• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.110.1-110.1
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• 2012

Recently, advances in ZnO based oxide semiconductor materials have accelerated the development of thin-film transistors (TFTs), which are the building blocks for active matrix flat-panel displays including liquid crystal displays (LCD) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLED). However, the electrical performances of oxide semiconductors are significantly affected by interactions with the ambient atmosphere. Jeong et al. reported that the channel of the IGZO-TFT is very sensitive to water vapor adsorption. Thus, water vapor passivation layers are necessary for long-term current stability in the operation of the oxide-based TFTs. In the present work, $Al_2O_3$ and $TiO_2$ thin films were deposited on poly ether sulfon (PES) and $SnO_x$-based TFTs by electron cyclotron resonance atomic layer deposition (ECR-ALD). And enhancing the WVTR (water vapor transmission rate) characteristics, barrier layer structure was modified to $Al_2O_3/TiO_2$ layered structure. For example, $Al_2O_3$, $TiO_2$ single layer, $Al_2O_3/TiO_2$ double layer and $Al_2O_3/TiO_2/Al_2O_3/TiO_2$ multilayer were studied for enhancement of water vapor barrier properties. After thin film water vapor barrier deposited on PES substrate and $SnO_x$-based TFT, thin film permeation characteristics were three orders of magnitude smaller than that without water vapor barrier layer of PES substrate, stability of $SnO_x$-based TFT devices were significantly improved. Therefore, the results indicate that $Al_2O_3/TiO_2$ water vapor barrier layers are highly proper for use as a passivation layer in $SnO_x$-based TFT devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.430-430
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• 2012

The surface recombination velocity of the silicon solar cell could be reduced by passivation with insulating layers such as $SiO_2$, SiNx, $Al_2O_3$, a-Si. Especially, the aluminium oxide has advantages over other materials at rear surface, because negative fixed charge via Al vacancy has an additional back surface field effect (BSF). It can increase the lifetime of the hole carrier in p-type silicon. The aluminium oxide thin film layer is usually deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique, which is expensive and has low deposition rate. In this study, ICP-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering technique was adopted to overcome drawbacks of ALD technique. In addition, it has been known that by annealing aluminium oxide layer in nitrogen atmosphere, the negative fixed charge effect could be further improved. By using ICP-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering technique, oxygen to nitrogen ratio could be precisely controlled. Fabricated aluminium oxy-nitride (AlON) layer on silicon wafers were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate the atomic concentration ratio and chemical states. The electrical properties of Al/($Al_2O_3$ or $SiO_2/Al_2O_3$)/Si (MIS) devices were characterized by the C-V measurement technique using HP 4284A. The detailed characteristics of the AlON passivation layer will be shown and discussed.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.272-277
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• 2010

We investigated the life time characteristics of OLED device with aluminium oxide ($AlO_x$) passivation film on glass substrate and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate by RF magnetron sputtering for the transparent barrier film applied to flexible OLED device. Basic buffer layer was determined as $Alq_3$(500 nm)-LiF(300 nm)-Al(1200 nm), and the most suitable aluminium oxide ($AlO_x$) film have been formed when the partial volume ratio of oxygen was 20% and the sputtering power was 100 watt and the minimum thickness of buffer was $2\;{\mu}m$. $AlO_x$/epoxy hybrid film was also used as a effective passivation layer for the purpose of improving life time characteristics of OLED devices with the glass substrate and the plastic substrate. Besides, the simultaneous deposition of $AlO_x$/epoxy film on back side of PET could result in better improvement of life time.

• 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 Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.266-269
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• 2020

In this study, we investigated the effect of a sulfur passivation (S-passivation) process step on the electrical properties of surface-channel In_0.7Ga_0.3As quantum-well (QW) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) with S/D regrowth contacts. We fabricated long-channel In_0.7Ga_0.3As QW MOSFETs with and without (NH₄)₂S treatment and then deposited 1/4 nm of Al₂O₃/HfO₂ through atomic layer deposition. The devices with S-passivation exhibited lower values of subthreshold swing (74 mV/decade) and drain-induced barrier lowering (19 mV/V) than the devices without S-passivation. A conductance method was applied, and a low value of interface trap density D_it (2.83×10¹² cm^-2eV^-1) was obtained for the devices with S-passivation. Based on these results, interface traps between InGaAs and high-κ are other defect sources that need to be considered in future studies to improve III-V microsensor sensing platforms.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.364.1-364.1
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• 2014

고효율 태양전지로 가기 위해서는 태양전지의 후면 패시베이션은 중요한 역할을 한다. 후면 패시베이션 막으로 사용되는 $Al_2O_3$ 막은 $Al_2O_3/Si$ 계면에서 높은 화학적 패시베이션과 Negative Fixed Charge를 가지고 있어 적합한 Barrier막으로 여겨진다. 하지만 이후에 전면 Metal paste의 소성 공정에 의해 $800^{\circ}C$이상 온도를 올려주게 됨에 따라 $Al_2O_3$ 막 내부에 결합되어 있던 수소들이 방출되어 blister가 생성되고 막 질은 떨어지게 된다. 우리는 blister가 생성되는 것을 방지하기 위한 방법으로 PECVD 장비로 SiNx를 증착하는 공정 중에 $N_2O$ 가스를 첨가하여 SiON 막을 증착하였다. SiON막은 $N_2O$가스량을 조절하여 막의 특성을 변화시키고 변화에 따라 소성시 막에 미치는 영향에 대하여 조사하였다. 공정을 위해 $156{\times}156mm2$, $200{\mu}m$, $0.5-3.0{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and p-type 단결정 실리콘 웨이퍼를 사용하였고, $Al_2O_3$ 막을 올리기 전에 RCA Cleaning 실행하였다. ALD 장비를 통해 $Al_2O_3$ 막을 10nm 증착하였고 RF-PECVD 장비로 SiNx막과 SiON막을 80nm 증착하였다. 소성로에서 $850^{\circ}C$ ($680^{\circ}C$) 5초동안 소성하고 QSSPC를 통해 유효 반송자 수명을 알아보았다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.687-687
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• 2013

In rearpoint contact solar cell and the PERC (passivated emitter rear contact) type cell, surfaces were passivated by SiO2 or Al2O3 to increase solar cell efficiency. Therefore, we have investigated the effect of surface passivation for crystalline silicon solarcell using mass-production atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al2O3. The patttern which consists of cylinders with 100um diameter and 5um height was formed by PR patterning on Si (100) substrate and then Al2O3 of about 10nm and 20nm thickness was deposited by ALD. The pattern in 10 nm Al2O3 film was removed by dipping in aceton solution for about 10 min but the pattern in 20 nm Al2O3 film was not. The influences of process temperature and heat treatment were investigated using microwave photoconductance decay (PCD) and Quasi-Steady-State photoconductance (QSSPC). The solar cell process used in this work combines the advantage of using the applicability of a selective deposition associated with a ALD passivation and the use of low-cost screen print for the contacts formation.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 1996

For the improvement of microelectronic thin film interconnection materials, dielectric passivation effects on the electromigration phenomena were studied. Using Al-1%Si, various shaped patterns were fabricated and dielectric passivation layers of several structures were deposited on the $SiO_2$ layer. Lifetime of straight pattern showed 2~5 times longer than the other patterns that had various line width and area. It is believed that the flux divergence due to the structural inhomogeneity and so the current crowding effects shorten the lifetime of thin film interconnections. The lifetime of thin film interconnections seems to depend on both the passivation materials and the passivation thickness. PSG/$SiO_2$ dielectric passivation layers showed longer lifetime than $Si_3N_4$ dielectric passivation layers. This results from the PSG on $SiO_2$ layer reduces stress and from the improvement of resistance to the moisture and to the mobile ion such as sodium. This is also believed that the lifetime of thin film interconnections seems to depend on the passivation thickness in case of the same deposition materials.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.73.1-73.1
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• 2010

태양광 시장은 세계적인 금융 위기 속에서도 점점 그 규모가 확대되고 있다. 시장의 규모가 확대되고 있음에도 불구하고 금융 위기를 겪으면서 생산자 중심의 시장에서 수요자 중심의 시장으로 바뀌게 되었다. 이에 따라 더 적은 비용으로 높은 출력의 제품만이 경쟁력을 가지게 됨으로써 효율이 더욱 이슈화되었다. 여러 태양전지 중 가장 점유율이 높은 결정질 태양전지는 일반적인 양산 공정만으로 효율을 높이는데 한계가 있으므로 selective emitter, back contact, light induced plating 등의 새로운 공정을 도입하여 효율을 높이려는 경향이 나타나고 있다. 본 연구에서는, ALD 장치를 사용하여 결정질 태양전지의 후면을 passivation 함으로써 효율을 높이는 방법을 모색하였다. 부동화 층으로는 $Al_2O_3$를 사용하였으며 셀을 제조하여 평가하였다. 실험방법은 p-type의 웨이퍼를 이용하여 습식으로 texturing 후 $POCl_3$ 용액으로 p-n junction을 형성하였고 anti-reflection 막인 SiNx는 PECVD를 사용하여 R.I 2.05, 80nm 두께로 증착하였다. 그런 다음 후면의 n+ layer를 제거하기 위하여 SiNx에 영향을 미치지 않는 용액을 사용하여 후면을 식각하였다. BSF 층은 screen printer로 Al paste를 printing하여 형성하였고 Al etching용액으로 여분의 Al제거한 후 ALD 장치를 이용하여 $Al_2O_3$를 증착하였다. 마지막으로 전극을 형성한 후 laser로 isolation하여 효율을 평가하였다.