• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.3-9
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• 2000

Arc-melted alloys of TiAl-(o.25, 0.5, 1.0at%) Si were isothermally oxidized at 800, 900 and $1000^{\circ}C$ in air for 60hr. It was found that the oxidation resistance of the prepared TiAl-Si alloys was much better than that of pure TiAl, being progressively increasing with an increase in the Si content. This was attributed to the formation of $SiO_2$in addition to ($TiO_2$+$Al_2$$O_3$) oxides which formed in TiAl alloys with and without silicon additions. However, the silica formation within the oxide layer unfortunately accelerated the oxide scale spallations. During oxidation, all the elements in the base alloy diffused outward, whereas oxygen from the atmosphere diffused inward. The oxides were primarily composed of an outer thick $TiO_2$layer, an intermediate diffuse $Al_2$$O_3$layer and an inner $TiO_2$layer. A small amount of $SiO_2$was present all over the oxide scale and some voids were found around the intermediate layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.299.2-299.2
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• 2013

We investigated the potassium remaining on a crystalline silicon solar cell after potassium hydroxide (KOH) etching and its effect on the lifetime of the solar cell. KOH etching is generally used to remove the saw damage caused by cutting a Si ingot; it can also be used to etch the rear side of a textured crystalline silicon solar cell before atomic layer-deposited Al2O3 growth. However, the potassium remaining after KOH etching is known to be detrimental to the efficiency of Si solar cells. In this study, we etched a crystalline silicon solar cell in three ways in order to determine the effect of the potassium remnant on the efficiency of Si solar cells. After KOH etching, KOH and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) were used to etch the rear side of a crystalline silicon solar cell. To passivate the rear side, an Al2O3 layer was deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). After ALD Al2O3 growth on the KOH-etched Si surface, we measured the lifetime of the solar cell by quasi steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC, Sinton WCT-120) to analyze how effectively the Al2O3 layer passivated the interface of the Al2O3 layer and the Si surface. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) was also used to measure how much potassium remained on the surface of the Si wafer and at the interface of the Al2O3 layer and the Si surface after KOH etching and wet cleaning.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.223-227
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• 2009

The precipitates, hardness, and tensile properties of Al-6.2Si-2.9Cu AC2B alloy were investigated with respect to solution treatment time at $500^{\circ}C$. $Al(Cu)-Al_2Cu$ eutectic, Si, ${\theta}-(Al_2Cu)$, and $Q-(Al_5Cu_2Mg_8Si_6)$ phases were observed in the as-cast specimen. With increasing the solution treatment time at $500^{\circ}C$, the $Al(Cu)-Al_2Cu$ eutectic and ${\theta}-(Al_2Cu)$ phases were gradually reduced and finally almost disappeared in 5 h. The mechanical properties, such as hardness, tensile strength, and elongation, were improved with solution treatment time until about 5 h due to the dissolution of the $Al_2Cu$ particles. With further holding time, the mechanical properties did not change much. The solution treated specimens for over 5 h at $500^{\circ}C$ exhibit almost the same tensile properties even after aging at $250^{\circ}C$ for 3.5 h. Accordingly, the optimal solution treatment condition of the Al-Si-Cu AC2B alloy is considered to be 5 h at $500^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.49 no.4
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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.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.118-122
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• 2003

Alpha-SiAlON ceramics having various compositions and modifying cations were investigated with respect to their phase stability, transformation kinetics. and resulting microstructures. Each composition was heat treated at 150$0^{\circ}C$ for 1h and measured the $\alpha$-SiAlON transformation. The phase-boundary composition in the single-phase $\alpha$-SiAlON region showed sluggish transformation from $\alpha$-$Si_3N_4$ to $\alpha$-SiAlON compared to the phase-center composition in the diagram. Using the different rare earth modifying cations, dependence of transformation kinetics on the phase stability in a fixed composition was also explained. By changing size of the stable u-phase region with exchanging cations, systematic change in transformation was observed. Transformation rate of $\alpha$-SiAlON at low temperature has an important role on controlling the final microstructure. Less transformation gives more chances to develop elongated grain in the microstructure.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.483-493
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• 1995

The microstructural changes during semi-solid state processing of hypereutectic Al-Si alloy has been investigated in the present study. Stirring of semi-solid slurry results in the morphological changes of the primary Si particles, i.e. from angular rod shape to near-spherical shape. Besides the spherodization of primary Si particles, the average particle size increases, especially, at much higher rate in the final stage than that in the early stage of stirring. Various microstructure characterization techniques, such as anisotropic etching, SEM imaging and ECP analysis, reveal that the spherodization of primary Si particles occurs by the combinations of the mechanisms of coalescence, fracture, and wear of the individual particles. Isothermal shearing of hypereutectic Al-Si at $580^{\circ}C$ shows that spherical ${\alpha}-Al$ particles are formed by the dissociation of Al-Si eutectic structure at the early stage of isothermal shearing. The spherical ${\alpha}-Al$ particles gradually grow by the mechanisms of Ostwald ripening and coalescence of the particles.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.368-375
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• 2000

Fracture toughness of particulate composites of Al2O3/SiC, Al2O3/ZrO2 and Al2O3/ZrO2/SiC was analysed theoretically. According to the suggested particle bridging model for obtaining the R-curve height, the crack extension resistance for the long crack was linearly proportional to the residual calmping stress at the interface between the second phase and the matrix. It was also a function of the particle size and the content. It was confirmed that the rising R-curve behavior of Al2O3 containing 30 vol% SiC particles of 3${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ was owing to the strong crack bridging by SiC particles. For Al2O3/ZrO2/SiC composites, the tensional stress from the 3${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ SiC particles was large enough to activate the spontaneous transformation of the ZrO2. The crack extension resistance due to the particle bridging mechanism did not seem to be affected much by the coupled toughening, but its resultant toughness increase could be significantly smaller due to the dependency on the matrix toughness.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.785-792
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• 1996

Formation of Solid Solution and Microstructure in Processureless sintered SiC-AlN compo-site using oxides as a sintering aid at 185$0^{\circ}C$ and 195$0^{\circ}C$ Regardless of SiC/AlN ratio in composition most of sintered specimens showed he complex structure mixed with 2H solid solution and SiC particles. High sintering temperature and large AlN content in starting composition enhanced the formation of 2H solid solution in sintered specimen 2H solid solution showed the spherical shape and core-rim structure. AlN content in the core is higher than that in the rim but SiC content . The size of 2H solid solution on fracture showed the transgranular fracture mode compared with the dispersed SiC particles which showed the intergranular fracture mode.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.262-266
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• 2020

In this paper, we investigated the effect of the passivation stack with Al₂O₃, hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN_x:H) stack and Al₂O₃, silicon oxynitride (SiON_x) stack in the n type bifacial solar cell on monocrystalline silicon. SiNx:H and SiON_x films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition on the Al₂O₃ thin film deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition. We focus on passivation properties of the two stack structure after laser ablation process in order to improve bifaciality of the cell. Our results showed SiN_x:H with Al₂O₃ stack is 10 mV higher in implied open circuit voltage and 60 ㎲ higher in minority carrier lifetime than SiON_x with Al₂O₃ stack at Ni silicide formation temperature for 1.8% open area ratio. This can be explained by hydrogen passivation at the Al₂O₃/Si interface and Al₂O₃ layer of laser damaged area during annealing.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.609-614
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• 1999

The effect of the amount of $SiO_2$dopant on the behavior of $AlO_2$$O_3$-composite formation by melt oxdation of Al-alloy was examined in this paper. The $SiO_2$powder was spread on the top surface of the Al-1Mg-3-Si-5Zn-1Cu alloy in th alumina crucible. The selected amount of each powder was 0.03, 0.10, 0.16g/$\textrm{cm}^2$. The oxidation behavior was determined by observing the weight gain after the heat treatment for 10 hours at 1373K. The macroscopic structure of formed oxide layer was examined by an optical microscope. The top surface and the cross-section of the grown oxide layer were investigated by SEM and analysed by EDX. The $SiO_2$ powder was determined to enhance oxidation by thermit reaction with Al which reduced the growth incubation period of the oxidation layer. As the amount of the $SiO_2$dopant increased, the growth rate decreased due to the precipitated Si which blocked the Al-alloy channel in the composite materials. However, more uniform layer was obtained due to the occurrance of the enhanced oxidation reaction in the whole alloy surface compared to the case of addition of less amount of dopant.