• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.1475-1480
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• 2004

Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) process uses unique property of plasma to modify surfaces and to achieve the high deposition rates. In this study, a vertical thermal RF-PECVD (Radio Frequency-PECVD) reactor is modeled to investigate thermal flow and the deposition rates with various shapes of the showerhead. The showerhead in the CVD reactor has the shape of a ring and gases are injected in parallel with the susceptor, which is a rotating disk. In order to achieve the high deposition rates, we have simulated the thermal flow fields in the reactor with several showerhead models. Especially the effects of the number of injection holes and the rotating speed of the susceptor are studied. Using a commercial code, CFDACE, which uses FVM (Finite Volume Method) and SIMPLE algorithm, governing equations have been solved for the pressure, mass-flow rates and temperature distributions in the CVD reactor. With the help of the Nusselt number and Sherwood number, the heat and mass transfers on the susceptor are investigated. In order to characteristics of measure the flatness of the layer, furthermore, the relative growth rate (RGR) is considered.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.1049-1058
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• 1990

Mathematical modeling equations of a parallel plate type reactor were obtained in the PECVD process in preparing hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Velocity profiles, temperature profiles and concentration profiles in the reactor were calculated from the model. The theoretical approach was attempted to obtain the deposition rate and film uniformity at different operating conditions by calculating RF discharge parameters and establishing the reaction mechanisms of a-Si:H thin film. The modelling equations are solved by a finite difference method with control volume balance. The mean electrom energy in discharge was applied to model simulation parameter. The magnitudes of the predicted deposition rate are in good aggrement with those of experiment. The results of computer simulation shows that uniform deposition profiles can.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.235-243
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• 1997

The high-$T_c$ superconducting phase, $YBa_2Cu_3O_x$, was deposited on the single crystal MgO substrate, using a liquid aerosol feed method in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) reactor. The effect of the plasma distribution depending on the design of a reactor was studied by the analysis of the microstructures of thin films. The particles landed were frequently observed on the films and the two causes that were responsible for the particle deposition were explained. The particles were deposited by the unstable and non-uniform plasma and the low evaporation rate of the precursors. Also, the thin film deposition rate decreased significantly as the distance between the evaporating location and the substrate increased.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.276-279
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• 2004

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon nitride (SiN) is a proven technique for obtaining layers that meet the needs of surface passivation and anti-reflection coating. In addition, the deposition process appears to provoke bulk passivation as well due to diffusion of atomic hydrogen. This bulk passivation is an important advantage of PECVD deposition when compared to the conventional CVD techniques. A further advantage of PECVD is that the process takes place at a relatively low temperature of 300t, keeping the total thermal budget of the cell processing to a minimum. In this work SiN deposition was performed using a horizontal PECVD reactor system consisting of a long horizontal quartz tube that was radiantly heated. Special and long rectangular graphite plates served as both the electrodes to establish the plasma and holders of the wafers. The electrode configuration was designed to provide a uniform plasma environment for each wafer and to ensure the film uniformity. These horizontally oriented graphite electrodes were stacked parallel to one another, side by side, with alternating plates serving as power and ground electrodes for the RF power supply. The plasma was formed in the space between each pair of plates. Also this paper deals with the fabrication of multicrystalline silicon solar cells with PECVD SiN layers combined with high-throughput screen printing and RTP firing. Using this sequence we were able to obtain solar cells with an efficiency of 14% for polished multi crystalline Si wafers of size 125 m square.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.662-666
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• 2005

Silicon nitride $(SiN_x)$ film is a promising material for anti-reflection coating and passivation of multicrystalline silicon (me-Si) solar cells. In this work, a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system with batch-type reactor tube was used to prepare highly robust $SiN_x$ films for screen-printed mc-Si solar cells. The Gas flow ratio, $R=[SiH_4]/[NH_3]$, in a mixture of silane and ammonia was varied in the range of 0.0910.235 while maintaining the total flow rate of the process gases to 4,200 sccm. The refractive index of the $SiN_x$ film deposited with a gas flow ratio of 0.091 was measured to be 2.03 and increased to 2.37 as the gas flow ratio increased to 0.235. The highest efficiency of the cell was $14.99\%$ when the flow rate of $SiH_4$ was 350 sccm (R=0.091). Generally, we observed that the efficiency of the mc-Si solar cell decreased with increasing R. From the analysis of the reflectance and the quantum efficiency of the cell, the decrease in the efficiency was shown to originate mainly from an increase in the surface reflectance for a high flow rate of $SiH_4$ during the deposition of $SiN_x$ films.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.39 no.10
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• pp.1037-1043
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• 1990

Diamond thin films were synthesized from the mixed gases of methane and hydrogen on silicon substrates by RF plasma chemical vapor deposition and deposited films were investigated by SEM, X-ray diffractometry and Raman spectroscopy. It is found that high quality diamond-like carbon films were successfully synthesized by PECVD under the deposition condition of 1-10 vol% of methane concentration, 0.15-0.4torr of reactor pressure, 500W of RF power, and 5-20hr of reaction time. Especially, cubo-octahedral diamond-like carbon particles were synthesized by employing 1.0 vol % of methane concentration and 0.4torr of the reactor pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.229-237
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• 1996

The superconducting phase, $YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{x}$ (YBCO), was in-situ deposited on the single crystal MgO substrates, using an aerosol decomposition process in a cold plasma reactor. The solubility and decomposition temperature of the chemical precursors, and the vapor pressures of the solvents, were determined to be the factors crucial to achieving a stoichiometric, crystalline YBCO phase. The deposition parameters for the YBCO phase were 0.3 to 2.7 kPa for the oxygen partial pressure and $800^{\circ}C$ to $940^{\circ}C$ for the substrate temperature. The optimum deposition conditions for the YBCO phase were observed along the CuO decomposition line.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2000.02a
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• pp.91-91
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• 2000

a-C:H 혹은 a-SiC:H 박막은 광전소자 및 태양전지 등의 개발에 있어서 중요한 물질이다. 우리는 a-C:H 및 a-SiC:H 박막을 PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition) 방법으로 증착시키고, 박막의 가열에 따른 스핀밀도의 변화를 ESR (electron spin resonance) 측정을 통하여 조사하였다. PECVD 증착가스는 Ch4, SiH4 가스를 사용하였고, 기판은 Corning 1737glass를 사용하였으며, 기판 온도는 300-40$0^{\circ}C$, 증착 압력은 0.1-0.3 Torr, r.f. 전력은 3-36W 사이에서 변화되었다. ESR 측정은 상온 X-band 영역에서 수행되었고, modulation amplitude는 2.5G, modulation frequency는 100kHz 이었다. a-C:H 혹은 a-SiC:H 박막은 진공상태의 reactor, 혹은 공기중의 furnace 안에서 300-50$0^{\circ}C$ 영역에서 3-8시간 정도 가열되거나, 혹은 상온에서 약 50$0^{\circ}C$ 정도까지 단계적으로 가열되었다. 증착된 a-C:H 박막의 초기 구조는 Raman 측정으로부터 polymer-like Carbon으로 추정되었으며, 300-35$0^{\circ}C$ 가열시 초기 1시간 정도 사이에는 스핀밀도가 증가되었으나, 그 후 8시간 정도까지의 가열의 경우에도 대체로 동일하게 나타났다. 또한 상온으로부터 약 50$0^{\circ}C$까지 단계적으로 온도를 높여주며, 각 단계마다 1시간씩 가열했을 때도 30$0^{\circ}C$ 정도까지는 스핀밀도가 증가하다가 더 높은 온도로 가면서 다시 스핀밀도가 감소함을 볼 수 있었다. 이러한 스핀밀도의 초기 증가 및 감소를 일으키는 메카니즘에 대해서 논의해 볼 것이다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.964-967
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• 2002

The effectiveness of silicon nitride SiNx surface passivation is investigated and quantified. This study adopted single-layer antireflection (SLAR) coating of SiNx for efficiency improvement of solar cell. The silicon nitride films were deposited by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) in planar coil reactor. The process gases used were pure ammonia and a mixture of silane and helium. The thickness and the refractive index on the films were measured by ellipsometry and chemical bonds were determined by using an FT-IR equipment. This films obtained were analyzed in term of hydrogen content, refractive index for gas flow ratio $(NH_3/SiH_4)$, and efficiency of solar cell. The polycrystalline silicon solar cells passivated by silicon nitride shows efficiency above 12.8%.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.153-161
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• 1992

A plasma has been used in a high vaccum, cold wall reactor for low temperature deposition of C54 TiSi2 and for in-situ surface cleaning prior to silicide deposition. SiH4 and TiCl4 were used as the silicon and titanium sources, respectively. The deposited films had low resistivities in the range of 15~25 uohm-cm. The investigation of the experimental variables' effects on the growth of silicide and its concomitant silicon consumption revealed that and were the dominant species for silicide formation and the primary factors in silicon consumption were gas composition ratio and temperature. Increasing silane flow rate from 6 to 9 sccm decreased silicon consumption from 1500 A/min to less than 30 A/min. Furthermore, decreasing the temperature from 650 to $590^{\circ}C$ achieved blanket silicide deposition with no silicon consumption. A kinetic model of silicon consumption is proposed to understand the fundamental mechanism responsible for the dependence of silicon consumption on SiH4 flow rate.