticized by Dr. Khazanov in 2003. He insisted that: 1) MHD is not an appropriate approximation to describe the M2P2 design by Winglee, and with ion kinetic simulation, it was shown that the M2P2 design could provide only negligible thrust; 2) considerably larger sails(than that Winglee proposed) would be required to tap the energy of the solar wind. We started our plasma ssail study in 2003, and it is shown that moderately sized magnetic sails can produce sub-Newton-class thrust in the ion inertial scale(${\sim}70$ km). Currently, we are continuing our efforts to make a feasibly sized plasma sail(Magnetoplasma sail) by optimizing the magnetic field inflation process Winglee proposed.