• 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.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2008

Purpose: A simple and efficient method to prepare nanocrystalline ZnO thin film with pure strong UV emission on soda-lime-silica glass substrates by low-temperature annealing was improved. Methods: Crystal structural, surface morphological, and optical characteristics of nanocrystalline ZnO thin films deposited on soda-lime-silica glass substrates by prefiring final annealing process at 300$^{\circ}C$ were investigated by using X-ray diffraction analysis, field emission-scanning electron microscope, scanning probe microscope, ultraviolet-visible-near infrared spectrophotometer, and photoluminescence. Results: Highly c-axis-oriented ZnO films were obtained by prefiring at 300$^{\circ}C$. A high transmittance in the visible spectra range and clear absorption edge in the ultra violet range of the film was observed. The PL spectrum of ZnO thin film with a deep near band edge emission was observed while the defect-related broad green emission was nearly quenched. Conclusions: Our work will be possibly adopted to cheaply and easily fabricate ZnO-based optoelectronic devices at low temperature, below 300$^{\circ}C$, in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.189-197
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• 2006

A stoichiometric mixture of evaporating materials for $AgGaSe_2$ single crystal thin films was prepared from horizontal electric furnace. To obtain the single crystal thin films, $AgGaSe_2$ mixed crystal was deposited on thoroughly etched semi-insulating GaAs(100) substrate by the hot wall epitaxy(HWE) system. The source and substrate temperatures were $630^{\circ}C\;and\;420^{\circ}C$, respectively. The temperature dependence of the energy band gap of the $AgGaSe_2$ obtained from the absorption spectra was well described by the Varshni's relation, $E_g(T)=1.9501eV-(8.79x10^{-4}eV/K)T^2(T+250K)$. After the as-grown $AgGaSe_2$ single crystal thin films was annealed in Ag-, Se-, and Ga-atmospheres, the origin of point defects of $AgGaSe_2$ single crystal thin films has been investigated by the photoluminescence (PL) at 10K. The native defects of $V_{Ag},\;V_{Se},\;Ag_{int},\;and\;Se_{int}$ obtained by PL measurements were classified as a donors or accepters type. And we concluded that the heat-treatment in the Ag-atmosphere converted $AgGaSe_2$ single crystal thin films to an optical p-type. Also, we confirmed that Ga in $AgGaSe_2$/GaAs did not form the native defects because Ga in $AgGaSe_2$ single crystal thin films existed in the form of stable bonds.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2014

The evaporating materials for $MgGa_2Se_4$ single crystal thin films was prepared from horizontal electric furnace. To obtain the single crystal thin films, $MgGa_2Se_4$ compounded polycrystal powder was deposited on thoroughly etched semi-insulated GaAs(100) substrate by the hot wall epitaxy (HWE) method system. The source and substrate temperatures of optimized growth conditions, were $610^{\circ}C$ and $400^{\circ}C$, respectively.The source and substrate temperatures were $610^{\circ}C$ and $400^{\circ}C$, respectively. The crystalline structure of the single crystal thin films was investigated by double crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXD). The temperature dependence of the energy band gap of the $MgGa_2Se_4$ obtained from the absorption spectra was well described by the Varshni's relation, $E_g(T)=2.34\;eV-(8.81{\times}10^{-4}\;eV/K)T^2/(T+251\;K)$. After the as-grown $MgGa_2Se_4$ single crystal thin films was annealed in Mg-, Se-, and Ga-atmospheres, the origin of point defects of $MgGa_2Se_4$ single crystal thin films has been investigated by the photoluminescence (PL) at 10 K. The native defects of $V_{Mg}$, $V_{Se}$ obtained by PL measurements were classified as a donors or acceptors type. And we concluded that the heat-treatment in the Se-atmosphere converted $MgGa_2Se_4$ single crystal thin films to an optical n-type. Also, we confirmed that Ga in $MgGa_2Se_4$/GaAs did not form the native defects because Ga in $MgGa_2Se_4$ single crystal thin films existed in the form of stable bonds.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.358-359
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• 2012

최근 분극 특성이 상이한 무분극 GaN 에피성장에 관한 심도 있는 연구와 함께 전자-전공 캐리어의 주입 및 캐리어의 거동, 방출되는 편광 특성 및 다양한 물리적 특성들에 대해 보고되고 있으며, 광학적 특성 및 물리적 특성의 확보를 위한 많은 연구가 활발히 진행 중이다 [1]. GaN의 ohmic 접촉(ohmic contact)의 형성은 발광 다이오드(light emitting diode), 레이저 다이오드(Laser), 태양전지(solar cell)와 같은 고신뢰도, 고효율 광전자 소자를 제조하기 위해서는 매우 중요하다 [2]. 그러나 이와 함께 병행 되어야 할 무분극 p-GaN 의 ohmic contact에 관한 연구는 많이 이루어지고 있지 않는 실정이다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 r-plane 사파이어 기판 상에 성장된 p-GaN에서의 ohmic 접촉 형성 연구를 위하여 Ni/Au ohmic 전극의 접촉저항 특성을 연구하였다. 본 실험에서는 성장된 a-plane GaN의 Hole농도가 $3.09{\times}1017cm3$ 인 시편을 사용하였다. E-beam evaporation 장비를 이용하여 Ni/Au를 각각 20 nm 그리고80 nm 증착 하였으며 비접촉저항을 측정하기 위해 Circle-Transfer Length Method (C-TLM) 패턴을 사용하였다. 샘플은 RTA (Rapid Thermal Annealing)를 사용하여 $300^{\circ}C$에서 $700^{\circ}C$까지 온도를 변화시키며 전기적 특성을 비교하여 그림 1(a) 나타내었다. 그림에서 알 수 있듯이 $400^{\circ}C$에서 가장 낮은 비접촉저항 값인 $6.95{\times}10-3{\Omega}cm2$를 얻을 수 있음을 발견하였다. 이 때의 I-V curve 도 그림1(b)에 나타낸 바와 같이 열처리에 의해 크게 향상됨을 알 수 있다. 그러나, $500^{\circ}C$ 이상 온도를 증가시키면 다시 비접촉 저항이 증가하는 것을 관찰하였다. XRD (x-Ray Diffraction) 분석을 통하여 $400^{\circ}C$ 이상열처리 온도가 증가하면 금속 표면에 $NiO_2$가 형성되며, 이에 따라 오믹특성이 저하 된다고 사료된다. 또한 $Ni_3N$의 존재를 확인 하였으며 이는 nonpolar surface의 특성으로 인해 nitrogen out diffusion 현상이 동시에 발생하여 계면에는 dopant로 작용하는 질소 공공을 남기고 표면에 $Ni_3N$을 형성하여 ohmic contact의 특성이 저하되기 때문인 것으로 사료된다.

• 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).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2000.02a
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• pp.186-186
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• 2000

After LeComber et al. reported the first amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si: H) TFT, many laboratories started the development of an active matrix LCDs using a-Si:H TFTs formed on glass substrate. With increasing the display area and pixel density of TFT-LCD, however, high mobility TFTs are required for pixel driver of TF-LCD in order to shorten the charging time of the pixel electrodes. The most important of these drawbacks is a-Si's electron mobiliy, which is the speed at which electrons can move through each transistor. The problem of low carier mobility for the a-Si:H TFTs can be overcome by introducing polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin film instead of a-Si:H as a semiconductor layer of TFTs. Therefore, poly-Si has gained increasing interest and has been investigated by many researchers. Recnetly, fabrication of such poly-Si TFT-LCD panels with VGA pixel size and monolithic drivers has been reported, . Especially, fabricating poly-Si TFTs at a temperature mach lower than the strain point of glass is needed in order to have high mobility TFTs on large-size glass substrate, and the monolithic drivers will reduce the cost of TFT-LCDs. The conventional methods to fabricate poly-Si films are low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD0 as well as solid phase crystallization (SPC), pulsed rapid thermal annealing(PRTA), and eximer laser annealing (ELA). However, these methods have some disadvantages such as high deposition temperature over $600^{\circ}C$, small grain size (<50nm), poor crystallinity, and high grain boundary states. Therefore the low temperature and large area processes using a cheap glass substrate are impossible because of high temperature process. In this study, therefore, we have deposited poly-Si thin films on si(100) and glass substrates at growth temperature of below 40$0^{\circ}C$ using newly developed high rate magnetron sputtering method. To improve the sputtering yield and the growth rate, a high power (10~30 W/cm2) sputtering source with unbalanced magnetron and Si ion extraction grid was designed and constructed based on the results of computer simulation. The maximum deposition rate could be reached to be 0.35$\mu$m/min due to a high ion bombardment. This is 5 times higher than that of conventional sputtering method, and the sputtering yield was also increased up to 80%. The best film was obtained on Si(100) using Si ion extraction grid under 9.0$\times$10-3Torr of working pressure and 11 W/cm2 of the target power density. The electron mobility of the poly-si film grown on Si(100) at 40$0^{\circ}C$ with ion extraction grid shows 96 cm2/V sec. During sputtering, moreover, the characteristics of si source were also analyzed with in situ Langmuir probe method and optical emission spectroscopy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2013

Recently, Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSS), which is one of the In- and Ga- free absorber materials, has been attracted considerable attention as a new candidate for use as an absorber material in thin film solar cells. The CZTSS-based absorber material has outstanding characteristics such as band gap energy of 1.0 eV to 1.5 eV, high absorption coefficient on the order of 104 cm-1, and high theoretical conversion efficiency of 32.2% in thin film solar cells. Despite these promising characteristics, research into CZTSS based thin film solar cells is still incomprehensive and related reports are quite few compared to those for CIGS thin film solar cells, which show high efficiency of over 20%. I will briefly overview the recent technological development of CZTSS thin film solar cells and then introduce our research results mainly related to sputter based process. CZTSS thin film solar cells are prepared by sulfurization of stacked both metallic and sulfide precursors. Sulfurization process was performed in both furnace annealing system and rapid thermal processing system using S powder as well as 5% diluted H2S gas source at various annealing temperatures ranging from $520^{\circ}C$ to $580^{\circ}C$. Structural, optical, microstructural, and electrical properties of absorber layers were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Hall-measurement, TRPL, etc. The effects of processing parameters, such as composition ratio, sulfurization pressure, and sulfurization temperature on the properties of CZTSS absorber layers will be discussed in detail. CZTSS thin film solar cell fabricated using metallic precursors shows maximum cell efficiency of 6.9% with Jsc of 25.2 mA/cm2, Voc of 469 mV, and fill factor of 59.1% and CZTS thin film solar cell using sulfide precursors shows that of 4.5% with Jsc of 19.8 mA/cm2, Voc of 492 mV, and fill factor of 46.2%. In addition, other research activities in our lab related to the formation of CZTS absorber layers using solution based processes such as electro-deposition, chemical solution deposition, nano-particle formation will be introduced briefly.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 1997

ZnO thin film had been deposited on the glass by sputtering method, and investigated by optical and electrical properties. When the rf power was 180W and sputtering pressure was $1{\times}10^{-3}$Torr at room temperature, thin lam deposited had strongly oriented c-axis and the lowest resistivity($1{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$), and then carrier concentration and Hall mobility were $6.27{\times}10^{20}cm^{-3}$ and $22.04cm^{2}/V{\cdot}s$, respectively. Transmittance of ZnO thin film in visible range was above 90%, and this thin film cut of the ultraviolet range below 320nm and the infrared range above 850nm. And after annealing in hydrogen atmosphere, the resistivity of ZnO thin film was somewhat decreased, while obtained as stable state.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 2016

$Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ (CZTS) thin films were fabricated by successive electrodeposition of layers of precursor elements followed by sulfurization of an electrodeposited Cu-Zn-Sn precursor. In order to improve quality of the CZTS films, we tried to optimize the deposition condition of absorber layers. In particular, I have conducted optimization experiments by changing the Cu-layer deposition time. The CZTS absorber layers were synthesized by different Cu-layer conditions ranging from 10 to 16 minutes. The sulfurization of Cu/Sn/Zn stacked metallic precursor thin films has been conducted in a graphite box using rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The structural, morphological, compositional, and optical properties of CZTS thin films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray Flourescenece Spectrometry (XRF). Especially, the CZTS TFSCs exhibits the best power conversion efficiency of 4.62% with $V_{oc}$ of 570 mV, $J_{sc}$ of $18.15mA/cm^2$ and FF of 45%. As the time of deposition of the Cu-layer to increasing, the properties were confirmed to be systematically changed. And we have been discussed in detail below.