• Title/Summary/Keyword: visible efficiency

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Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of WO3-xFx Photocatalysts Using a Vapor Phase Fluorination (기상 불소화법을 이용한 WO3-xFx 광촉매의 합성 및 광분해 특성)

  • Lee, Hyeryeon;Lim, Chaehun;Lee, Raneun;Lee, Young-Seak
    • Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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    • v.32 no.6
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    • pp.632-639
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    • 2021
  • In this research, fluorine doping was performed to enhance the photocatalytic activities of WO3 which were measured using methylene blue dye. WO3-xFx photocatalyts were prepared by a vaper phase fluorination during a sintering for preparing WO3 photocatalysts from a WCl6 precursor. The bandgap energy of WO3 photocatalysts decreased from 2.95 eV to 2.54 eV, and the oxygen vacancies site increased by about 55% after fluorine doping. In addition, the initial degradation efficiency of methylene blue showed that the fluorine doped sample showed a 6-fold increase in photocatalytic activities from 10% to 60% compared to that of the untreated sample. It is believed that fluorine is doped to reduce the band gap of photocatalysts, enabling the catalytic activity with low energy, and that oxygen vacancies-generated surface defects increase the visible light absorption region of WO3 photocatalysts, thereby increasing photocatalytic activity. In this study, it was confirmed that fluorine-doped WO3-xFx photocatalysts with an excellent photocatalytic activity can be manufactured easily using a one-step vaper phase fluorination that does not require a post-treatment process.

A Study on the Cleanliness Evaluation Methods for the Selection of Alternative Cleaning Agents (대체 세정제의 선정을 위한 세정성 평가방법 연구)

  • Shin, Jin-Ho;Lee, Jae-Hoon;Bae, Jae-Heum;Lee, Min-Jae;Hwang, In-Gook
    • Clean Technology
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.81-90
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    • 2009
  • In this study various cleaning evaluation methods were tested and comparatively evaluated to help cleaning industry. In order to select alternative cleaning agents objectively and systematically, various cleaning evaluation methods such as gravimetric, optically simulated electron emission (OSEE), contact angle, and analytical instrument methods were employed for cleaning contaminants such as flux, solder and grease. The analytical instruments used in this work were Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The gravimetric method was able to measure cleaning efficiencies easily and simply, but it was not easy to analyze them precisely because of its limitation in the gravimetric measurement. However, the OSEE technique was able to measure quickly and precisely the clean ability of cleaning agents in comparison with the gravimetric method. The contact angle method was found to be necessary for taking special precaution in its application to the cleaning evaluation due to possible formation of tiny organic film on the substrate surface which might be generated from contaminants and cleaning agents. In case of precision analysis that cannot be done by gravimetric method, fine analytical instruments such as UV-VIS, FTIR and HPLC could be used in analyzing trace amount of flux, solder and grease quantitatively, which were extracted from the surface by special solvents.

Synthesis and Characteristic Evaluation of Downward Conversion Phosphor for Improving Solar Cell Performance (태양전지 성능향상을 위한 하향변환 형광체의 합성 및 특성평가)

  • Jae-Ho Kim;Ga-Ram Kim;Jin-To Choi;Soo-Jong Kim
    • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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    • v.9 no.5
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    • pp.523-528
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    • 2023
  • The applicability as a material to improve solar cell performance was reviewed by synthesizing a phosphor that emits red wavelengths by a liquid synthesis method using a metal salt aqueous solution and a polymer medium as a starting material. An aqueous solution was prepared using nitrate of metals such as Ca, Zn, Al, and Eu, and a precursor impregnated with starch, a natural polymer, was sintered to synthesize CaZnAlO:Eu phosphor powder. The surface structure and composition analysis of the synthesized CaZnAlO:Eu phosphor powder were analyzed by scanning electron microscope(SEM) and energy-dispersed X-ray spectroscopy(EDS). The crystal structure of CaZnAlO:Eu phosphor particles was analyzed by an X-ray diffraction analyzer (XRD). As a result of measuring the photoluminescence(PL) characteristics of the phosphor, it was confirmed that a red phosphor with a light emitting wavelength of 650-780nm was successfully synthesized. According to SEM and EDS analysis, the synthesized Ca14Zn6Al9.93O35:Eu3+0.07 phosphor powder has a uniform particle size, and Eu ions used as an activator are present. The synthesized CZA:Eu3+ phosphor can be used as a material that can increase the light absorption efficiency of the solar cell by converting ultraviolet or visible light down conversion into a wavelength in the near-infrared region.

Improvement of Multiple-sensor based Frost Observation System (MFOS v2) (다중센서 기반 서리관측 시스템의 개선: MFOS v2)

  • Suhyun Kim;Seung-Jae Lee;Kyu Rang Kim
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.25 no.3
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    • pp.226-235
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    • 2023
  • This study aimed to supplement the shortcomings of the Multiple-sensor-based Frost Observation System (MFOS). The developed frost observation system is an improvement of the existing system. Based on the leaf wetness sensor (LWS), it not only detects frost but also functions to predict surface temperature, which is a major factor in frost occurrence. With the existing observation system, 1) it is difficult to observe ice (frost) formation on the surface when capturing an image of the LWS with an RGB camera because the surface of the sensor reflects most visible light, 2) images captured using the RGB camera before and after sunrise are dark, and 3) the thermal infrared camera only shows the relative high and low temperature. To identify the ice (frost) generated on the surface of the LWS, a LWS that was painted black and three sheets of glass at the same height to be used as an auxiliary tool to check the occurrence of ice (frost) were installed. For RGB camera shooting before and after sunrise, synchronous LED lighting was installed so the power turns on/off according to the camera shooting time. The existing thermal infrared camera, which could only assess the relative temperature (high or low), was improved to extract the temperature value per pixel, and a comparison with the surface temperature sensor installed by the National Institute of Meteorological Sciences (NIMS) was performed to verify its accuracy. As a result of installing and operating the MFOS v2, which reflects these improvements, the accuracy and efficiency of automatic frost observation were demonstrated to be improved, and the usefulness of the data as input data for the frost prediction model was enhanced.

A Study for Drying of Sewage Sludge through Immersion Frying Using Used Oil (폐유를 이용한 하수슬러지 유중 건조 연구)

  • Shin, Mi-Soo;Kim, Hey-Suk;Hong, Ji-Eun;Jang, Dong-Soon;Ohm, Tae-In
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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    • v.30 no.7
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    • pp.694-699
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    • 2008
  • Considering the severe regulation associated with sludge treatment such as direct landfill and ocean dumping, there is no doubt in that an advanced study for the proper treatment of sludge is urgently needed in near feature. As one of viable method for sludge treatment, fry-drying of sludge by waste oil has been investigated in this study. The fundamental mechanism of this drying method lies in the phenomenon of rapid moisture escape in the sludge pore toward oil media. This is caused by the severe pressure gradient formed by the rapid oil heating between sludge and oil. As part of research effort of fry-drying using waste oil, a series of basic study has been made experimentally to obtain typical drying curves as function of important parameters such as drying temperature, drying time, oil type and geometrical shape of sludge formed. Based on this study, a number of useful conclusion can be drawn as following. The fry-drying method by oil immersion was found quite effective in the removal efficiency of sludge moisture, in general, the moisture content decreases significantly after 10 minutes and the whole moisture content was less than 5% after 14 minutes regardless of the drying temperature. The increase of oil temperature up to 140$^{\circ}C$ favors significantly for the removal of moisture but there was no visible difference above 140$^{\circ}C$. As expected, the decrease of diameter in sludge was efficient in drying due to the increased surface area per unit volume. Further, the effect of oil property by the change of oil type was noted. To be specific, for the case of engine oil the efficiency was found to be remarkably delayed in moisture evaporation compared with that of vegetable oil due to the increased viscosity of engine oil. It produced a result of increasing the evaporation of moisture largely relatively high in the drying temperature over 140$^{\circ}C$ compared with the drying temperature 120$^{\circ}C$ drying temperature as the drying time passed. Accordingly, the drying temperature is considered desirable as keeping over 140$^{\circ}C$ regardless of a sort of used oil.

Application of CMP Process to Improving Thickness-Uniformity of Sputtering-deposited CdTe Thin Film for Improvement of Optical Properties (스퍼터링 증확 CdTe 박막의 두께 불균일 현상 개선을 위한 화학적기계적연마 공정 적용 및 광특성 향상)

  • Park, Ju-Sun;Lim, Chae-Hyun;Ryu, Seung-Han;Myung, Kuk-Do;Kim, Nam-Hoon;Lee, Woo-Sun
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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    • 2010.06a
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    • pp.375-375
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    • 2010
  • CdTe as an absorber material is widely used in thin film solar cells with the heterostructure due to its almost ideal band gap energy of 1.45 eV, high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, low cost and stable performance. The deposition methods and preparation conditions for the fabrication of CdTe are very important for the achievement of high solar cell conversion efficiency. There are some rearranged reports about the deposition methods available for the preparation of CdTe thin films such as close spaced sublimation (CSS), physical vapor deposition (PVD), vacuum evaporation, vapor transport deposition (VTD), closed space vapor transport, electrodeposition, screen printing, spray pyrolysis, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and RF sputtering. The RF sputtering method for the preparation of CdTe thin films has important advantages in that the thin films can be prepared at low growth temperatures with large-area deposition suitable for mass-production. The authors reported that the optical and electrical properties of CdTe thin film were closely connected by the thickness-uniformity of the film in the previous study [1], which means that the better optical absorbance and the higher carrier concentration could be obtained in the better condition of thickness-uniformity for CdTe thin film. The thickness-uniformity could be controlled and improved by the some process parameters such as vacuum level and RF power in the sputtering process of CdTe thin films. However, there is a limitation to improve the thickness-uniformity only in the preparation process [1]. So it is necessary to introduce the external or additional method for improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film because the cell size of thin film solar cell will be enlarged. Therefore, the authors firstly applied the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process to improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin films with a G&P POLI-450 CMP polisher [2]. CMP process is the most important process in semiconductor manufacturing processes in order to planarize the surface of the wafer even over 300 mm and to form the copper interconnects with damascene process. Some important CMP characteristics for CdTe were obtained including removal rate (RR), WIWNU%, RMS roughness, and peak-to-valley roughness [2]. With these important results, the CMP process for CdTe thin films was performed to improve the thickness-uniformity of the sputtering-deposited CdTe thin film which had the worst two thickness-uniformities of them. Some optical properties including optical transmittance and absorbance of the CdTe thin films were measured by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer (Varian Techtron, Cary500scan) in the range of 400 - 800 nm. After CMP process, the thickness-uniformities became better than that of the best condition in the previous sputtering process of CdTe thin films. Consequently, the optical properties were directly affected by the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film. The absorbance of CdTe thin films was improved although the thickness of CdTe thin film was not changed.

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A study on the improvement of distribution system by overseas agricultural investment (해외농업투자에 따른 유통체계 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Sun, Il-Suck;Lee, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2010
  • Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

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Efficient Red-Color Emission of InGaN/GaN Double Hetero-Structure Formed on Nano-Pyramid Structure

  • Go, Yeong-Ho;Kim, Je-Hyeong;Gong, Su-Hyeon;Kim, Ju-Seong;Kim, Taek;Jo, Yong-Hun
    • Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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    • 2012.08a
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    • pp.174-175
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    • 2012
  • (In, Ga) N-based III-nitride semiconductor materials have been viewed as the most promising materials for the applications of blue and green light emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. Although the InGaN alloy can have wide range of visible wavelength by changing the In composition, it is very hard to grow high quality epilayers of In-rich InGaN because of the thermal instability as well as the large lattice and thermal mismatches. In order to avoid phase separation of InGaN, various kinds of structures of InGaN have been studied. If high-quality In-rich InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures are available, it is expected to achieve highly efficient phosphor-free white LEDs. In this study, we proposed a novel InGaN double hetero-structure grown on GaN nano-pyramids to generate broad-band red-color emission with high quantum efficiency. In this work, we systematically studied the optical properties of the InGaN pyramid structures. The nano-sized hexagonal pyramid structures were grown on the n-type GaN template by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. SiNx mask was formed on the n-type GaN template with uniformly patterned circle pattern by laser holography. GaN pyramid structures were selectively grown on the opening area of mask by lateral over-growth followed by growth of InGaN/GaN double hetero-structure. The bird's eye-view scanning electron microscope (SEM) image shows that uniform hexagonal pyramid structures are well arranged. We showed that the pyramid structures have high crystal quality and the thickness of InGaN is varied along the height of pyramids via transmission electron microscope. Because the InGaN/GaN double hetero-structure was grown on the nano-pyramid GaN and on the planar GaN, simultaneously, we investigated the comparative study of the optical properties. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of nano-pyramid sample and planar sample measured at 10 K. Although the growth condition were exactly the same for two samples, the nano-pyramid sample have much lower energy emission centered at 615 nm, compared to 438 nm for planar sample. Moreover, nano-pyramid sample shows broad-band spectrum, which is originate from structural properties of nano-pyramid structure. To study thermal activation energy and potential fluctuation, we measured PL with changing temperature from 10 K to 300 K. We also measured PL with changing the excitation power from 48 ${\mu}W$ to 48 mW. We can discriminate the origin of the broad-band spectra from the defect-related yellow luminescence of GaN by carrying out PL excitation experiments. The nano-pyramid structure provided highly efficient broad-band red-color emission for the future applications of phosphor-free white LEDs.

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The Photovoltaic Effect of Iodine-Doped Metal Free Phthalocyanine/ZnO System (Ⅰ) (요오드가 도핑된 무금속 프탈로시아닌/산화아연계의 광기전력 효과(Ⅰ))

  • Heur, Soun-Ok;Kim, Young-Soon;Park, Yoon-Chang
    • Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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    • v.39 no.3
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    • pp.163-175
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    • 1995
  • Metal free phthalocyanine($H_2Pc$) partially doped with iodine, $H_2Pc(I)x$, has been made to improve photosensitizing efficiency of ZnO/$H_2Pc$. The content of iodine dopant level(x) for $H_2Pc(I)x$ upon $H_2Pc$ polymorphs was characterized as ${\chi}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.92}$ and ${\beta}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.96}$ by elemental analysis. Characterization of iodine-oxidized $H_2Pc$ were investigated by TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), UV-Vis, FT-IR, Raman and ESR (electron spin resonance) spectrum, and the adsorption properties of $H_2Pc(I)x$ on ZnO were characterized by means of Raman and ESR studies. TGA for $H_2Pc(I)x$ showed a complete loss of iodine at approximately 265$^{\circ}C$ and the Raman spectrum of $H_2Pc(I)x$ and ZnO/$H_2Pc(I)x$ at 514.5 nm showed characteristic $I_3^-$ patterns in the frequency region 90∼550 $cm^{-1}$. ZnO/$H_2Pc(I)x$ exhibited a very intense and narrow ESR signal at $g=2.0025{\pm}0.0005$ compared to $H_2Pc$/ZnO. Iodine doped ZnO/$H_2Pc(I)x$ showed a better photosensitivity compared to iodine undoped ZnO/$H_2Pc$. That is, the surface photovoltage of ${\chi}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.92}$/ZnO was approximately 31 times greater than that of ZnO/${\chi}-H_2Pc$ and ZnO/${\beta}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.96}$ was 5 times more efficient than ZnO/${\beta}-H_2Pc$ at 670 nm. And the dependence of photosensitizing effect upon $H_2Pc$ polymorphs was exhibited that the surface photovoltage of ZnO/${\chi}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.92}$ was approximately 5 times greater than ZnO/${\beta}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.96}$ at 670 nm. Therefore Iodine doping of H_2Pc$ resulted in increase in photoconductivity of $H_2Pc$ and photovoltaic effect of ZnO/$H_2Pc$ in the visible region.

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Interface structure and anisotropic strain relaxation of nonpolar a-GaN on r-sapphire

  • Gong, Bo-Hyeon;Jo, Hyeong-Gyun;Song, Geun-Man;Yun, Dae-Ho
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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    • 2010.06a
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    • pp.31-31
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    • 2010
  • The growth of the high-quality GaN epilayers is of significant technological importance because of their commercializedoptoelectronic applications as high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) in the visible and ultraviolet spectral range. The GaN-based heterostructural epilayers have the polar c-axis of the hexagonal structure perpendicular to the interfaces of the active layers. The Ga and N atoms in the c-GaN are alternatively stacked along the polar [0001] crystallographic direction, which leads to spontaneous polarization. In addition, in the InGaN/GaN MQWs, the stress applied along the same axis contributes topiezoelectric polarization, and thus the total polarization is determined as the sum of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations. The total polarization in the c-GaN heterolayers, which can generate internal fields and spatial separation of the electron and hole wave functions and consequently a decrease of efficiency and peak shift. One of the possible solutions to eliminate these undesirable effects is to grow GaN-based epilayers in nonpolar orientations. The polarization effects in the GaN are eliminated by growing the films along the nonpolar [$11\bar{2}0$] ($\alpha$-GaN) or [$1\bar{1}00$] (m-GaN) orientation. Although the use of the nonpolar epilayers in wurtzite structure clearly removes the polarization matters, however, it induces another problem related to the formation of a high density of planar defects. The large lattice mismatch between sapphiresubstrates and GaN layers leads to a high density of defects (dislocations and stacking faults). The dominant defects observed in the GaN epilayers with wurtzite structure are one-dimensional (1D) dislocations and two-dimensional (2D) stacking faults. In particular, the 1D threading dislocations in the c-GaN are generated from the film/substrate interface due to their large lattice and thermal coefficient mismatch. However, because the c-GaN epilayers were grown along the normal direction to the basal slip planes, the generation of basal stacking faults (BSFs) is localized on the c-plane and the generated BSFs did not propagate into the surface during the growth. Thus, the primary defects in the c-GaN epilayers are 1D threading dislocations. Occasionally, the particular planar defects such as prismatic stacking faults (PSFs) and inversion domain boundaries are observed. However, since the basal slip planes in the $\alpha$-GaN are parallel to the growth direction unlike c-GaN, the BSFs with lower formation energy can be easily formed along the growth direction, where the BSFs propagate straightly into the surface. Consequently, the lattice mismatch between film and substrate in $\alpha$-GaN epilayers is mainly relaxed through the formation of BSFs. These 2D planar defects are placed along only one direction in the cross-sectional view. Thus, the nonpolar $\alpha$-GaN films have different atomic arrangements along the two orthogonal directions ($[0001]_{GaN}$ and $[\bar{1}100]_{GaN}$ axes) on the $\alpha$-plane, which are expected to induce anisotropic biaxial strain. In this study, the anisotropic strain relaxation behaviors in the nonpolar $\alpha$-GaN epilayers grown on ($1\bar{1}02$) r-plane sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVO) were investigated, and the formation mechanism of the abnormal zigzag shape PSFs was discussed using high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM).

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