• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.146-149
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• 2017

Si clusters generated during the plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process have a great influence on the quality of the fabricated films. In particular, in hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films (a-Si:H) used for thin film solar cells, Si clusters are mainly responsible for light-induced degradation. In this study, we investigated the amount of clusters incorporated into thin films using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and specially designed cluster eliminating filters, and investigated the effect of the DC grid mesh in preventing cluster incorporation. Experimental results showed that as the applied voltage of the grid mesh, which is placed between the electrode and the QCM, decreased, the number of clusters incorporated into the film decreased. This is due to the electrostatic force from the grid mesh bias, and this method is expected to contribute to the fabrication of high-quality thin films by preventing Si cluster incorporation.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.794-799
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• 1997

Poly-Si films have been prepared by solid phase crystallization of LPCVD(low-pressure CVD) amorphous silicon. The crystallinity of poly-Si films has been derived from UV reflectance spectrum and lies in the range between 70% and 80% . From XRD measurement the peak at 28.2$^{\circ}$from (111) plane is dominantly detected in the SPC poly-Si films, The average grain size of poly-Si film is determined by the image of SEM and varies from 4000 $\AA$ to 8000$\AA$. The electrical conductivity of as-deposited amorphous silicon film is about 2.5$\times$10$^{-7}$ ($\Omega$.cm)$^{-1}$ , and 3~4$\times$10$^{-6}$ ($\Omega$.cm)$^{-1}$ of room temperature conductivity is the SPC poly-Si films. The conductivity activation energies are 0.5~0.6 eV or the 500$\AA$-thick poly-Si films.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.43 no.4 s.287
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• pp.230-234
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• 2006

Metal-Induced Crystallization (MIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) using aluminum and nickel as catalysts were performed with a variation of metal thickness and temperature. Raman results showed that the crystallization of a-Si depended on the thickness of aluminum while not on nickel. Nickel that forms silicide nodules during annealing simply catalyzed the formation of crystalline silicon (c-Si) while aluminum was consumed and transferred during MIC, which resulted in more complex microstructural characteristics. Crystalline silicons after NIC had elongated shape with a twin along the long axis. Morphological change after Aluminum-Induced Crystallization (AIC) showed more equiaxial grains. The nucleation and growth mechanism of AIC was discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2000

Silicon nitride powders, were synthesized by the vapor phase reaction using SiH4-NH3 gaseous mixture. The reaction temperature, ratio of NH3 to SiH4 gas and the overall gas quantity were varied. The synthesized powders were characterized using X-ray, TEM, FT-IR and EA. The synthesized silicon nitride powders were in amorphous state, and the average particle size was about 100nm. TEM analysis revealed that the particle size decreased with increasing reaction temperature and gas flow quantity. As-received amorphous powders were annealed in nitrogen atmosphere at 140$0^{\circ}C$ for 2h, then the powders were completely crystallized at 0.2 ratio of NH3 to SiH4.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.127-134
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• 1993

P+ and BF2+ were implanted to LPCVD amorphous silicon films deposited on thermally-oxidized silicon wafers and the low temperature annealing process followed with various conditions to activate implanted ions and to recrystallize the films. We tried to find the optimum processing condition by comparing the recrystallization behaviors and the electrical properties. TEM analysis showed that the final grain size of BF2+-implanted films was similar to that of unimplanted films, whereas the grains of P+-implanted films. For both P+ - and BF2+ -implanted films, sheet resistances were decreased with elevating annealing temperature and the minimum value was about 110~120$\Omega$/$\square$ at $600^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.456-456
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• 2009

Boron doping on an n-type Si wafer is requisite process for IBC (Interdigitated Back Contact) solar cells. Fiber laser annealing is one of boron doping methods. For the boron doping, uniformly coated or deposited film is highly required. Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method provides a uniform dopant film or layer which can facilitate doping. Because amorphous silicon layer absorption range for the wavelength of fiber laser does not match well for the direct annealing. In this study, to enhance thermal affection on the existing p-a-Si:H layer, a ${\mu}c$-Si:H intrinsic layer was deposited on the p-a-Si:H layer additionally by PECVD. To improve heat transfer rate to the amorphous silicon layer, and as heating both sides and protecting boron eliminating from the amorphous silicon layer. For p-a-Si:H layer with the ratio of $SiH_4$ : $B_2H_6$ : $H_2$ = 30 : 30 : 120, at $200^{\circ}C$, 50 W, 0.2 Torr for 30 minutes, and for ${\mu}c$-Si:H intrinsic layer, $SiH_4$ : $H_2$ = 10 : 300, at $200^{\circ}C$, 30 W, 0.5 Torr for 60 minutes, 2 cm $\times$ 2 cm size wafers were used. In consequence of comparing the results of lifetime measurement and sheet resistance relation, the laser condition set of 20 ~ 27 % of power, 150 ~ 160 kHz, 20 ~ 50 mm/s of marking speed, and $10\;{\sim}\;50 {\mu}m$ spacing with continuous wave mode of scanner lens showed the correlation between lifetime and sheet resistance as $100\;{\Omega}/sq$ and $11.8\;{\mu}s$ vs. $17\;{\Omega}/sq$ and $8.2\;{\mu}s$. Comparing to the singly deposited p-a-Si:H layer case, the additional ${\mu}c$-Si:H layer for doping resulted in no trade-offs, but showed slight improvement of both lifetime and sheet resistance, however sheet resistance might be confined by the additional intrinsic layer. This might come from the ineffective crystallization of amorphous silicon layer. For the additional layer case, lifetime and sheet resistance were measured as $84.8\;{\Omega}/sq$ and $11.09\;{\mu}s$ vs. $79.8\;{\Omega}/sq$ and $11.93\;{\mu}s$. The co-existence of $n^+$layeronthesamesurfaceandeliminating the laser damage should be taken into account for an IBC solar cell structure. Heavily doped uniform boron layer by fiber laser brings not only basic and essential conditions for the beginning step of IBC solar cell fabrication processes, but also the controllable doping concentration and depth that can be established according to the deposition conditions of layers.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.219-224
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• 2012

We study for long-term performance of amorphous silicon solar cells under light exposure. The performance is predicted with a kinetic model in which the carrier lifetimes are determined by the defect density. In particular, the kinetic model is described by the stretched-exponential relaxation of defects to reach equilibrium. In this report, we simulate the light-induced degradation of the amorphous silicon solar cells with the kinetic model and AMPS-1D computer program. And data measured for outdoor performances of various solar cells are compared with the simulated results. This study focuses on examining the light-induced degradation for the following amorphous silicon pin solar cells: thickness${\approx}$300 nm, built-in potential${\approx}$1.05 V, defect density (at t=0)${\approx}5{\times}10^{15}cm^{-3}$, short-circuit current density (at t=0)${\approx}15.8mA/cm^2$, fill factor (at t=0)${\approx}0.691$, open-circuit voltage (at t=0)${\approx}0.865V$, conversion efficiency (at t=0)${\approx}9.50%$.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.1128-1135
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• 2001

In this paper, a new HSG-Si formation technology, "seeding method', which employs Si$_2$H$_{6}$-molecule irradiation and annealing, was applied for realizing 64Mbit DRAMs. By using this technique, grain size controlled HSG-Si can be fabricated on in-situ phosphorous-doped amorphous-Si electrode. The new HSG-Si fabrication technology achieves twice the storage capacitance with high reliability for the stacked capacitors. In this technique, optimum process conditions of the phosphorous concentration, storage polysilicon deposition temperature and thickness of hemispherical grain silicon are in the range of 3.0-4.0E19atoms/㎤, 53$0^{\circ}C$ and 400$\AA$, respectively. In the 64M bit DRAM capacitor using optimum process conditions, limit thickness of dielectric nitride is about 65$\AA$.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.173-178
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• 2004

Silicon thin film were synthesized from silane and argon gas mixture directly on copper foil by rf PECVD and then lithium ion batteries were prepared from them employed as the negative electrodes without any further treatment. In the present study, two different kinds of silicon thin films, amorphous silicon and copper silicide were prepared by changing deposition temperature. Amorphous silicon film was prepared below $200^{\circ}C$, but copper silicide film with granular shape was formed by the reaction between silicon radical and diffused copper ions under elevating temperature above $400^{\circ}C$. The amorphous silicon film gives higher capacity than copper silicide, but the capacity decreases sharply with charge-discharge cycling. This is possibly due to severe volume changes. The cyclability is improved, however, by employing the copper silicide as a negative electrode. The copper silicide plays an important role as an active material of the electrode, which mitigates volume change cause by the existence of silicon and copper chemical bonding and provides low electrical resistance as well.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.411-417
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• 2013

To use as an anode material of lithium secondary battery, graphite-silicon composite powders are prepared by ball-milling with silicon nanoparticles (average diameter 100 nm, 0~50 wt%) and graphite powder (average diameter $15{\mu}m$) and their electrochemical properties are examined. As the silicon content increases, the graphite becomes smaller by the ball-milling and amorphous phase appears whereas the silicon do not suffer the change of nanocrystalline phases and embeds within the amorphous phase of graphite. Cyclic voltammetry at low scan rate reveals that typical oxidation peaks of graphite and silicon appear at 0.2~0.35 and 0.55~0.6 V, respectively, with higher reversibility for repeated cycles. In contrast, the high-scan-rate redox behavior is very irreversible for repeated cycles. High irreversible capacity is exhibited in the initial charging-discharging cycles, but it diminishes as the cycle number increases. The saturated discharge capacity achieves about 485 mAh $g^{-1}$ at 50th cycle for the composite of Si 20 wt%. This is due to the formation of amorphous graphite morphology by the adequate composition (C:Si=8:2 w/w), which efficiently buffers the volume change during alloying/dealloying between silicon and lithium.