• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.236.1-236.1
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• 2015

The surface morphology of front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films is very important to achieve high current density in amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cells since it can scatter the light in a better way. In this study, we present the low cost hydrothermal deposited uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-flower structure with various aspect ratios for a-Si thin film solar cells. The ZnO nano-flower structures with various aspect ratios were grown on the RF magnetron sputtered AZO films. The diameters and length of the ZnO nano-flowers was controlled by varying the annealing time. The length of ZnO nano-flowers were varied from 400 nm to $2{\mu}m$ while diameter was kept higher than 200 nm to obtain different aspect ratios. The ZnO nano-flowers with higher surface area as compared to conventional ZnO nano structure are preferred for the better light scattering. The conductivity and crystallinity of ZnO nano-flowers can be enhanced by annealing in hydrogen atmosphere at 350 oC. The vertical aligned ZnO nano-flowers showed higher haze ratio as compared to the commercially available FTO films. We also observed that the scattering in the longer wavelength region was favored for the high aspect ratio of ZnO nano-flowers. Therefore, we proposed low cost and vertically aligned ZnO nano-flowers for the high performance of thin film solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.69-69
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• 2003

Flat panel based digital radiography (DR) systems have recently become useful and important in the field of diagnostic radiology. For DRs with amorphous silicon photosensors, CsI(TI) is normally used as the scintillator, which produces visible light corresponding to the absorbed energy. The visible light photons are converted into an electric signal in the amorphous silicon photodiode. In order to produce good quality images, we need to understand the detailed behavior of DR detectors in radiation. We, therefore, investigated the relationship between DR outputs and X -ray in terms of absorbed energy, using the SPEC-78, X-ray energy spectrum model. We calculated the total filtration of X-ray equipment measuring air exposure and this value was used in the calculation of absorbed energy. The relationship between DR output and the absorbed energy of the X-ray was obtained by matching the absorbed energy with pixel values of real images under various conditions. It was found that the relationship between these two values was almost linear. The results were verified using phantoms made of water and aluminium. The pixel value of the phantom image was estimated and compared with previous results under various conditions. The estimated pixel value coincided with the results, although the effect of scattered photons introduced some errors.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1025-1032
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• 2012

The flash lamp annealing (FLA) process has been considered highly promising for manufacturing low-temperature polysilicon on large-scale backplanes. Based on a theoretical estimation, this study clarifies the critical mechanisms of glass backplane deformation during the FLA process. A simulation using a commercial FEM code with viscoelastic models shows that the local region, whose temperature is larger than the glass softening point, undergoes permanent structural shrinkage owing to stress relaxation. For larger backplanes (4th Gen), structural shrinkages and gravitational deflection are critical to deformation in the FLA process, resulting in an "M" shape; in smaller backplanes (0th Gen), the latter is negligible, resulting in a "U" shape.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2020

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a two-terminal tandem solar cell depends upon the tunnel-recombination junction (TRJ) between the top and bottom sub-cells. An optimized TRJ in a tandem cell helps improve its open-circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), fill factor (FF), and efficiency (PCE). One of the parameters that affect the TRJ is the buffer layer thickness. Therefore, we investigated various TRJs by varying the thickness of the buffer or intermediate layer (TRJ-buffer) in between the highly doped p-type and n-type layers of the TRJ. The TRJ-buffer layer was p-type nc-Si:H, with a doping of 0.06%, an activation energy (E_a) of 43 meV, an optical gap (E_g) of 2.04 eV, and its thickness was varied from 0 nm to 125 nm. The tandem solar cells we investigated were a combination of a heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) bottom sub-cell and an a-Si:H (amorphous silicon) top sub-cell. The initial cell efficiency without the TRJ buffer was 7.65% while with an optimized buffer layer, its efficiency improved to 11.74%, i.e., an improvement in efficiency by a factor of 1.53.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.210-214
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• 2002

The crystallization behavior of amorphous silicon (a-Si) film was investigated by using Cu-field aided lateral crystallization (Cu-FALC) process below $450^{\circ}C$. The lateral crystallization was induced from the Cu deposited region outside of pattern toward the Cu-free region inside of the pattern by applying an electric field during heat treatment. As expected, the lateral crystallization toward Cu-free region proceeded from negative toward positive electrode side. The occurrence of Cu-FALC phenomenon was interpreted in terms of dominant diffusing species in the reaction between Cu and Si. Even at the annealing temperature of $350^{\circ}C$, the large dendrite-shaped branches were formed in the crystallized region and the polarity in the lateral crystallization was clearly observed. Consequently, we could successfully crystallize the a-Si at the temperature as low as $350^{\circ}C$ by an electric field of 30 V/cm with fast crystallization velocity of 12 $\mu$m/h.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.529-529
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• 2006

Several laboratories worldwide have demonstrated the feasibility of producing amorphous silicon thin film transistor (TFT) arrays at temperatures that are sufficiently low to be compatible with flexible foils such as stainless steel or high temperature polyester. These arrays can be used to fabricate flexible high information content display prototypes using a variety of different display technologies. However, several questions must be addressed before this technology can be used for the economic commercial production of displays. These include process optimization and scale-up to address intrinsic electrical instabilities exhibited by these kinds of transistor device, and the development of appropriate techniques for the handling of flexible substrate materials with large coefficients of thermal expansion. The Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University was established in 2004 as a collaboration among industry, a number of Universities, and US Government research laboratories to focus on these issues. The goal of the FDC is to investigate the manufacturing of flexible TFT technology in order to accelerate the commercialization of flexible displays. This presentation will give a brief outline of the FDC's organization and capabilities, and review the status of efforts to fabricate amorphous silicon TFT arrays on flexible foils using a low temperature process. Together with industrial partners, these arrays are being integrated with cholesteric liquid crystal panels, electrophoretic inks, or organic electroluminescent devices to make flexible display prototypes. In addition to an overview of device stability issues, the presentation will include a discussion of challenges peculiar to the use of flexible substrates. A technique has been developed for temporarily bonding flexible substrates to rigid carrier plates so that they may be processed using conventional flat panel display manufacturing equipment. In addition, custom photolithographic equipment has been developed which permits the dynamic compensation of substrate distortions which accumulate at various process steps.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1993.05a
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• pp.96-99
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• 1993

Electrical properties of the Thin Film Transistor(TFT) electrode metal films were investigated through the Test Elements Group(TEG) experiment. The main purpose of this investigation was to characterize the electrical resistance properties of patterned metal films with respect to the variations of film thickness and TEG metal line width. Aluminum(Al), Tantalum(Ta) and Chromium(Cr) that are currently used as TFT electrode films were selected as the probed metal films. To date, no work in the electrical characterizations of patterned electrodes of a-Si TFT was accomplished. Bulk resistance$(R_b)$, sheet resistance$(R_s)$, and resistivities($\rho$) of TEG patterned metal lines were obtained. Electrical continuity test of metal film lines was also performed in order to investigate the stability of metallization process. Almost uniform-linear variations of the electrical properties with respect to the metal line displacements was also observed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.320-320
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• 2014

Amorphous silicon alloy (a-Si) solar cells and modules have been receiving a great deal of attention as a low-cost alternate energy source for large-scale terrestrial applications. Key to the achievement of high-efficiency solar cells using the multi-junction approach is the development of high quality, low band-gap materials which can capture the low-energy photons of the solar spectrum. Several cell designs have been reported in the past where grading or buffer layers have been incorporated at the junction interface to reduce carrier recombination near the junction. We have investigated profiling the composition of the a-SiGe alloy throughout the bulk of the intrinsic material so as to have a built-in electrical field in a substantial portion of the intrinsic material. As a result, the band gap mismatch between a-Si:H and $a-Si_{1-x}Ge_x:H$ creates a barrier for carrier transport. Previous reports have proposed a graded band gap structure in the absorber layer not only effectively increases the short wavelength absorption near the p/i interface, but also enhances the hole transport near the i-n interface. Here, we modulated the GeH4 flow rate to control the band gap to be graded from 1.75 eV (a-Si:H) to 1.55 eV ($a-Si_{1-x}Ge_x:H$). The band structure in the absorber layer thus became like a U-shape in which the lowest band gap was located in the middle of the i-layer. Incorporation of this structure in the middle and top cell of the triple-cell configuration is expected to increase the conversion efficiency further.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.312-312
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• 2011

In SiH4/H2 discharge for growth process of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), silane polymers, produced by SiH2 + Sin-1H2n ${\rightarrow}$ SinH2n+2, have no reactivity on the film-growing surface. However, under the SiH2 rich condition, high silane reactive species (HSRS) can be produced by electron collision to silane polymers. HSRS, having relatively strong reactivity on the surface, can react with dangling bond and form Si-H2 networks which have a close correlation with photo-induced degradation of a-Si:H thin film solar cell [1]. To find contributions of suggested several external plasma conditions (pressure, frequency and ratio of mixture gas) [2,3] to suppressing productions of HSRS, some plasma characteristics are studied by numerical methods. For this study, a zero-dimensional global model for SiH4/H2 discharge and a one-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte-Carlo-collision model (PIC-MCC) for pure SiH4 discharge have been developed. Densities of important reactive species of SiH4/H2 discharge are observed by means of the global model, dealing 30 species and 136 reactions, and electron energy probability functions (EEPFs) of pure SiH4 discharge are obtained from the PIC-MCC model, containing 5 charged species and 15 reactions. Using global model, SiH2/SiH3 values were calculated when pressure and driving frequency vary from 0.1 Torr to 10 Torr, from 13.56 MHz to 60 MHz respectively and when the portion of hydrogen changes. Due to the limitation of global model, frequency effects can be explained by PIC-MCC model. Through PIC-MCC model for pure SiH4, EEPFs are obtained in the specific range responsible for forming SiH2 and SiH3: from 8.75 eV to 9.47 eV [4]. Through densities of reactive species and EEPFs, polymerization reactions and production of HSRS are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 1998

The solid-phase crystallization (SPC) of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor depsoited (PECVD) amorphous silicon (a-Si) films ha s been investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The a-Si films were prepared on Si (100) wafers using $SiH_4$ gas and without $H_2$ dilution at the substrate temperatures between $120^{\circ}C$ and $380^{\circ}C$, and than annealed at $600^{\circ}C$ for crystallization. The annealed samples exhibited (111), (220), and (311) XRD peaks with preferential orientation of (111). The XRD peak intensities increased as the substrate temperature decreased, and the $H_2$dilution suppressed the solid-phase crystallization. The average grain size estimated by XRD analysis for the (111) texture has increased from about 10 nm to about 30 nm, as the substrate temperature decreased. The deposition rate also increased with the decreasing substrate temperature and the grain size was closely dependent on the deposition rate of the films. The grain size enhancement was attributed to an increase of the structural disorder of the Si network.