• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.364-365
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• 2011

태양광 발전산업에서 현재 주류인 결정 실리콘 태양전지의 변환효율은 꾸준히 향상되고 있으나, 태양전지의 가격이 매년 서서히 하강되고 있는 실정에서 결정질 실리콘 가격의 상승 등으로 부가가치창출에 어려움이 있으며, 생산 원가를 낮출 수 있는 태양전지 제조기술로는 2세대 태양전지로 불리는 박막형이 현재의 대안이며, 특히 에너지 변환 효율과 생산 원가에서 장점이 있는 것이 CIGS 박막 태양전지로 판단된다. 화합물반도체 베이스인 CIGS 박막태양전지는 연구실에서는 세계적으로 20.3% 높은 효율을 보고하고 있으며, 모듈급에서도 13% 효율로 생산이 시작되고 있다. 국내에서도 연구실 규모 뿐만 아니라 대면적(모듈급) CIGS 박막 태양전지 증착용 장비, 제조공정 등의 기술개발이 진행되고 있다. CIGSe2를 광흡수층으로 하는 CIGSe2 박막 태양전지의 구조는 여러 층의 단위박막(하부전극, 광흡수층, 버퍼층, 상부투명전극)을 순차적으로 형성시켜 만든다. 이중에 하부전극은 Mo 재료을 스퍼터링 방법으로 증착하여 주로 사용한다. 하부전극은 0.24 Ohm /cm2 정도의 전기적 특성이 요구되며, 주상조직으로 성장하여야 하며, 고온 안정성 확보를 위하여 기판과의 밀착성이 좋아야하고 또한 레이저 패턴시 기판에서 잘 떨어져야 하는 특성을 동시에 가져야 한다. 그리고 CIGSe2의 광흡수층 제조시 셀렌화 공정에서 100 nm 이하의 MoSe2 두께를 갖도록 해야하며, 이는 CIGSe2 박막태양전지의 Rs 값을 줄여 Ohmic 접촉을 향상시키는데 기여한다. 본 연구에서는 CIGSe2 박막태양전지에서 요구되는 하부전극 Mo 박막의 제작과 CIGSe2 박막태양전지 전체공정에 적용후의 MoSe2/Mo 박막특성에 대해서 연구결과들을 논하고자 한다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.401-407
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• 2010

We studied the influence of different types of metal electrodes on the performance of solution-processed zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin-film transistors. The ZTO thin-film was obtained by spin-coating the sol-gel solution made from zinc acetate and tin acetate dissolved in 2-methoxyethanol. Various metals, Al, Au, Ag and Cu, were used to make contacts with the solution-deposited ZTO layers by selective deposition through a metal shadow mask. Contact resistance between the metal electrode and the semiconductor was obtained by a transmission line method (TLM). The device based on an Al electrode exhibited superior performance as compared to those based on other metals. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) allowed us to measure the work function of the oxide semiconductor to understand the variation of the device performance as a function of the types metal electrode. The solution-processed ZTO contained nanopores that resulted from the burnout of the organic species during the annealing. This different surface structure associated with the solution-processed ZTO gave a rise to a different work function value as compared to the vacuum-deposited counterpart. More oxygen could be adsorbed on the nanoporous solution-processed ZTO with large accessible surface areas, which increased its work function. This observation explained why the solution-processed ZTO makes an ohmic contact with the Al electrode.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.51-55
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• 2011

In this paper, the optimized doping condition of crystalline silicon solar cells with 156 ${\times}$ 156 mm2 area was studied. To optimize the drive-in condition in the doping process, the other conditions except drive-in temperature and time were fixed. After etching 7 ${\mu}m$ of the surface to form the pyramidal structure, the silicon nitride deposited by the PECVD had 75~80 nm thickness and 2 to 2.1 for a refractive index. The silver and aluminium electrodes for front and back sheet, respectively, were formed by screen-printing method, followed by firing in $400-425-450-550-850^{\circ}C$ five-zone temperature conditions to make the ohmic contact. Drive-in temperature was changed in range of $828^{\circ}C$ to $860^{\circ}C$ and time was from 3 min to 40 min. The sheet resistance of wafer was fixed to avoid its effect on solar cell. The solar cell fabricated with various conditions showed the similar conversion efficiency of 17.4%. This experimental result showed the drive-in temperatures and times little influence on solar cell characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.403-404
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• 2013

최근 scaling down의 한계에 부딪힌 DRAM과 Flash Memory를 대체하기 위한 차세대 메모리(Next Generation Memory)에 대한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. ITRS (international technology roadmap for semiconductors)에 따르면 PRAM (phase change RAM), RRAM (resistive RAM), STT-MRAM (spin transfer torque magnetic RAM) 등이 차세대 메모리로써 부상하고 있다. 그 중 RRAM은 간단한 구조로 인한 고집적화, 빠른 program/erase 속도 (100~10 ns), 낮은 동작 전압 등의 장점을 갖고 있어 다른 차세대 메모리 중에서도 높은 평가를 받고 있다 [1]. 현재 RRAM은 주로 금속-산화물계(Metal-Oxide) 저항 변화 물질을 기반으로 연구가 활발하게 진행되고 있다. 하지만 근본적으로 공정 과정에서 산소에 의한 오염으로 인해 수율이 낮은 문제를 갖고 있으며, Endurance 및 Retention 등의 신뢰성이 떨어지는 단점이 있다. 따라서, 본 연구진은 산소 오염에 의한 신뢰성 문제를 근본적으로 해결할 수 있는 다양한 금속-질화물(Metal-Nitride) 기반의 저항 변화 물질을 제안해 연구를 진행하고 있으며, 우수한 열적 안정성($>450^{\circ}C$, 높은 종횡비, Cu 확산 방지 역할, 높은 공정 호환성 [2] 등의 장점을 가진 WN 박막을 저항 변화 물질로 사용하여 저항 변화 메모리를 구현하기 위한 연구를 진행하였다. WN 박막은 RF magnetron sputtering 방법을 사용하여 Ar/$N_2$ 가스를 20/30 sccm, 동작 압력 20 mTorr 조건에서 120 nm 의 두께로 증착하였고, E-beam Evaporation 방법을 통하여 Ti 상부 전극을 100 nm 증착하였다. I-V 실험결과, WN 기반의 RRAM은 양전압에서 SET 동작이 일어나며, 음전압에서 RESET 동작을 하는 bipolar 스위칭 특성을 보였으며, 읽기 전압 0.1 V에서 ~1 order의 저항비를 확보하였다. 신뢰성 분석 결과, $10^3$번의 Endurance 특성 및 $10^5$초의 긴 Retention time을 확보할 수 있었다. 또한, 고저항 상태에서는 Space-charge-limited Conduction, 저저항 상태에서는 Ohmic Conduction의 전도 특성을 보임에 따라 저항 변화 메카니즘이 filamentary conduction model로 확인되었다 [3]. 본 연구에서 개발한 WN 기반의 RRAM은 우수한 저항 변화 특성과 함께 높은 재료적 안정성, 그리고 기존 반도체 공정 호환성이 매우 높은 강점을 갖고 있어 핵심적인 차세대 메모리가 될 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.131-135
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• 2011

It is, in general, believed that during the activation process, the proton conductivity increases due to wetting effect and the electrochemical resistance reduction, resulting in an increase in the fuel cell performance with time. However, until now, very scant information is available on the understanding of activation processes. In this study, dominant variables that effect on the performance increase of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) during the activation process were investigated. Wetting, pore restructuring and active metal utilization were analyzed systematically. Unexpectedly, the changes for both ohmic and reaction resistance characterized by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) after initial wetting process were much smaller when considering the degree of cell performance increases. However, the EIS spectra represents that the pore opening of electrode turns into gas transportable structure more easily. The increase in the performance with activation cycles was also investigated in a view of active metals. Though the particle size was grown, the number of effective active sites might be exposed more. The impurity removal and catalytic activity enhancement measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV) could be a strong evident. The results and analysis revealed that, not merely wetting of membrane but also restructuring of electrodeand catalytic activity increase are important factors for the fast and efficient activation of the polymer electrolyte fuel cells.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.43 no.12 s.295
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• pp.823-828
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• 2006

One of the main issues of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) is to reduce the operating temperature to $750^{\circ}C$ or less. It has advantages of improving the life of component parts and the long-term stability of a system, so the production cost could be decreased. In order to achieve that, the ohmic and polarization loss of a single cell should be minimized first. This paper presents.to fabricate anode-supported single cells with controlling microstructure as a function of particle size and volume of graphite and NiO-YSZ weight ratio. By means of optimizing the manufactural condition through microstructure analysis and performance evaluation, the single cell which had NiO-YSZ=6:4, graphite volume of 24% and graphite size of $75{\mu}m$ as the anode composition showed a distinguished power density of $510mW/cm^2$ at $650^{\circ}C$ and $810mW/cm^2$ at $700^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.237-238
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• 2008

Electrical properties of Pd/Zn/Pd/Au contacts to p-InP were investigated as function of the V/III ratio of p-InP. P-type InP was made by the Zn diffusion into InP and activation process with rapid thermal annealing (RTA) measurement. After activation, the hole concentration was two orders of magnitude higher than that of the sample having only diffusion process. According to transmission line method (TLM) results, the specific contact resistance of p-InP was lower as used InP having the lower V/III ratio. The experimental results represent that the diffusion of Zn in undoped InP deeply related to the equilibrium between interstitials and substitutional Zn is established via indium interstitials.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.37-55
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• 2012

Here we show that perchlorate reduction during pitting corrosion of zero-valent titanium (ZVT) is likely caused by dissolved titanium species, especially Ti(II). Several possible mechanisms were suggested based on the literature and were evaluated based on experimental observations. Direct reduction of perchlorate on the bare metal of the ZVT electrode was thermodynamically infeasible due to the high anodic potential that was applied. Other potential mechanisms were considered such as reduction by small ZVT metal particles released from the electrode and direct reduction on the oxide layer of the electrode where potential was sufficiently reduced by a high ohmic potential drop. However, these mechanisms were not supported by experimental results. The most likely mechanism for perchlorate reduction was that during pitting corrosion, in which ZVT is partially oxidized to form dissolved ions such as Ti(II), which diffuse from the electrode surface and react with perchlorate in solution. This mechanism is supported by measurements of the dissolution valence and the molar ratio of ZVT consumed to perchlorate reduced (${\Delta}Ti(0)/{\Delta}ClO_4{^-}$). The results shown in this study demonstrate that ZVT undergoing pitting corrosion has the capability to chemically reduce perchlorate by producing dissolved Ti(II) and therefore, it has the potential to be applied in treatment systems. On the other hand, the results of this research imply that the application of ZVT undergoing pitting corrosion in treatment systems may not be feasible now due to several factors, including material and electricity costs and possible chloride oxidation.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.204-211
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• 2006

The electrolyte in the solid oxide fuel cell must be dense enough to avoid gas leakage and thin enough to reduce the ohmic resistance. In order to manufacture the thin and dense electrolyte layer, 8 mol% $Y_2O_3$ stabilized-$ZrO_2$ (8YSZ) electrolyte layers were coated on the porous tubular substrate by the novel vacuum slurry dip-coating process. The effects of the slurry concentration, presintering temperature, and vacuum pressure on the thickness and the gas permeability of the coated electrolyte layers have been examined in the vacuum slurry coating process. The vacuum-coated electrolyte layers showed very low gas permeabilities and had thin thicknesses. The single cell with the vacuum-coated electrolyte layer indicated a good performance of $495\;mW/cm^2$, 0.7 V at $700^{\circ}C$. The experimental results show that the vacuum dip-coating process is an effective method to fabricate dense thin film on the porous tubular substrate.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 1992

To improve the MCFC performance it is important to distingush between polarization losses occuring in the individual electrodes and other components. In this study a current interruption technique has been applied to a MCFC unit cell having a reference electrode to separately study the contributions of IR loss and other polarization losses. At a current density of $150mA/cm^2$ the IR-free polarization of a Ni anode was about 60mV while that of a NiO cathode was 130mV and the Ohmic loss of the cell was as large as 170mV suggesting that both the cathode and the cell structure need further improvement. The thin-film electrode model was used to simulate the performance of the electrodes. Both andoe data and cathode data were successfully fitted.