• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.141-141
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• 2010

The effect of thermal anneal on the characteristics of structural properties and the enhancement of luminescence and photovoltaic (PV) characteristics of silicon-rich silicon-nitride films were investigated. By using an ultra high vacuum ion beam sputtering deposition, B-doped silicon-rich silicon-nitride (SRSN) thin films, with excess silicon content of 15 at. %, on P-doped (n-type) Si substrate was fabricated, sputtering a highly B doped Si wafer with a BN chip by N plasma. In order to examine the influence of thermal anneal, films were then annealed at different temperature up to $1100^{\circ}C$ under $N_2$ environment. Raman, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy did not show any reliable evidence of amorphous or crystalline Si clusters allowing us concluding that nearly no Si nano-cluster could be formed through the precipitation of excess Si from SRSN matrix during thermal anneal. Instead, results of Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy clearly indicated that defective, amorphous Si-N matrix of films was changed to be well-ordered thanks to high temperature anneal. The measurement of spectral ellipsometry in UV-visible range was carried out and we found that the optical absorption edge of film was shifted to higher energy as the anneal temperature increased as the results of thermal anneal induced formation of $Si_3N_4$-like matrix. These are consistent with the observation that higher visible photoluminescence, which is likely due to the presence of Si-N bonds, from anneals at higher temperature. Based on these films, PV cells were fabricated by the formation of front/back metal electrodes. For all cells, typical I-V characteristic of p-n diode junction was observed. We also tried to measure PV properties using a solar-simulator and confirmed successful operation of PV devices. Carrier transport mechanism depending on anneal temperature and the implication of PV cells based on SRSN films were also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.754-759
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• 2013

Aluminum oxide($Al_2O_3$) film deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is known to supply excellent surface passivation properties on crystalline Si surfaces. Since $Al_2O_3$ has fixed negative charge, it forms effective surface passivation by field effect passivation on the rear side in p-type silicon solar cell. However, $Al_2O_3$ layer formed by ALD process needs very long process time, which is not applicable in mass production of silicon solar cells. In this paper, plasma-assisted ALD(PA-ALD) was applied to form $Al_2O_3$ to reduce the process time. $Al_2O_3$ synthesized by ALD on c-Si (100) wafers contains a very thin interfacial $SiO_2$ layer, which was confirmed by FTIR and TEM. To improve passivation quality of $Al_2O_3$ layer, the deposition temperature was changed in range of $150{\sim}350^{\circ}C$, then the annealing temperature and time were varied. As a result, the silicon wafer with aluminum oxide film formed in $250^{\circ}C$, $400^{\circ}C$ and 10 min for the deposition temperature, the annealing temperature and time, respectively, showed the best lifetime of 1.6ms. We also observed blistering with nanometer size during firing of $Al_2O_3$ deposited on p-type silicon.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.110-114
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• 2007

Dependence of the thermal stability of nickel silicide on the film stress of inter layer dielectric (ILD) layer has been investigated in this study and silicon nitride $(Si_3N_4)$ layer is used as an ILD layer. Nickel silicide was formed with a one-step rapid thermal process at $500^{\circ}C$ for 30 sec. $2000{\AA}$ thick $Si_3N_4$ layer was deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition after the formation of Ni silicide and its stress was split from compressive stress to tensile stress by controlling the power of power sources. Stress level of each stress type was also split for thorough analysis. It is found that the thermal stability of nickel silicide strongly depends on the stress type as well as the stress level induced by the $Si_3N_4$ layer. In the case of high compressive stress, silicide agglomeration and its phase transformation from the low-resistivity nickel mono-silicide to the high-resistivity nickel di-silicide are retarded, and hence the thermal stability is obviously improved a lot. However, in the case of high tensile stress, the thermal stability shows the worst case among the stressed cases.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.101-106
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• 2009

In this paper, Thin films of $HfO_2$/Hf were deposited on p-type wafer by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). We studied the electrical and material characteristics of $HfO_2$/Hf/Si MOS capacitor depending on thickness of Hf metal layer. $HfO_2$ films were deposited using TEMAH and $O_3$ at $350^{\circ}C$. Samples were then annealed using furnace heating to $500^{\circ}C$. Round-type MOS capacitors have been fabricated on Si substrates with $2000\;{\AA}$-thick Pt top electrodes. The composition rate of the dielectric material was analyzed using TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), XRD (X-ray Diffraction) and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). Also the capacitance-voltage (C-V), conductance-voltage (G-V), and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics were measured. We calculated the density of oxide trap charges and interface trap charges in our MOS device. At the interface between $HfO_2$ and Si, both Hf-Si and Hf-Si-O bonds were observed, instead of Si-O bond. The sandwiched Hf metal layer suppressed the growing of $SiO_x$ layer so that $HfSi_xO_y$ layer was achieved. And finally, the generation of both oxide trap charge and interface trap charge in $HfO_2$ film was reduced effectively by using Hf metal layer.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.143-150
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• 1997

The electrical properties of polysilicon thin films implanted with $B_2H_6$ diluted in $H_2$ as dopant source using ion mass doping technique and the effect of radiation damage on the dopant activation behavior were investigated. Comparing the SIMS profiles of boron in polysilicon films with that obtained from computer simulation using TRIM92 the most probable ion species were $B_2H_x\;^+$(x＝1, 2, 3‥‥) type molecular ions. As a result of the Implantation of energetic massive ions, a continuous amorphized layer was created in polysilicon films where the fraction of amorphized layer varied with doping time. This amorphization comes from the fact that mass separation of implanting species is not employed in this ion mass doping technique. In the dopant activation behavior, reverse annealing phenomenon appeared in the intermediate annealing temperature range for a severely damaged specimen. The experimental result showed that the off-state current of the p-channel polysilicon thin film transistor is dependent on the degree of radiation damage.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.50-55
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• 2004

We fabricated and tested a resistive type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) of three-phase 6.6 $kV_{rms}/200 A_{rms}$ rating based on YBCO thin films grown on sapphire substrates with a diameter of 4 inches, Short circuit tests were carried out at a accredited test facility for single line-to- ground faults, phase-to-phase faults and three-phase faults, Each phase of the SFCL was composed of 8${\times}$6 elements connected in series and parallel respectively. Each element was designed to have the rated voltage of 600 $V_{rms}$. A NiCr shunt resistor of 23 Ω was connected to each element for simultaneous quenches. Firstly, single phase-to-ground fault tests were carried out. The SFCL successfully developed the impedance in the circuit within 0.12 msec after fault and controlled the fault current of 10 $kA_{rms} below 816 A_{peak}$ at the first half cycle. In addition, in case of phase-to-phase fault and three- phase fault test. simultaneous quenches among the SFCLs of the phases successfully accomplished. In conclusion. the SFCL showed excellent performance of current limitation upon fault and stable operation regardless of the amplitude of fault currents.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07d
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• pp.1352-1354
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• 1998

$LiNbO_3$ transistor showed relatively stable characteristic, low interface trap density, and large remanent polarization. This paper reports ferroelectric $LiNbO_3$ thin films grown directly on p-type Si(100) substrates by 13.56 MHz rf magnetron sputtering system for FRAM applications. To take advantage of low temperature requirement for growing films, we deposited $LiNbO_3$ films lower than $300 ^{\circ}C$. RTA(Rapid Thermal Anneal) treatment was performed for as-deposited films in an oxygen atmosphere at $600^{\circ}C$ for 60 sec. We learned from X-ray diffraction that the RTA annealed films were changed from amorphous to poly-crystalline $LiNbO_3$ which exhibited (012), (015), and (022) orientations. The I-V characteristics of $LiNbO_3$ films before and after anneal treatment showed that RTA improved the leakage current of films. The leakage current density of films decreased from $10^{-5}$ to $10^{-7} A/cm^2$ at room temperature measurement. Breakdown electric field of the films exhibited higher than 500 kV/cm. The C-V curves showed the clockwise hysteresis represents ferroelectric switching characteristics. From C-V curves, we calculated dielectric constant of thin film $LiNbO_3$ as 27.5 which is close to that of bulk value.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.2503-2508
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• 2010

ZnO thin films were grown on Si or $SiO_2$/Si substrates, at growth temperatures ranging from 150 to $400^{\circ}C$, by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using diethylzinc and water. Despite the large band gap of 3.3 eV, the ALD ZnO films show high n-type conductivity, i.e. low resistivity in the order of $10^{-3}\;{\Omega}cm$. In order to understand the high conductivity of ALD ZnO films, the films were characterized with X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, elastic recoil detection, Rutherford backscattering, Photoluminescence, and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, the various analytical data of the ZnO films were compared with those of ZnO single crystal. According to our analytical data, metallic zinc plays an important role for the high conductivity in ALD ZnO films. Therefore when the metallic zinc was additionally oxidized with ozone by a modified ALD sequence, the resistivity of ZnO films could be adjusted in a range of $3.8{\times}10^{-3}\;{\sim}\;19.0\;{\Omega}cm$ depending on the exposure time of ozone.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.56-56
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• 1999

For advanced TFT-LCD manufacturing processes, dry etching of thin-film layers(a-Si, $SiN_x$, SID & gate electrodes, ITO etc.) is increasingly preferred instead of conventional wet etching processes. To dry etch Al gate electrode which is advantageous for reducing propagation delay time of scan signals, high etch rate, slope angle control, and etch uniformity are required. For the Al gate electrode, some metals such as Ti and Nd are added in Al to prevent hillocks during post-annealing processes in addition to gaining low-resistivity($<10u{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$), high performance to heat tolerance and corrosion tolerance of Al thin films. In the case of AI-Nd alloy films, however, low etch rate and poor selectivity over photoresist are remained as a problem. In this study, to enhance the etch rates together with etch uniformity of AI-Nd alloys, magnetized inductively coupled plasma(MICP) have been used instead of conventional ICP and the effects of various magnets and processes conditions have been studied. MICP was consisted of fourteen pairs of permanent magnets arranged along the inside of chamber wall and also a Helmholtz type axial electromagnets was located outside the chamber. Gas combinations of $Cl_2,{\;}BCl_3$, and HBr were used with pressures between 5mTorr and 30mTorr, rf-bias voltages from -50Vto -200V, and inductive powers from 400W to 800W. In the case of $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma chemistry, the etch rate of AI-Nd films and etch selectivity over photoresist increased with $BCl_3$ rich etch chemistries for both with and without the magnets. The highest etch rate of $1,000{\AA}/min$, however, could be obtained with the magnets(both the multi-dipole magnets and the electromagnets). Under an optimized electromagnetic strength, etch uniformity of less than 5% also could be obtained under the above conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2003

Thin transparent Cu films in the thickness range of 10 ~ 40 nm are deposited by rf-magnetron sputtering on porous silicon (PS) anodized on p-type silicon in dark. Microstructural features of the Cu films are investigated using SEM, AFM and XRD techniques. The RMS roughness of the Cu films is found to be around 1.47 nm and the grain growth is columnar with a (111) preferred orientation and follows the Volmer-Weber mode. The photoluminescence studies showed that a broad luminiscence peak of PS near the blue-green region gets blue shifted (~0.05 eV) with a small reduction in intensity and therefore, Cu-related PL quenching is absent. The FTIR absorption spectra on the PS/Cu structure revealed no major change of the native PS peaks but only a reduction in the relative intensity. The I-V characteristic curves further establish the Schottky nature of the diode with an ideality factor of 2.77 and a barrier height of 0.678 eV. An electroluminiscence (EL) signal of small intensity could be detected for the above diode.