• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.178-182
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• 2006

A single electro-discharge-sintering (EDS) pulse (1.0 kJ/0.7 g), from a $300{\mu}F$ capacitor, was applied to atomized spherical Ti-6Al-4V powder in a low vacuum to produce porous-surfaced implant compacts. A solid core surrounded by a porous layer was formed by a discharge in the middle of the compact. XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) was used to study the surface characteristics of the implant material. C, O, and Ti were the main constituents, with smaller amounts of Al, V, and N. The implant surface was lightly oxidized and was primarily in the form of $TiO_2$ with a small amount of metallic Ti. A lightly etched EDS implant sample showed the surface form of metallic Ti, indicating that EDS breaks down the oxide film of the as-received Ti-6Al-4V powder during the discharge process. The EDS Ti-6Al-4V implant surface also contained small amounts of aluminum oxide in addition to $TiO_2$. However, V detected in the EDS Ti-6Al-4V implant surface, did not contribute to the formation of the oxide film..

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.688-688
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• 2013

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films have attracted a lot of attention as a cheap transparent conducting oxide (TCO) material that can replace the expensive Sn-doped In2O3. In particular, AZO thin films are widely used as a window layer of chalcogenide-based thin film solar cells such as Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS). Mostly important requirements for the window layer material of the thin film solar cells are the high transparency and the low sheet resistance, because they influence the light absorption by the activelayer and the electron collection from the active layer, respectively. In this study, we prepared the AZO thin films by RF magnetron sputtering using a ZnO/Al2O3 (98：2wt%) ceramic target, and the effect of the sputtering condition such as the working pressure, RF power, and the working distance on the optical, electrical, and crystallographic properties of the AZO thin films was investigated. The AZO thin films with optimized properties were used as a window layer of CZTS thin film solar cells. The CZTS active layers were prepared by the electrochemical deposition and the subsequent sulfurization process, which is also one of the cost-effective synthetic approaches. In addition, the solar cell properties of the CZTS thin film solar cells, such as the photocurrent density-voltage (J-V) characteristics and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) were investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.100-101
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• 2012

The plasma damage free and room temperature processedthin film deposition technology is essential for realization of various next generation organic microelectronic devices such as flexible AMOLED display, flexible OLED lighting, and organic photovoltaic cells because characteristics of fragile organic materials in the plasma process and low glass transition temperatures (Tg) of polymer substrate. In case of directly deposition of metal oxide thin films (including transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS)) on the organic layers, plasma damages against to the organic materials is fatal. This damage is believed to be originated mainly from high energy energetic particles during the sputtering process such as negative oxygen ions, reflected neutrals by reflection of plasma background gas at the target surface, sputtered atoms, bulk plasma ions, and secondary electrons. To solve this problem, we developed the NBAS (Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering) process as a plasma damage free and room temperature processed sputtering technology. As a result, electro-optical properties of NBAS processed ITO thin film showed resistivity of $4.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}m$ and high transmittance (>90% at 550 nm) with nano- crystalline structure at room temperature process. Furthermore, in the experiment result of directly deposition of TCO top anode on the inverted structure OLED cell, it is verified that NBAS TCO deposition process does not damages to the underlying organic layers. In case of deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin film on the plastic polymer substrate, the room temperature processed sputtering coating of high quality TCO thin film is required. During the sputtering process with higher density plasma, the energetic particles contribute self supplying of activation & crystallization energy without any additional heating and post-annealing and forminga high quality TCO thin film. However, negative oxygen ions which generated from sputteringtarget surface by electron attachment are accelerated to high energy by induced cathode self-bias. Thus the high energy negative oxygen ions can lead to critical physical bombardment damages to forming oxide thin film and this effect does not recover in room temperature process without post thermal annealing. To salve the inherent limitation of plasma sputtering, we have been developed the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process as the high quality oxide thin film deposition process at room temperature. The MFSS process is effectively eliminate or suppress the negative oxygen ions bombardment damage by the plasma limiter which composed permanent magnet array. As a result, electro-optical properties of MFSS processed ITO thin film (resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, transmittance 95% at 550 nm) have approachedthose of a high temperature DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) ITO thin film were. Also, AOS (a-IGZO) TFTs fabricated by MFSS process without higher temperature post annealing showed very comparable electrical performance with those by DMS process with $400^{\circ}C$ post annealing. They are important to note that the bombardment of a negative oxygen ion which is accelerated by dc self-bias during rf sputtering could degrade the electrical performance of ITO electrodes and a-IGZO TFTs. Finally, we found that reduction of damage from the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment drives improvement of crystalline structure in the ITO thin film and suppression of the sub-gab states in a-IGZO semiconductor thin film. For realization of organic flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates, gas barrier coatings are required to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency flexible AMOLEDs needs an extremely low water vapor transition rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$. The key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required (under ${\sim}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$) is the suppression of nano-sized defect sites and gas diffusion pathways among the grain boundaries. For formation of high quality single inorganic gas barrier layer, we developed high density nano-structured Al2O3 single gas barrier layer usinga NBAS process. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to a nano- crystalline phase with various grain sizes in a single inorganic thin film. As a result, the water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film have improved order of magnitude compared with that of conventional $Al_2O_3$ layers made by the RF magnetron sputteringprocess under the same sputtering conditions; the WVTR of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film was about $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2/day$ by just single layer.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.300-308
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• 2004

The formation mechanism of anodic oxide films on Mg alloys when anodized in NaOH solution. was investigated by focusing on the effects of anodizing potential. Al content. and anodizing time. Pure Mg and Mg-Al alloys were anodized for 10 min at various potentials in NaOH solutions. $Mg(OH)_2$ was generated by an active dissolution reaction at the surface. and the product was affected by temperature. The intensity ratio of $Mg(OH)_2$ in the XRD analysis decreased with increasing applied potential. while that of MgO increased. The anti-corrosion properties of anodized specimens at each constant potential were better than those of non-anodized specimens. The specimen anodized at an applied potential of 3 V had the best anti-corrosion property. And the intensity ratio of $Mg_{17}Al_{12}$/Mg increased with aluminum content in Mg-Al alloys. During anodizing. the active dissolution reaction occurred preferentially in ${\beta}\;phase(Mg_{17}Al_{12})$ until about 4 mins. and then the current density increased radually until 7 mins. The dissolution reaction progressed in a phase(Mg) which not formed the intermetallic compound. which had a lower Al content. In the anodic polarization test of $0.017\;mol{\cdot}dm^-3$ NaCl and $0.1\;mol{\cdot}dm^-3\;Na_2SO_4$ at 298 K. the current density of Mg-15 mass% Al alloy anodized for 10 mins increased. since the anodic film that forms on the a phase is a non-compacted film. The anodic film on the phase for 30 mins was a compact film as compared with that for 10 mins.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2019

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were synthesized on Si(100) wafers via plasma enhanced metal organic chemical vapor deposition (PE-MOCVD) method using diethyl zinc (DEZ) and N-methylpyrrolidine alane (MPA) as precursors. Effects of Al/Zn mixing ratio, plasma power on the surface morphology, crystal structure, and electrical property were investigated with SEM, XRD and 4-point probe measurement respectively. Growth rate of the film decreased slightly with increasing the Al/Zn mixing ratio, however electrical property was enhanced and resistivity of the film decreased greatly about 2 orders from $9.5{\times}10^{-1}$ to $8.0{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}cm$ when the Al/Zn mixing ratio varied from 0 to 9 mol%. XRD analysis showed that the grain size increased with increasing the Al/Zn mixing ratio. Growth rate and electrical property were enhanced in a mild plasma condition. Resistivity of AZO film decreased down to $7.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ at an indirect plasma of 100 W condition which was enough value to use for the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) material.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.107-112
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• 2007

Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were deposited on non-alkali glass substrate by DC magnetron sputtering with 3 types of AZO targets (doped with 1.0 wt%, 2.0 wt%, 3.0 wt% $Al_2O_3$). Electrical, optical properties and microstructure of AZO films have been investigated by Hall effect measurements, UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometer, and XRD, respectively. Crystallinity of AZO films increased with increasing substrate temperature ($T_s$) and doping ratio of Al. Resistivity and optical transmittance in visible light were $8.8{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ and above 85%, respectively, for the AZO film deposited using AZO target (doped with 3.0 wt% $Al_2O_3$) at $T_s$ of $300^{\circ}C$. On the other hand, transmittance of AZO films in near-infrared region decreased with increasing $T_s$ and doping ratio of Al, which could be attributed to the increase of carrier density.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.41-46
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• 2013

Efficient and inexpensive solar cells are necessary for photo-voltaic to be widely adopted for mainstream electricity generation. For this to occur, the recombination losses of charge carriers (i.e. electrons or holes) must be minimized using a surface passivation technique suitable for manufacturing. Recently it has been shown that aluminum oxide thin films are negatively charged dielectrics that provide excellent surface passivation of silicon solar cells to attract positive-charged holes. Especially aluminum oxide thin film is a quite suitable passivation on the rear side of p-type silicon solar cells. This paper, it demonstrate the interfacial microstructure and electrical properties of mono-crystalline silicon surface passivated by $Al_2O_3$ films during firing process as applied for screen-printed solar cells. The first task is a comparison of the interfacial microstructure and chemical bonds of PECVD $Al_2O_3$ and of PEALD $Al_2O_3$ films for the surface passivation of silicon. The second is to study electrical properties of double-stacked layers of PEALD $Al_2O_3$/PECVD SiN films after firing process in the temperature range of $650{\sim}950^{\circ}C$.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.169-173
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• 2011

In this study, Al-N codoped p-type zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on Si and homo-buffer layer templates in a mixture of $N_2$ and $O_2$ gas with ceramic ZnO:(2 wt% $Al_2O_3$) as a sputtering target using DC- magnetron sputtering. X-ray diffraction spectra of two-theta diffraction showed that all films have a predominant (002) peak of ZnO Wurtzite structure. As the $N_2$ fraction in the mixed $N_2$ and $O_2$ gases increased, field emission secondary electron microscopy revealed that the surface appearance of codoped films on Si varied from smooth to textured structure. The p-type ZnO thin films showed carrier concentration in the range of $1.5{\times}10^{15}-2.93{\times}10^{17}\;cm^{-3}$, resistivity in the range of 131.2-2.864 ${\Omega}cm$, and mobility in the range of $3.99-31.6\;cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ respectively.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.63-67
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• 2017

Aluminum oxide ($Al_2O_3$) film deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is known to supply excellent surface passivation properties on crystalline Si surface. The quality of passivation layer is important for high-efficiency silicon solar cell. double-layer structures have many advantages over single-layer materials. $Al_2O_3/SiN_X$ passivation stacks have been widely adopted for high- efficiency silicon solar cells. The first layer, $Al_2O_3$, passivates the surface, while $SiN_X$ acts as a hydrogen source that saturates silicon dangling bonds during annealing treatment. We explored the properties on passivation film of $Al_2O_3/SiN_X$ stack layer with changing the conditions. For the post annealing temperature, it was found that $500^{\circ}C$ is the most suitable temperature to improvement surface passivation.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

A transparent oxide thin film transistors (Transparent Oxide-TFT) have been fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature using amorphous indium zinc oxide (a-IZO) as both of active channel and source/drain, gate electrodes and co-sputtered $HfO_2-Al_2O_3$ (HfAIO) as gate dielectric. In spite of its high dielectric constant > 20), $HfO_2$ has some drawbacks including high leakage current and rough surface morphologies originated from small energy band gap (5.31eV) and microcrystalline structure. In this work, the incorporation of $Al_2O_3$ into $HfO_2$ was obtained by co-sputtering of $HfO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ without any intentional substrate heating and its structural and electrical properties were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and spectroscopic ellipsometer (SE) analyses. The XRD studies confirmed that the microcrystalline structures of $HfO_2$ were transformed to amorphous structures of HfAIO. By AFM analysis, HfAIO films (0.490nm) were considerably smoother than $HfO_2$ films (2.979nm) due to their amorphous structure. The energy band gap ($E_g$) deduced by spectroscopic ellipsometer was increased from 5.17eV ($HfO_2$) to 5.42eV (HfAIO). The electrical performances of TFTs which are made of well-controlled active/electrode IZO materials and co-sputtered HfAIO dielectric material, exhibited a field effect mobility of more than $10cm^2/V{\cdot}s$, a threshold voltage of ~2 V, an $I_{on/off}$ ratio of > $10^5$, and a max on-current of > 2 mA.