This paper proposes a circular sequential lighting control method to reduce current imbalance and luminance deviation among multiple LED modules in AC-powered LED lighting systems. Conventional fixed-sequence lighting control repeatedly prioritizes the same LED modules in every rectified voltage cycle, which leads to unequal current distribution, luminance non-uniformity, and the accelerated degradation of specific modules during long-term operation. To address these limitations, a circular sequential lighting strategy is introduced, in which the lighting order is cyclically rotated at every rectified cycle, ensuring that all LED modules experience equal lighting opportunities. A prototype AC-LED lighting system consisting of four series-connected LED modules was implemented and experimentally evaluated. The results demonstrate that, while the conventional fixed-sequence method produces a maximum average current deviation of up to 1.6 mA among modules, the proposed method equalizes the average current across all modules to approximately 17.1 mA. Furthermore, the flicker index remains at 0.13, which is comparable to that of the conventional method, indicating that luminance uniformity is improved without degradation of optical performance. The proposed circular sequential lighting control effectively distributes electrical stress, enhances luminance uniformity, and improves long-term reliability, making it a practical and efficient solution for high-quality AC-LED lighting applications.

As complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) is scaled down to achieve higher chip density, thin-film layers have been deposited iteratively. The poor film uniformity resulting from deposition or chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) significantly affects chip yield. Therefore, the development of novel fabrication processes to enhance film uniformity is required. In this context, high-pressure deuterium annealing (HPDA) is proposed to reduce the surface roughness resulting from the CMP. The HPDA is carried out in a diluted deuterium atmosphere to achieve cost-effectiveness while maintaining high pressure. To confirm the effectiveness of HPDA, time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are employed. It is confirmed that the absorbed deuterium gas facilitates the diffusion of silicon atoms, thereby reducing surface roughness.

In this study, 20.8% of a p-type Si bifacial solar cell was used to develop a photovoltaic (PV) module to obtain the maximum power under a limited installation area. The transparent back sheet material was replaced during fabrication with a white one, which is opaque in commercial products. This is very beneficial for the generation of more electricity, owing to the additional power generation via absorption of light from the rear side. A new model is suggested herein to predict the power of the bifacial PV module by considering the backside reflections from the roof and/or environment. This model considers not only the frontside reflection, but also the nonuniformity of the backside light sources. Theoretical predictions were compared to experimental data to prove the validity of this model, the error range for which ranged from 0.32% to 8.49%. Especially, under 700 W/m2, the error rate was as low as 2.25%. This work could provide theoretical and experimental bases for application to a distributed and microgrid network.

We report on the design of a holographic homogenizer composed of a periodic hologram and a condensing lens. If the hologram is periodic, the homogenizer is free from the alignment error of the incident laser beam. Holographic homogenizer also has an advantage of the flexibility in the size of the target beam. We calculated theoretically the Fraunhofer diffracted wave function when a rectangular laser beam is incident on a periodic hologram. The diffracted wave is the sum of sinc functions at regular distance. The width of each sinc function depends on the size of the incident laser beam and the distance between the sinc functions depends on the period of the hologram. We calculated numerically the diffracted light intensity for various ratios of the size of the incident laser beam to the period of the hologram. The results show that it is possible to make the diffracted beam uniform at a certain value of the ratio. The uniformity is high at the central part of the target area and low near the edge. The more sinc functions are included in the target area, the larger portion of the area becomes uniform and the higher is the uniformity at the central part. Therefore, we can make efficient homogenizer if we design a hologram so that the maximum number of the diffracted beams may be included in the target area.

The cause of the thickness non-uniformity in the large area deposition of SiO2 films by PECVD(Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) was investigated by the plasma diagnostics. The spatial distribution of the plasma species in the chamber was obtained with DLP(Double Langmuir Probe) and the new-designed probe-type QMS(Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer). From the relationship between the spatial distribution of the plasma species and the depositing rate of the SiO2 films, it was conformed that the non-uniform deposition of SiO2 films was related with the spatial distribution of the oxygen radical density and electron temperature.