Post-metallization annealing (PMA) has been employed in silicon-based CMOS fabrication to enhance MOSFET reliability and performance. However, although deuterium annealing can reduce interface traps between the Si and SiO₂ gate dielectric, it remains insufficient to fully passivate these traps. In this context, a multiple PMA process, including additional hydrogen annealing, is proposed to further reduce dangling bonds. Silicon-based MOSFETs are fabricated to verify the proposed annealing process architecture. Electrical characterization of the threshold voltage (VTH), subthreshold swing (SS), on-state current (ION), and carrier mobility (μn) is conducted to investigate the impact of the multiple PMA. This study provides a guideline for PMA in MOSFET fabrication, with improvements in both performance and reliability.
As the importance of eco-friendly technologies increases, hydrogen vehicles are gaining significant attention as a key component of future mobility. However, the sensor technology required to accurately measure the concentration of high-purity hydrogen gas, which serves as the fuel for hydrogen vehicles, currently lacks the sensitivity needed for commercialization and remains at a demonstrative stage. This study aims to enhance the detection performance of hydrogen sensors by optimizing the fabrication process of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with a Pt-based electrode-electrolyte-electrode structure, where the proton-conducting electrolyte is sandwiched between upper and lower Pt electrodes. The MEA was fabricated using a hot press method, and the process was optimized by adjusting pressure, temperature, and time parameters to improve both the physical and electrical properties of the MEA. The hydrogen sensor produced using the optimized MEA showed improved sensitivity. This enhancement enables the effective monitoring of high-purity hydrogen gas used in hydrogen vehicles, thereby improving the fuel efficiency of these vehicles.
We investigated the potential of IO:H thin films and hydrogen doping to improve current density and fill factor for enhancing the performance of silicon heterojunction solar cells. We revealed that a transmittance of 86.7% and work function of 5.4 eV could be achieved by injecting 3 sccm of hydrogen gas. The lattice constant of 1.037 nm at the AB site indicates an anion antibonding tendency, and the work function increases as the Fermi level shifts to the valence band. Based on these findings, we fabricated a silicon heterojunction solar cell and achieved an efficiency of 18.53%, while computer simulation confirmed a conversion efficiency of 24.65%, an open-circuit voltage of 724 mV, and a fill factor of 82.72% at a current density of 41.15 mA/㎠.
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A Review on Energy Yield Enhancement Characteristics of Bifacial Photovoltaic Systems Combined with Solar Tracking Hyeong Gi Park Journal of Electrical and Electronic Materials.2026; 39(4): 309. CrossRef
In a solar cell, degradation refers to the decrease in performance parameters caused by defects originated due to various causes. During the fabrication process of solar cells, degradation is generally related to the processes such as passivation or firing. There exist sources of many types of degradation; however, the exact cause of Light and elevated Temperature Induced Degradation (LeTID) is yet to be determined. It is reported that the degradation and the regeneration occur due to the recombination of hydrogen and an arbitrary substance. In this paper, we report the deposition of Al2O3 and SiNX on silicon wafers used in the Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact (PERC) solar structure and its degradation pattern. A higher degradation rate was observed in the sample with single layer of Al2O3 only, which indicates that the degradation is affected by the presence or the absence of a passivation thin film. In order to alleviate the degradation, optimization of different steps should be carried out in consideration of degradation in the solar cell fabrication process.
Recently many efforts have been made to develop a novel class of non-fullerene electron acceptor materials for highperformance organic solar cells. In this work, anthraquinone derivatives, TMAQ and THAQ, were prepared and their availability as electron acceptor materials for organic solar cells were investigated in terms of optical, thermal, electrochemical properties, and solar cell devices. Compared to TMAQ, a significant bathochromic shift of absorption band was observed for THAQ owing to intramolecular hydrogen-bond-assisted CT interactions. Thanks to the fused aromatic ring structure and benzoquinone unit, both TMAQ and THAQ exhibited a high thermal stability and an efficient electron reduction process. In particular, the intramolecular O-H---O=C hydrogen bond of THAQ plays an important role in improving the thermal stability and electron reduction properties. In the P3HT:acceptor solar cell system, THAQ-based devices had more than ca. 6 times higher power conversion efficiency than TMAQ -based devices. These results serve as a guide for developing high-efficient anthraquinonebased electron acceptor materials.
TFTs technologies with as high mobility as possible is essential for high-performance large displays. TFTs using nanocrystalline silicon thin films can achieve higher mobility. In this work, the change of the crystalline volume fraction at different hydrogen dilution ratios was investigated by depositing nc-Si:H thin films using PECVD. It was observed that increasing hydrogen dilution ratio increased not only the crystalline volume fraction but also the crystallite size. The thin films with a high crystalline volume fraction (55%) and a low defect density (1017 cm-3·eV-1) were used as top gate TFTs channel layer, leading to a high mobility (55 ㎠/V·s). We suggest that TFTs of high mobility to meet the need of display industries can be benefited by the formation of thin film with high crystalline volume fraction as well as low defect density as a channel layer.
Grain boundaries play a major role in determining device performance, particularly of polysilicon-based photodetectors. Through the post-annealing of as-deposited polysilicon and then, the analysis of electric behavior for a metal-polysilicon-metal (MSM) photodetector, we were able to identify the influence of grain boundaries. A modified model of polysilicon grain boundaries in the MSM structure is presented, which uses a crystalline-interfacial layer-SiOx layer- interfacial layer-crystalline system that is similar to the Si-SiO2 system in MOS device. Hydrogen passivation was achieved through a hydrogen ion implantation process and was used to passivate the defects at both interfacial layers. The thin SiOx layer at the grain boundary can enhance the photosensitivity of an MSM photodetector by decreasing the dark current and increasing the light absorption.
Raman spectra of a-C:H thin films deposited with an unbalanced magnetron sputtering system showed that the G peak shifted to a higher wavenumber as the target power density increased and ID/IG ratio increased from 0.902 to 1.012. Moreover, the transmittance of a-C:H films fabricated at 60 nm tended to decrease with increasing target power density; at 550 nm in the visible light region, the transmittance decreased from 69% to 58%. The rms surface roughness values of the a-C:H thin films decreased with increasing target power density, and varied from 1.11 nm to 0.71 nm. In order to achieve efficient light trapping, the light scattering at the rough interface must be enhanced. Consequently, the surface roughness of the thin film will decrease with the target power density. Further, the refractive index and reflectivity of the a-C:H thin films increased with increasing target power density; however, the Brewster angle decreased with the target power density. Hence, dye-sensitized solar cells using an a-C:H antireflective coating increased the CE, VOC, and JSC by approximately 8.6%, 5.5%, and 4.5%, respectively.
We have proposed a hydrogen detection sensor based on a Pd (palladium)-coated, single-mode, optical fiber. The experimental results demonstrated that the sensor could detect hydrogen in air as well as in insulation oil. The influence of Pd film thickness and environmental temperature on response time and sensitivity was analyzed. The reflected optical power at the optical-fiber/Pd interface decreased as the concentration of hydrogen increased, in both air and the insulation oil. The sensor showed 0.75 dB of optical power variation when the concentration of dissolved hydrogen was saturated in the insulation oil.
The power law is very important in gas sensing for the determination of gas concentration. In this study, the resistance of a gas sensor based on poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate＋graphene oxide composite was found to exhibit a power law dependence on hydrogen concentration at 150℃. Experiments were carried out in the gas concentration range of 30~180 ppm at which the sensor showed a sensitivity of 6~9% with a response and recovery time of 30s.
We investigated a SiC-based hydrogen gas sensor with MIS (metal-insulator-semiconductor) structure for high temperature applications. The sensor was fabricated by Pd/TiO2/SiC structure, and a thin titanium dioxide (TiO2) layer was exploited for sensitivity improvement. In the experiment, dependences of I-V characteristics and capacitance response properties on hydrogen gas concentrations from 0 to 2,000 ppm were analyzed at room temperature to 400℃. As the result, our sensor using TiO2 dielectric layer showed possibilities with regard to use in hydrogen gas sensors for high-temperature applications.
The ultimate aims of display market is transparent or flexible. Researches have been carried out for various applications. It has been possible to reduced the process steps and get good electrical properties for semiconductors with large optical bandgaps. Oxide semiconductors have been established as one of the leading and promising technology for next generation display panels. In this paper, alternative treatment processes have been tried for oxide semiconductors of thin film transistors to increase the electrical properties of the thin film transistors and to investigate the mechanisms. There exist a various oxide semiconductors. Here, we focused on InGaZnO, ZnO and InSnZnO which are commercialized or researched actively.
The physical effects of H-plasma treatment on ZnO thin film have been studied using photoluminescence(PL) spectroscopy. Four characteristic peaks have been identified: (i) D0X peak (neutral donor-bound exciton), showing relatively small integrated intensity after H-plasma treatment, indicates that H-plasma passivates the neutral donors in ZnO at low temperatures. The rapid decrease in the integrated intensity of the peak as the temperature goes up is considered to be due to the ionization of neutral donors. (ii) H-related complex-bound exciton peak appears at the low temperatures (10 K∼80 K)after H-plasma treatment, showing the same thermal evolution as D0X peak. (iii) FX (free exciton) peak starts to show up at 60 K and grows more and more as the temperature goes up, which is considered to be related to the increase in free electron concentration in the film. (iv) violet band is intensified after H-plasma, which means more defects and impurities are generated by H-plasma process.
This study used the heat conductive silicone rubber sample of 0.95 mm thickness to research the properties of current by changing voltage. When the 1, 10, 30, 60, and 90 minute have passed, the running current has been measured through the applied voltage range of 200 V～800 V on setting temperature of 110℃～170℃. As the temperature increased in applied voltage of 800 V, so did the current value according to time in proportion to the increasing temperature. In an analysis of FT-IR (fouriertransform infrared) spectrum, the hydroxyl radicals group(O-H) was created by effects of the hydrogen that methyl group is eliminated by addition of the cross-linking agent peroxide.
We investigated a SiC-based hydrogen gas sensor with metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS)structure for high temperature process monitoring and leak detection applications. The sensor was fabricated by Pd/Ta2O5/SiC structure, and a thin tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) layer was exploited with the purpose of sensitivity improvement, because tantalum oxide has good stability at high temperature as well as high permeability for hydrogen gas. In the experiment, dependence of I-V characteristics and capacitance response properties on hydrogen gas concentrations from 0 to 2,000 ppm was analyzed at room temperature to 500℃. As the result, our sensor exploiting a Ta2O5 dielectric layer showed possibilities with regard to use in hydrogen gas sensors for high-temperature applications.
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A novel NO2 gas sensor based on Hall effect operating at room temperature J. Y. Lin, W. M. Xie, X. L. He, H. C. Wang Applied Physics A.2016;[Epub] CrossRef
We investigated the variation of anion exchange membrane of hydrogen generator of alkaline electrolysis. We detected the variation of elements and change of anion exchange membrane using EDS and FE-SEM. We detected two different sites of membrane because of different structure of membrane. Sp2 shows that the distribution ratio of C, 0, Al is 98% very higher than Sp2 of 78%. Especially, the main elements of STS316 which is P. S. Fe, Ni were more detected at Sp2 than Sp,. We think that this result depends on the structure of membrane. This also affect the resistance, lifetime of membrane and decrease the efficiency of hydrogen production. We hope that this article is a foundation of developing of hydrogen production technology.
In this paper, We studied the change of surface and variation of elements on both electrodes of hydrogen generator of alkaline electrolysis in use of FE-SEM and SIMS. We used the stainless steel 316(6(X) p m) as electrode in condition of 25%KOH, 60℃ Temperature. The results show that the intensity of elements (C, Si, P. S. Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Mo) of Positive Electrode are decreased as much as about 101 than the original electrode. Thickness of Positive Electrode is decreased about 40 pin after chemical reaction. The negative electrode, however, shows a slight variation in the intensity of elements (C, Si, P. Fe, Ni, Mn, Mo) but Change of thickness and surface` shape of electrode show nothing after chemical reaction. The change in thickness and variation of Stainless Steel 316 cause the lifetime of electrode to be shorted. We also observed hydrogen. oxygen, potassium in both electrodes. Especially, The potassium is increased in proportional with depth of positive electrode. this means the concentration of alkali solutions is changed. and so we have to supply alkaline solution to generator in order to produce same quantity of hydrogen gas continuously, we hope that this study gives a foundation to develop the electrode for hydrogen generator of alkaline electrolysis.
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (а-Si:H) layers deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are investigated for use in silicon hetero-junction solar cells employing n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates. The optical and structural properties of silicon hetero-junction devices have been characterized using spectroscopy ellipsometry and high resolution cross-sectional transmission electron micrograph (HRTEM). In addition, the effective carrier lifetime is measured by the quasi-steady-state photocoductance (QSSPC) method. We have studied on the correlation between the order of а-Si:H and the passivation quality at the interface of а-Si:H/c-Si. Base on the result, we have fabricated a silicon hetero-junction solar cell incorporating the а-Si:H passivation layer with on open circuit voltage (Voc) of 637 mV.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have excellent electrical, chemical stability, mechanical and thermal properties. In this paper, networks of Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) materials were investigated as a resistive gas sensors for the H2 gas detection. Sensor films were fabricated by the air spray method using the multi-walled CNTs dispersion solution on the glass substrates cured with plasma and nitrocellulose. Sensors were characterized by the resistance measurements in the self-fabricated oven in order to find the optimum detection properties for the hydrogen gas molecular. The sensitivity and the linearity of the MWVNT sensors using the glass substrate cured with plasma for the H2 gas concentration of 0.06∼0.6 ppm are 0.013∼0.097%/sec and 0.131∼0.959%FS, respectively. The MWCNT film was excellent in the response for the hydrogen gas moleculars and its reaction speed was very fast, which could be using as hydrogen gas sensor. The resistance of the fabricated sensors decreases when the sensors are exposed to H2 gas.
Effect of CH4 addition to the H2O Plasma Excited by HF ICP for H2 Production Dae Woon Kim, Yong Ho Jung, Won Il Choo, Soo Ouk Jang, Bong Ju Lee, Young Ho Kim, Seung Heun Lee, Sung Ku Kwon Journal of Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Materials Engineers.2009; 22(5): 448. CrossRef
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