• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.439-444
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• 2024

This study investigates the post-thermal treatment effects on the efficiency of silicon heterojunction solar cells, specifically examining the influence of annealing on p-type microcrystalline silicon oxide and ITO thin films. By assessing changes in carrier concentration, mobility, resistivity, transmittance, and optical bandgap, we identified conditions that optimize these properties. Results reveal that appropriate annealing significantly enhances the fill factor and current density, leading to a notable improvement in overall solar cell efficiency. This research advances our understanding of thermal processing in silicon-based photovoltaics and provides valuable insights into the optimization of production techniques to maximize the performance of solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• 제23권8호
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• pp.581-586
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• 2010

The porous Si (PS) was annealed at various temperature in air, argon, and nitrogen atmosphere. Structural and optical properties of the annealed PS were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photoluminescence (PL). It is found that the shape of pore is changed from circle to channel as increasing annealing temperature which was annealed in air and argon atmosphere. In case of PS annealed in nitrogen atmosphere, the shape of pore is changed from channel to circle with increase annealing temperature from 600 to $800^{\circ}C$. The PL peak position is blue-shifted with increasing annealing temperature. As annealing temperature increases, the PL intensity of the PS annealed in argon is decreased but that of the PS annealed in nitrogen is increased. It might be due to the formation of Si-N bonds and it passivates the non-radiative centers which is Si dangling bonds on the surface of the PS.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• 제22권5호
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• pp.264-268
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• 2013

Aluminum clad sheets for brazing materials in the automotive heat exchangers are required to exhibit both high strength and excellent erosion resistance. In this study, the effects of microstructural changes on the property of clad sheets due to thermomechanical treatment were investigated. The clad sheets were fabricated by roll bonding of twin-roll-cast AA3527 and AA4343 alloys followed by cold rolling down to a thickness of 0.22mm. Partial or full annealing was conducted at the final thickness in order to improved the erosion resistance while keeping the proper strength. Since full annealing was achieved for a temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, annealing treatments were performed at 360, 380, and $400^{\circ}C$, respectively. The tensile strength of 3527/4343 clad material was found to be inversely proportional to the annealing temperature before the brazing heat treatment. After this latter treatment, however, the tensile strength of the clad material was about 195~200MPa regardless of the annealing temperature. The erosion depth ratio of the clad annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ was 8.8% (the lowest), while that of the clad annealed at $380^{\circ}C$ was 17% (the highest). The effect of annealing temperature on the tensile and erosion properties of 3527/4343 aluminum clad sheets was elucidated by means of microstructural analyses.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2009년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.112-112
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• 2009

In this study, the effect of a long post-deposition thermal annealing(600 and 1000 $^{\circ}C$) on the surface acoustic wave (SAW) properties of polycrystalline (poly) aluminum-nitride (AlN) thin films grown on a 3C-SiC buffer layer was investigates. The poly-AlN thin films with a (0002) preferred orientation were deposited on the substrates by using a pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering system. Experimental results show that the texture degree of AlN thin film was reduced along the increase in annealing temperature, which caused the decrease in the electromechanical coupling coefficient ($k^2$). The SAW velocity also was decreased slightly by the increase in root mean square (RMS) roughness over annealing temperature. However, the residual stress in films almost was not affect by thermal annealing process due to small lattice mismatch different and similar coefficient temperature expansion (CTE) between AlN and 3C-SiC. After the AlN film annealed at 1000 $^{\circ}C$, the insertion loss of an $IDT/AlN/3C-SiC/SiO_2/Si$ structure (-16.44 dB) was reduced by 8.79 dB in comparison with that of the as-deposited film (-25.23 dB). The improvement in the insertion loss of the film was fined according to the decrease in the grain size. The characteristics of AlN thin films were also evaluated using Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra and X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.96-100
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• 2017

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has been extensively studied as the active material in ammonia gas sensor because of its fast response time, high conductivity and environmental stability. It is well known that a post annealing process for organic devices based on PEDOT:PSS significantly increases the device performance. In this study, we propose the solvent annealing of PEDOT:PSS and investigated its effects. As a results, post solvent annealing on PEDOT:PSS lead to the surface chemical and physical properties change. These changes result in improved conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS. In additional, ammonia sensitivity of solvent annealed PEDOT:PSS become higher than pristine polymer film. The enhancement is mainly caused by the depletion of gas barrier PSS and structural re-forming PEDOT networks. We believe that the post solvent annealing is a promising method to achieve highly sensitivity PEDOT:PSS films for applications in efficient, low-cost and flexible ammonia gas sensor.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• 제11권10호
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• pp.879-888
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• 2001

The effects of final annealing temperature on the microstructure and creep characteristics were investigated for the Zr-lNb-0.2X (X=0, Mo, Cu) and Zr-lNb- 1Sn-0.3Fe-0.1X (X=0, Mo, Cu) alloys. The microstructures were observed by using TEM/EDS, and grain size and distributions of precipitates were analyzed using a image analyzer. The creep test was performed at $400^{\circ}C$ under applied stress of 150 MPa for 10 days. The $\beta$-Zr was observed at annealing temperature above $600^{\circ}C$. In the temperature above$ 600^{\circ}C$, the grain sizes of both alloy systems appeared to be increased with increasing the final annealing temperature. The creep strengths of Zr-1Nb-1Sn-0.3Fe-0.1X alloys were higher than those of Zr-1Nb-0.2X ones due to the effect of solid solution hardening by Sn in Zr-lNb-lSn-0.3Fe-0.1X alloy system. Also, Mo addition showed the strong effect of precipitate hardening in both alloy systems. The creep strength rapidly decreased with increasing the annealing temperature up to $600^{\circ}C$. However, a superior creep resistance was obtained in the sample that annealed to have a second phase of $\beta$-Zr. It was considered that the appearance of $\beta$-Zr would play an important role in the strengthening mechanism of creep deformation.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.125-130
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• 2011

We describe that the surface and thickness of nanoporous $WO_3$ fabricated by both light-induced and light-absent anodization are affected by pre-annealing process from $200^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$. As a result, the nanoporous $WO_3$ with a thickness of $1.83{\mu}m$ can be achieved by anodization for 6 hours after pre-annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ without illumination of light. Moreover, the thickness of nanoporous $WO_3$ fabricated by pre-annealing is thicker than that of $WO_3$ prepared by non-annealing process. However, the light illumination during anodization leads to convert the crystalline structure obtained by pre-annealing, which interfere the growth of nanoporous $WO_3$. In this paper, we discuss about the growth mechanism of these different nanoporous $WO_3$ films.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• 제5권4호
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• pp.348-353
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• 1996

Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was applied to polycrystalline CdTe thin films evaporated on CdS/ITO/glass substrate and the effect of the annealing temperatures and the atmosphere on physical properties of polycrystalline CdTe thin films and CdTe/CdS solar cell characteristics were studied. Results obtained by EDX showed that the bulk composition of CdTe remained stoichiometric after annealing at $550^{\circ}C$ in the air but the surface composition became Cd-rich. Cross-sectional TEM and micro EDX showed that columnar grains and micro-twins remained even after RTA, however, and the sulfur content in the annealed CdTe (added by sulfur diffusion from CdS during the annealing) was much smaller than that by furnace annealing. Among the investigated RTA temperatures and gas environments, the cell made with CdTe annealed at $550^{\circ}C$ in air showed the best solar energy conversion efficiency.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• 제10권8호
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• pp.137-143
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• 2020

This study examined the effects of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the physical and chemical characteristics of thin silver (Ag) layers on SiO2 coated metal foils. Ag layers were annealed at various temperatures of the range between 150 ℃ and 550 ℃ for 20 min. The surface roughness and resistivity are increased at the annealing temperatures of 550 ℃. We also found that oxygen (O) and silicon (Si) atoms exist at the Ag film surface by using compositional analysis in the annealing temperatures of 550 ℃. The total reflectance is decreased with increasing temperature. These phenomena are due to an out-diffusion of Si atoms from SiO2 layers during the RTA annealing. The results offer the possibility of using it as a substrate for various flexible optoelectronic devices.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.75-81
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• 2002

The ferroelectric properties of Pb(Zr,Ti)O$_3$[PZT] films degrade when the films with Pt top electrodes are annealed in hydrogen containing environment. This is due to the reduction activity of atomic hydrogen that is generated by the catalytic activity of the Pt top electrode. At the initial stage of hydrogen annealing, oxygen vacancies are formed by the reduction activity of hydrogen mainly at the vicinity of top Pt/PZT interface, resulting in a shift of P-E (polarization-electric field) hysteresis curve toward the negative electric field direction. As the hydrogen annealing time increases, oxygen vacancies are formed inside the PZT film by the inward diffusion of hydrogen ions, as a result, the polarization degrades significantly and the degree of P-E curve shift decreases gradually. The direction and the magnitude of the remnant polarization in the PZT film affect the motion of hydrogen ions which determines the degradation of polarization characteristics and the shift in the P-E hysteresis curve of the PZT capacitor during hydrogen annealing. When the remnant polarization is formed in the PZT film by applying a pre-poling voltage prior to hydrogen annealing, the direction of the P-E curve shift induced by hydrogen annealing is opposite to the polarity of the pre-poling voltage. The hydrogen-induced degradation behavior of the PZT capacitor is also affected by the internal field that has been generated in the PZT film by the charges located at the top interface prior to hydrogen annealing.