• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.339-344
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• 2017

Highly corrosion resistance performance of CrAlSiN coatings were obtained by applying ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ thin films using atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. CrAlSiN coatings were prepared on Cr adhesion layer/SUS304 substrates by a hybrid coating system of arc ion plating and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) method. And, ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ passivation layer was deposited on the CrAlSiN/Cr adhesion layer/SUS304 sample to protect CrAlSiN coatings by encapsulating the whole surface defects of coating using ALD. Here, the high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) analysis revealed that the ALD $Al_2O_3$ thin films uniformly covered the inner and outer surface of CrAlSiN coatings. Also, the potentiodynamic and potentiostatic polarization test revealed that the corrosion protection properties of CrAlSiN coatings/Cr/SUS304 sample was greatly improved by ALD encapsulation with 50 nm-thick $Al_2O_3$ thin films, which implies that ALD-$Al_2O_3$ passivation layer can be used as an effect barrier layer of corrosion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.211-212
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• 2010

GaN 기반의 상부발광형 LED는 동작되는 동안 생기는 전기적 단락, 그리고 칩 위의 p-형 전극과 n-형 전극 사이에 생기는 누설전류 및 신뢰성 확보를 위하여 칩 표면에 passivation 층을 형성하게 된다. SiO2, Si3N4와 같은 passivation layers는 일반적으로 PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition)공정을 이용한다, 하지만 이는 공정 특성상 plasma로 인한 damage가 유발되기 때문에 표면 누설 전류가 증가 한다. 이로 인해 forward voltage와 reverse leakage current의 특성이 저하된다. 본 실험에서는 원자층 단위의 박막 증착으로 인해 PECVD보다 단차 피복성이 매우 우수한 PEALD(Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition)공정을 이용하여 Al2O3 passivation layer를 증착한 후, 표면 누설전류와 빛의 출력 특성에 대해서 조사해 보았다. PSS (patterned sapphire substrate) 위에 성장된 LED 에피구조를 사용하였고, TCP(Trancformer Copled Plasma)장비를 사용하여 에칭 공정을 진행하였다. 이때 투명전극을 증착하기 위해 e-beam evaporator를 사용하여 Ni/Au를 각각 $50\;{\AA}$씩 증착한 후 오믹 특성을 향상시키기 위하여 $500^{\circ}C$에서 열처리를 해주었다. 그리고 Ti/Au($300/4000{\AA}$) 메탈을 사용하여 p-전극과 n-전극을 형성하였다. Passivation을 하지 않은 경우에는 reverse leakage current가 -5V 에서 $-1.9{\times}10-8$ A 로 측정되었고, SiO2와 Si3N4을 passivation으로 이용한 경우에는 각각 $8.7{\times}10-9$과 $-2.2{\times}10-9$로 측정되었다. Fig. 1 에서 보면 알 수 있듯이 5 nm의 Al2O3 film을 passivation layer로 이용할 경우 passivation을 하지 않은 경우를 제외한 다른 passivation 경우보다 reverse leakage current가 약 2 order ($-3.46{\times}10-11$ A) 정도 낮게 측정되었다. 그 이유는 CVD 공정보다 짧은 ALD의 공정시간과 더 낮은 RF Power로 인해 plasma damage를 덜 입게 되어 나타난 것으로 생각된다. Fig. 2 에서는 Al2O3로 passivation을 한 소자의 forward voltage가 SiO2와 Si3N4로 passivation을 한 소자보다 각각 0.07 V와 0.25 V씩 낮아지는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 또한 Fig. 3 에서는 Al2O3로 passivation을 한 소자의 output power가 SiO2와 Si3N4로 passivation을 한 소자보다 각각 2.7%와 24.6%씩 증가한 것을 볼 수 있다. Output power가 증가된 원인으로는 향상된 forward voltage 및 reverse에서의 leakage 특성과 공기보다 높은 Al2O3의 굴절률이 광출력 효율을 증가시켰기 때문인 것으로 판단된다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.211-211
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• 2012

The electrical loss of the photo-generated carriers is dominated by the recombination at the metal- semiconductor interface. In order to enhance the performance of the solar cells, many studies have been performed on the surface treatment with passivation layer like SiN, SiO2, Al2O3, and a-Si:H. In this work, Al2O3 thin films were investigated to reduce recombination at surface. The Al2O3 thin films have two advantages, such as good passivation properties and back surface field (BSF) effect at rear surface. It is usually deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. However, ALD process is a very expensive process and it has rather low deposition rate. In this study, the ICP-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering method was used to deposit Al2O3 thin films. For optimization of the properties of the Al2O3 thin film, various fabrication conditions were controlled, such as ICP RF power, substrate bias voltage and deposition temperature, and argon to oxygen ratio. Chemical states and atomic concentration ratio were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In order to investigate the electrical properties, Al/(Al2O3 or SiO2,/Al2O3)/Si (MIS) devices were fabricated and characterized using the C-V measurement technique (HP 4284A). The detailed characteristics of the Al2O3 passivation thin films manufactured by ICP-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering technique will be shown and discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.335.2-335.2
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• 2016

The fixed negative charge of the Al2O3 passivation layer gives excellent passivation performance for both n-type and p-type silicon wafers. For the best passivation quality, annealing is known to be a prerequisite step and a lot of studies concerning annealing effect on the passivation characteristics have been performed. Meanwhile, for manufacturing a crystalline silicon solar cell, firing process is applied to the Al2O3 passivation layer. Therefore, study on not only annealing effect but also on firing effect is necessary. In this work, Al2O3 passivation performance (minority carrier lifetime) for p-type silicon wafer was evaluated with Quasi-Steady-State Photoconductance(QSSPC) measurement after annealing at different temperatures. For the samples which showed different aspects, C-V measurement was performed for the cause - whether it is due to the chemical effect or field-effect. The change in Al2O3 passivation property after firing processes was investigated and the mechanism for the change could be estimated.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.581-588
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• 2013

This paper presents a study of the process temperature dependence of $Al_2O_3$ film grown by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) as a passivation layer in the crystalline Si (c-Si) solar cells. The deposition rate of $Al_2O_3$ film maintained almost the same until $250^{\circ}C$, but decreased from $300^{\circ}C$. $Al_2O_3$ film deposited at $250^{\circ}C$ was found to have the highest negative fixed oxide charge density ($Q_f$) due to its O-rich condition and low hydroxyl group (-OH) density. After post-metallization annealing (PMA), $Al_2O_3$ film deposited at $250^{\circ}C$ had the lowest slow and fast interface trap density. Actually, $Al_2O_3$ film deposited at $250^{\circ}C$ showed the best passivation effects, that is, the highest excess carrier lifetime (${\tau}_{PCD}$) and lowest surface recombination velocity ($S_{eff}$) than other conditions. Therefore, $Al_2O_3$ film deposited at $250^{\circ}C$ exhibited excellent chemical and field-effect passivation properties for p-type c-Si solar cells.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2014

In this paper, $Al_2O_3$ film deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) with diluted $NH_4OH$ instead of $H_2O$ was suggested for passivation layer and anti-reflection (AR) coating of the p-type crystalline Si (c-Si) solar cell application. It was confirmed that the deposition rate and refractive index of $Al_2O_3$ film was proportional to the $NH_4OH$ concentration. $Al_2O_3$ film deposited with 5 % $NH_4OH$ has the greatest negative fixed oxide charge density ($Q_f$), which can be explained by aluminum vacancies ($V_{Al}$) or oxygen interstitials ($O_i$) under O-rich condition. $Al_2O_3$ film deposited with $NH_4OH$ 5 % condition also shows lower interface trap density ($D_{it}$) distribution than those of other conditions. At $NH_4OH$ 5 % condition, moreover, $Al_2O_3$ film shows the highest excess carrier lifetime (${\tau}_{PCD}$) and the lowest surface recombination velocity ($S_{eff}$), which are linked with its passivation properties. The proposed $Al_2O_3$ film deposited with diluted $NH_4OH$ is very promising for passivation layer and AR coating of the p-type c-Si solar cell.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.320.1-320.1
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• 2013

We have investigated the effect of surface passivation for crystalline silicon solar cell using ozone-based atomic layer deposited (ALD) $Al_2O_3$. We examined passivation properties such as uniformity, carrier lifetime, thickness, negative fixed charge density at AlOx/Si interface, and reflectance. The influences of process temperature and heat treatment were investigated using microwave photoconductance decay (PCD). Ozone-based ALD $Al_2O_3$ film shows the best carrier lifetime at lower deposition temperature than $H_2O$-based ALD.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.160-160
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• 2010

Organic electronic devices require a passivation layer to ensure sufficient lifetime. Specifically, flexible organic electronic devices need a barrier layer that transmits less than $10^{-6}\;g/m^2/day$ of water and $10^{-5}\;g/m^2/day$ of oxygen. To increase the lifetime of organic electronic device, therefore, it is indispensable to protect the organic materials from water and oxygen. Severe groups have reported on multi-layerd barriers consisting inorganic thin films deposited by plasma enhenced chemical deposition (PECVD) or sputtering. However, it is difficult to control the formation of granular-type morphology and microscopic pinholes in PECVD and sputtering. On the contrary, atomic layer deoposition (ALD) is free of pinhole, highly uniform, conformal films and show good step coverage. In this study, the passivation layer was deposited using single-process PEALD. The passivation layer, in our case, was a bilayer system consisting of $Al_2O_3$ films and a $TiO_2$ buffer layer on a poly (ether sulfon) (PES) substrate. Because the deposition temperature and plasma power have a significant effect on the properties of the passivation layer, the characteristics of the $Al_2O_3$ films were investigated in terms of density under different deposition temperatures and plasma powers. The effect of the $TiO_2$ buffer layer also was also addressed. In addition, the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) and organic light-emitting diode (OLEDs) lifetime were measured after forming a bilayer composed of $Al_2O_3/TiO_2$ on a PES substrate.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.106-110
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• 2014

The passivation property of $Al_2O_3$ thin film formed using atomic layer deposition (ALD) for the application of crystalline Si solar cells was investigated using microwave photoconductance decay (${\mu}$-PCD). After post-annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ for 5 min, $Al_2O_3$ thin film exhibited the structural stability having amorphous nature without the interfacial reaction between $Al_2O_3$ and Si. The post-annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ for 5 min led to an increase in the relative effective lifetime of $Al_2O_3$ thin film. This could be associated with the field effective passivation combined with surface passivation of textured Si. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) with $Al_2O_3$ thin film post-annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ for 5 min was carried out to evaluate the negative fixed charge of $Al_2O_3$ thin film. From the relationship between flatband voltage ($V_{FB}$) and equivalent oxide thickness (EOT), which were extracted from C-V characteristics, the negative fixed charge of $Al_2O_3$ thin film was calculated to be $2.5{\times}10^{12}cm^{-2}$, of which value was applicable to the passivation layer of n-type crystalline Si solar cells.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.57-61
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• 2011

To develop high efficiency crystalline solar cells, the rear surface passivation is very important. In this paper, $Al_2O_3$ films deposited by thermal ALD(atomic layer deposition) method were studied for rear surface passivation of crystalline solar cells and their passivation properties were evaluated. After the deposition of $Al_2O_3$ films on p-type Si wafers, the lifetime was increased very much due to the reduction of interface state density and the field effects of the negative fixed charge in the films. Also, optimum annealing condition and effects of SiNx capping layer were investigated. The best lifetime was obtained when the films were annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ for 15min. And the lifetime degradation of the $Al_2O_3$ films with SiNx capping layers was improved compared to those without the capping layers.