Microfabrication of a nickel mold insert by a modified deep X-ray lithography process and its application to hot embossing

In the present study, a modified deep X-ray lithography process is utilized for an efficient fabrication of precise metallic mold insert. A bare bulk polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) sheet is used without any substrate as an X-ray photoresist in order to achieve a stable fabrication by avoiding a generation of a secondary radiation during a deep X-ray lithography process. The patterned PMMA sheet after development is then bonded on a metallic substrate using adhesive layers. The adhesive layers on the opened region of the patterned PMMA sheet are subsequently removed by X-ray exposure of short duration time. The next procedure is an electroplating process onto the opened area in the PMMA sheet, consequently resulting in the final mold insert. In this manner, a robust metallic mold insert for a mass replication of microstructures could be realized quite efficiently. The present fabrication method is confirmed by an example with a replication of microchannels via hot embossing process.     

Experimental analysis and optimization of a photo resist coating process for photolithography in wafer fabrication

This investigation is applied the Taguchi method and combination the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to the photo resist (PR) coating process for photolithography in wafer manufacturing. Plans of experiments via nine experimental runs are based on the orthogonal arrays. In this study, the thickness mean and the uniformity of thickness of the PR are adopted as the quality targets of the PR coating process. This partial factorial design of the Taguchi method provides an economical and systematic method for determining the applicable process parameters. Furthermore, the ANOVA prediction of the thickness mean and the uniformity of thickness for the PR has been applied in terms of the PR temperature, chamber humidity, spinning rate, and dispensation rate by means of the designs of experiments (DOE) method. The PR temperature and the chamber humidity are found to be the most significant factors in both the thickness mean and the uniformity of thickness for a PR coating process. Finally, the sensitivity study of optimum process parameters was also discussed.     

Aging process of PEDOT:PSS dispersion and robust recovery of aged PEDOT:PSS as a hole transport layer for organic solar cells

Conducting p-type polymer of poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has been widely used for organic optoelectronics, particularly as a hole transport layer for organic solar cells. While the aged PEDOT:PSS dispersion impacts device performance, the aging of PEDOT:PSS dispersion have not been well investigated. Moreover, the recovery process of aged (two-year-old) PEDOT:PSS dispersion has not been demonstrated yet. Herein, it is found that aqueous PEDOT:PSS dispersion undergoes extensive phase separation during the aging process, resulting in both nanoscale and macroscale hydrophobic PEDOT-rich agglomerates. When the aged PEDOT:PSS thin film is integrated into P3HT:PCBM organic solar cells, the PEDOT-rich agglomerates trap the photogenerated holes at the PEDOT:PSS/P3HT interface, resulting in poor extraction efficiency in organic solar cells. To recover a hole transport functionality from aged PEDOT:PSS, three different solvents such as isopropyl alcohol (C₃H₇OH), ethanol (C₂H₅OH) and methanol (CH₃OH) are investigated. Among them, it is found that isopropyl alcohol (IPA) yielded very uniform PEDOT:PSS thin film layer. This is because hydrophobic functional groups of IPA solvent facilitated the preferential solvation of phase separated hydrophobic PEDOT-rich agglomerates. However, when non-optimal concentration of IPA solvents was added into the aged PEDOT:PSS dispersion, the size of PEDOT-rich agglomerates was adversely enlarged. When organic solar cells were fabricated using more than a two-year-old PEDOT:PSS that was treated with IPA solvent, the resulting device performance of organic solar cells was fully recovered and became comparable or better than that of organic solar cells fabricated with fresh PEDOT:PSS.     

空间实用背场Si太阳电池和GaAs/Ge太阳电池性能随质子辐照注量变化的比较

研究了空间实用背场Si太阳电池和GaAs/Ge太阳电池性能随质子辐照注量1×109～5×1013cm-2的变化.实验表明,两种太阳电池的电性能随辐照注量增加有不同的衰降趋势.背场Si太阳电池性能参数Isc、Voc和Pmax衰降变化快,辐照注量为2×1010cm-2时,Pmax就已衰降为原值的75%;而GaAs/Ge电池对应相同的衰降辐照注量达8×1011cm-2,且其Isc、Voc和Pmax衰降变化起初缓慢,当辐照注量接近3×1012cm-2时才迅速下降.背场Si电池和GaAs/Ge电池性能衰降分别与质子辐照引入的Ev+0.14eV及Ev+0.43eV和Ec-0.41eV深能级有关.