• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.243-249
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• 2011

To reduce manufacturing costs of crystalline silicon solar cells, silicon wafers have become thinner. In relation to this, the properties of the aluminium-back surface field (Al-BSF) are considered an important factor in solar cell performance. Generally, screen-printing and a rapid thermal process (RTP) are utilized together to form the Al-BSF. This study evaluates Al-BSF formation on a (111) textured back surface compared with a (100) flat back surface with variation of ramp up rates from 18 to $89^{\circ}C$/s for the RTP annealing conditions. To make different back surface morphologies, one side texturing using a silicon nitride film and double side texturing were carried out. After aluminium screen-printing, Al-BSF formed according to the RTP annealing conditions. A metal etching process in hydrochloric acid solution was carried out to assess the quality of Al-BSF. Saturation currents were calculated by using quasi-steady-state photoconductance. The surface morphologies observed by scanning electron microscopy and a non-contacting optical profiler. Also, sheet resistances and bulk carrier concentration were measured by a 4-point probe and hall measurement system. From the results, a faster ramp up during Al-BSF formation yielded better quality than a slower ramp up process due to temperature uniformity of silicon and the aluminium surface. Also, in the Al-BSF formation process, the (111) textured back surface is significantly affected by the ramp up rates compared with the (100) flat back surface.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2010

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems are promising methods of producing H2 gas using solar energy in an aqueous solution. The photoelectrochemical properties of numerous metal oxides have been studied. Among them, the PEC systems based on TiO2 have been extensively studied. However, the drawback of a PEC system with TiO2 is that only ultraviolet (UV) light can be absorbed because of its large band gap (3.2 - 3.4 eV). Two approaches have been introduced in order to use PEC cells in the visible light region. The first method includes doping impurities, such as nitrogen, into TiO2, and this technique has been extensively studied in an attempt to narrow the band gap. In comparison, research on the second method, which includes visible light water splitting in molecular photosystems, has been slow. Mallouk et al. recently developed electrochemical water-splitting cells using the Ru(II) complex as the visible light photosensitizer. the dye-sensitized PEC cell consisted of a dye-sensitized TiO2 layer, a Pt counter electrode, and an aqueous solution between them. Under a visible light (< 3 eV) illumination, only the dye molecule absorbed the light and became excited because TiO2 had the wide band gap. The light absorption of the dye was followed by the transfer of an electron from the excited state (S*) of the dye to the conduction band (CB) of TiO2 and its subsequent transfer to the transparent conducting oxide (TCO). The electrons moved through the wire to the Pt, where the water reduction (or H2 evolution) occurred. The oxidized dye molecules caused the water oxidation because their HOMO level was below the H2O/O2 level. Organic dyes have been developed as metal-free alternatives to the Ru(II) complexes because of their tunable optical and electronic properties and low-cost manufacturing. Recently, organic dye molecules containing multi-branched, multi-anchoring groups have received a great deal of interest. In this work, tri-branched tri-anchoring organic dyes (Dye 2) were designed and applied to visible light water-splitting cells based on dye-sensitized TiO2 electrodes. Dye 2 had a molecular structure containing one donor (D) and three acceptor (A) groups, and each ended with an anchoring functionality. In comparison, mono-anchoring dyes (Dye 1) were also synthesized. The PEC response of the Dye 2-sensitized TiO2 film was much better than the Dye 1-sensitized or unsensitized TiO2 films.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.145-150
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• 2008

In this work we have studied the antifouling properties of the hydrophobic sol-gel modified sensing membrane and its optical properties for sensor application. E. coli JM109, B. cereus 318 and P. pastoris X-33 were cultivated in confocal cultivation dishes with glass surface, respectively. The glass surface was coated with the hydrophobic sol-gels prepared by the dimethoxy-dimethyl-silane (DiMe-DMOS) and tetramethyl-orthosilicate (TMOS). After cultivation, microorganisms adhered on the surface coated with sol-gels and glass surface were dyed by gram-staining method and the numbers of microorganisms were analyzed based on the image data of the scanning electronic microscope (SEM). A great number of microorganisms, about $2{\sim}3{\times}10^4/mm^2$, was adhered on the glass surfaces which no hydrophobic sol-gels were coated. But, the antifouling effect of the hydrophobic sol-gels was large, that microorganisms of less than $200{\sim}300/mm^2$ were adhered on the coated glass surface. The performance of the sensing membranes for detection of pH and dissolved oxygen was enhanced by recoating the light insulation layer prepared with the mixture of the hydrophobic sol-gel and graphite particles.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.699-704
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• 2018

One-dimensional nanostructures have attracted increasing attention because of their unique electronic, optical, optoelectrical, and electrochemical properties on account of their large surface-to-volume ratio and quantum confinement effect. Vertically grown nanowires have a large surface-to-volume ratio. The vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process has attracted considerable attention for its self-alignment capability during the growth of nanostructures. In this study, vertically aligned silicon oxide nano-pillars were grown on Si\$SiO_2$(300 nm)\Pt substrates using two-zone thermal chemical vapor deposition system via the VLS process. The morphology and crystallographic properties of the grown silicon oxide nano-pillars were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The diameter and length of the grown silicon oxide nano-pillars were found to be dependent on the catalyst films. The body of the silicon oxide nano-pillars exhibited an amorphous phase, which is consisted with Si and O. The head of the silicon oxide nano-pillars was a crystalline phase, which is consisted with Si, O, Pt, and Ti. The vertical alignment of the silicon oxide nano-pillars was attributed to the preferred crystalline orientation of the catalyst Pt/Ti alloy. The vertically aligned silicon oxide nano-pillars are expected to be applied as a functional nano-material.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.502-507
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• 2016

Vanadium dioxide, $VO_2$, is a thermochromic material that exhibits a reversible metal-insulator phase transition at $68^{\circ}C$, which accompanies rapid changes in the optical and electronic properties. To decrease the transition temperature around room temperature, a number of studies have been performed. The phase transition temperature of 1D nanowire $VO_2$ with a 100 nm diameter was reported to be approximately $29^{\circ}C$. In this study, 1D or 2D nanostructured $VO_2$ was grown using the vapor transport method. Vanadium dioxide has a different morphology with the same growth conditions for different substrates. The 1D nanowires $VO_2$ were grown on a Si substrate ($Si{\setminus}SiO_2$(300 nm), whereas the 2D & 3D nanostructured $VO_2$ were grown on an exfoliated graphene nanosheet. The crystallographic properties of the 1D or 2D & 3D nanostructured $VO_2$, which were grown by thermal CVD, and exfoliated-transferred graphene nanosheets on a Si wafer which was used as substrate for the vanadium oxide nanostructures, were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. The as-grown vanadium oxide nanostructures have a $VO_2$ phase, which are confirmed by Raman spectroscopy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.100-101
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• 2012

The plasma damage free and room temperature processedthin film deposition technology is essential for realization of various next generation organic microelectronic devices such as flexible AMOLED display, flexible OLED lighting, and organic photovoltaic cells because characteristics of fragile organic materials in the plasma process and low glass transition temperatures (Tg) of polymer substrate. In case of directly deposition of metal oxide thin films (including transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS)) on the organic layers, plasma damages against to the organic materials is fatal. This damage is believed to be originated mainly from high energy energetic particles during the sputtering process such as negative oxygen ions, reflected neutrals by reflection of plasma background gas at the target surface, sputtered atoms, bulk plasma ions, and secondary electrons. To solve this problem, we developed the NBAS (Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering) process as a plasma damage free and room temperature processed sputtering technology. As a result, electro-optical properties of NBAS processed ITO thin film showed resistivity of $4.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}m$ and high transmittance (>90% at 550 nm) with nano- crystalline structure at room temperature process. Furthermore, in the experiment result of directly deposition of TCO top anode on the inverted structure OLED cell, it is verified that NBAS TCO deposition process does not damages to the underlying organic layers. In case of deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin film on the plastic polymer substrate, the room temperature processed sputtering coating of high quality TCO thin film is required. During the sputtering process with higher density plasma, the energetic particles contribute self supplying of activation & crystallization energy without any additional heating and post-annealing and forminga high quality TCO thin film. However, negative oxygen ions which generated from sputteringtarget surface by electron attachment are accelerated to high energy by induced cathode self-bias. Thus the high energy negative oxygen ions can lead to critical physical bombardment damages to forming oxide thin film and this effect does not recover in room temperature process without post thermal annealing. To salve the inherent limitation of plasma sputtering, we have been developed the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process as the high quality oxide thin film deposition process at room temperature. The MFSS process is effectively eliminate or suppress the negative oxygen ions bombardment damage by the plasma limiter which composed permanent magnet array. As a result, electro-optical properties of MFSS processed ITO thin film (resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, transmittance 95% at 550 nm) have approachedthose of a high temperature DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) ITO thin film were. Also, AOS (a-IGZO) TFTs fabricated by MFSS process without higher temperature post annealing showed very comparable electrical performance with those by DMS process with $400^{\circ}C$ post annealing. They are important to note that the bombardment of a negative oxygen ion which is accelerated by dc self-bias during rf sputtering could degrade the electrical performance of ITO electrodes and a-IGZO TFTs. Finally, we found that reduction of damage from the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment drives improvement of crystalline structure in the ITO thin film and suppression of the sub-gab states in a-IGZO semiconductor thin film. For realization of organic flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates, gas barrier coatings are required to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency flexible AMOLEDs needs an extremely low water vapor transition rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$. The key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required (under ${\sim}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$) is the suppression of nano-sized defect sites and gas diffusion pathways among the grain boundaries. For formation of high quality single inorganic gas barrier layer, we developed high density nano-structured Al2O3 single gas barrier layer usinga NBAS process. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to a nano- crystalline phase with various grain sizes in a single inorganic thin film. As a result, the water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film have improved order of magnitude compared with that of conventional $Al_2O_3$ layers made by the RF magnetron sputteringprocess under the same sputtering conditions; the WVTR of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film was about $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2/day$ by just single layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.102-102
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• 2018

Electronic industry had required the finer size and the higher performance of the device. Therefore, 3-D die stacking technology such as TSV (through silicon via) and micro-bump had been used. Moreover, by the development of the 3-D die stacking technology, 3-D structure such as chip to chip (c2c) and chip to wafer (c2w) had become practicable. These technologies led to the appearance of HBM (high bandwidth memory). HBM was type of the memory, which is composed of several stacked layers of the memory chips. Each memory chips were connected by TSV and micro-bump. Thus, HBM had lower RC delay and higher performance of data processing than the conventional memory. Moreover, due to the development of the IT industry such as, AI (artificial intelligence), IOT (internet of things), and VR (virtual reality), the lower pitch size and the higher density were required to micro-electronics. Particularly, to obtain the fine pitch, some of the method such as copper pillar, nickel diffusion barrier, and tin-silver or tin-silver-copper based bump had been utillized. TCB (thermal compression bonding) and reflow process (thermal aging) were conventional method to bond between tin-silver or tin-silver-copper caps in the temperature range of 200 to 300 degrees. However, because of tin overflow which caused by higher operating temperature than melting point of Tin ($232^{\circ}C$), there would be the danger of bump bridge failure in fine-pitch bonding. Furthermore, regulating the phase of IMC (intermetallic compound) which was located between nickel diffusion barrier and bump, had a lot of problems. For example, an excess of kirkendall void which provides site of brittle fracture occurs at IMC layer after reflow process. The essential solution to reduce the difficulty of bump bonding process is copper to copper direct bonding below $300^{\circ}C$. In this study, in order to improve the problem of bump bonding process, copper to copper direct bonding was performed below $300^{\circ}C$. The driving force of bonding was the self-annealing properties of electrodeposited Cu with high defect density. The self-annealing property originated in high defect density and non-equilibrium grain boundaries at the triple junction. The electrodeposited Cu at high current density and low bath temperature was fabricated by electroplating on copper deposited silicon wafer. The copper-copper bonding experiments was conducted using thermal pressing machine. The condition of investigation such as thermal parameter and pressure parameter were varied to acquire proper bonded specimens. The bonded interface was characterized by SEM (scanning electron microscope) and OM (optical microscope). The density of grain boundary and defects were examined by TEM (transmission electron microscopy).

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

Luminescent lanthanide complexes have been overviewed for advanced photonics applications. Lanthanide(III) ions ($Ln^{3+}$) were encapsulated by the luminescent ligands such as metalloporphyrins, naphthalenes, anthracene, push-pull diketone derivatives and boron dipyrromethene(bodipy). The energy levels of the luminescent ligands were tailored to maintain the effective energy transfer process from luminescent ligands to $Ln^{3+}$ ions for getting a higher optical amplification gain. Also, key parameters for emission enhancement and efficient energy transfer pathways for the sensitization of $Ln^{3+}$ ions by luminescent ligands were investigated. Furthermore, to enhance the optophysical properties of novel luminescent $Ln^{3+}$ complexes, aryl ether-functionalized dendrons as photon antennas have been incorporated into luminescent $Ln^{3+}$ complexes, yielding novel $Ln^{3+}$-cored dendrimer complex such as metalloporphyrins, naphthalenes, and anthracenes bearing the Fr$\acute{e}$chet aryl-ether dendrons, namely, ($Er^{3+}-[Gn-Pt-Por]_3$ (terpy), $Er^{3+}-[Gn-Naph]_3$(terpy) and $Er^{3+}-[Gn-An]_3$(terpy)). These complexs showed much stronger near-IR emission bands at 1530 nm, originated from the 4f-4f electronic transition of the first excited state ($^4I_{13/2}$) to the ground state ($^4I_{15/2}$) of the partially filled 4f shell. A significant decrease in the fluorescence of metalloporphyrins, naphthalenes and anthracene ligand were accompanied by a strong increase in the near IR emission of the $Ln^{3+}$ ions. The near IR emission intensities of $Ln^{3+}$ ions in the lanthanide(III)-encapsulated dendrimer complexes were dramatically enhanced with increasing the generation number (n) of dendrons, due to the site-isolation and the light-harvesting(LH) effects. Furthermore, it was first attempted to distinguish between the site-isolation and the light-harvesting effects in the present complexes. In this review, synthesis and photophysical studies of inert and stable luminescent $Ln^{3+}$ complexes will be dealt for the advanced photonics applications. Also, the review will include the exploratory investigation of the key parameters for emission enhancement and the effective energy transfer pathways from luminescent ligands to $Ln^{3+}$ ions with $Ln^{3+}$-chelated prototype complexes.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.221-226
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• 1998

Ternary heavy metal oxide glasses in the $PbO-Bi_2O_3-Ga_2O_3$ system doped with $Er_2O_3$ were prepared and their spectroscopic properties, such as radiative transition probability, calculated and measured radiative lifetimes and cross-sections of 1.5 $\mu\textrm{m}$ and 2.7 $\mu\textrm{m}$ emissions were analyzed. Enhanced quantum efficiencies of some electronic transitions were evident mainly because of the low vibrational phonon energy ($~500cm^{-1}$) inherent in the host glasses. This seems to be the main reason for obtaining the 2.7 $\mu\textrm{m}$ luminescence which is normally quenched in the conventional oxide glasses. In addition, green and red fluorescence emissions were observed through the frequency upconversion processes of the 798 nm excitation. Non-radiative transition due to the multiphonon relaxation is a dominant lifetime-shortening mechanism in the 4f-4f transitions in $Er^{3+}$ ion except for the $^4S_{3/2}{\rightarrow}^4I_{15/2}$ transition where a non-radiative transfer to band-gap excitation of the host glasses is dominant. Melting of glasses under an inert gas atmosphere and (or) addition of the typical glass-network former into glasses is necessary in order to enhance the quantum efficiency of the transition.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.10-19
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• 1992

Mn - Zn Ferrite has physical properties of the high initial permeability, saturation magnetic flux density, and low loss factor as a representative magnetic material of soft ferrites, in addition the mechanical property is excellent as a single crystal. Therefore it is important electronic components and used for VTR Head. Mn - Zn Ferrite single crystals with the diameter 8mm were grown in atmosphere mixed with $O_2$ and Ar gas by the Floating Zone(FZ) method that impurities can not be incorporated to the crystals because of not-using the crucible to put in the melt, and the sharp temperature gradient results from making a focus at one point utilizing the infrared ray emitted from the halogen lamp as a heat source. During the crystal growing, the highest temperature of melting area was maintained to be $1650^{\circ}C$, growth rate and rotation rate were 10 mm/hr, 20 rpm respectively. The phases and the growth directions of crystals were determined from the analysis of X RD patterns, Laue, TEM diffraction patterns and etch pit shapes were observed by the optical microscope through the chemical etching. The corelation of optimum conditions for acquiring the better crystals was found out with the growth rate, the length and diameter of melt at the interface according to the diameter of feed rod, and the patterns of growing interface also studied.