• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.57-57
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• 2018

Zinc-oxide (ZnO), II-VI semiconductor with a wide and direct band gap (Eg: 3.2~3.4 eV), is one of the most potential candidates to substitute for ITO due to its excellent chemical, thermal stability, specific electrical and optoelectronic property. However, the electrical resistivity of un-doped ZnO is not low enough for the practical applications. Therefore, a number of doped ZnO films have been extensively studied for improving the electrical conductivities. In this study, Ti-doped ZnO films were successfully prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques. ALD technique was adopted to careful control of Ti doping concentration in ZnO films and to show its feasible application for 3D nanostructured TCO layers. Here, the structural, optical and electrical properties of the Ti-doped ZnO depending on the Ti doping concentration were systematically presented. Also, we presented 3D nanostructured Ti-doped ZnO layer by combining ALD and nanotemplate processes.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.107-107
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• 2003

원자층 증착(ALD, Atomic Layer Deposition)기술은 기판 표면에서의 self-limiting reaction을 통해 매우 얇은 박막을 형성할 수 있고, 두께 및 조성 제어를 정확히 할 수 있으며, 복잡한 형상의 기판에서도 100%에 가까운 step coverage를 얻을 수 있어 초미세패턴의 형성과 매우 얇은 두께에서 균일한 물리적, 전기적 특성이 요구되는 초미세 반도체 공정에 적합하다. 특히 반도체의 logic 및 memory 소자의 gate 공정에서 절연막과 보호막으로, 그리고 배선공정에서는 층간절연막(ILD, Inter Layer Dielectric)으로 사용하는 silicon oxide 박막에 적용될 경우, LPCVD 방법에 비해 낮은 온도에서 증착이 가능해 boron과 같은 dopant들의 확산을 최소화하여 transistor 특성 향상이 가능하며, PECVD 방법에 비해 전기적·물리적 특성이 월등히 우수하고 대면적 uniformity 증가가 기대된다. 본 연구에서는 자체적으로 설계 및 제작한 장비를 이용하여 silicon oxide 박막을 ALD 방법으로 증착하고 그 특성을 살펴보았다. 먼저, cycle 수에 따른 증착 박막 두께의 linearity를 통해서 원자층 증착(ALD)임을 확인할 수 있었으며, reactant exposure(L)와 증착 온도에 따른 deposition rate 변화를 알아보았다 Elipsometer를 이용해 증착된 silicon oxide 박막의 두께 및 굴절률과 그 uniformity를 관찰하였고, AES 및 XPS 분석 장비로 박막의 조성비와 불순물 성분을 살펴보았으며, 증착 박막의 치밀성 평가를 위해 HF etchant로 wet etch rate를 측정하여 물리적 특성을 정리하였다. 특히, 기존의 박막 증착 방법인 LPCVD와 PECVD에 의한 silicon oxide박막의 물성과 비교, 평가해 보았다. 나아가 적절한 촉매 물질을 선정하여 원자층 증착(ALD) 공정에 적용하여 그 효과도 살펴보았다.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.339-344
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• 2017

Highly corrosion resistance performance of CrAlSiN coatings were obtained by applying ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ thin films using atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. CrAlSiN coatings were prepared on Cr adhesion layer/SUS304 substrates by a hybrid coating system of arc ion plating and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) method. And, ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ passivation layer was deposited on the CrAlSiN/Cr adhesion layer/SUS304 sample to protect CrAlSiN coatings by encapsulating the whole surface defects of coating using ALD. Here, the high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) analysis revealed that the ALD $Al_2O_3$ thin films uniformly covered the inner and outer surface of CrAlSiN coatings. Also, the potentiodynamic and potentiostatic polarization test revealed that the corrosion protection properties of CrAlSiN coatings/Cr/SUS304 sample was greatly improved by ALD encapsulation with 50 nm-thick $Al_2O_3$ thin films, which implies that ALD-$Al_2O_3$ passivation layer can be used as an effect barrier layer of corrosion.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.660-665
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• 2020

Silicon heterojunction solar cells can achieve high conversion efficiency with a simple structure. In this study, we investigate the passivation characteristics of VOx thin films as a hole-selective contact layer using ALD (atomic layer deposition). Passivation characteristics improve with iVoc (implied open-circuit voltage) of 662 mV and minority carrier lifetime of 73.9 µs after post-deposition annealing (PDA) at 100 ℃. The improved values are mainly attributed to a decrease in carbon during the VOx thin film process after PDA. However, once it is annealed at temperatures above 250 ℃ the properties are rapidly degraded. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is used to analyze the chemical states of the VOx thin film. As the annealing temperature increases, it shows more formation of SiOx at the interface increases. The ratio of V5+ to V4+, which is the oxidation states of vanadium oxide thin films, are 6:4 for both as-deposition and annealing at 100 ℃, and 5:5 for annealing at 300 ℃. The lower the carbon content of the ALD VOx film and the higher the V5+ ratio, the better the passivation characteristics.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.30-34
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• 2004

Fabrications of barrier layer on a polyethersulfon (PES) film and OLED based on a plastic substrate by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have been carried out. Simultaneous deposition of 30 nm of $AlO_x$ film on both sides of PES film gave film MOCON value of 0.0615 g/$m^2$/day (@38$^{\circ}C$, 100 % R.H.). Moreover, the double layer of 200 urn $SiN_x$ film deposited by PECVD and 20 nm of $AlO_x$ film by ALD resulted in the MOCON value lower than the detection limit of MOCON. The OLED encapsulation performance of the double layer have been investigated using the OLED structure of ITO/MTDATA(20 nm)/NPD(40 nm)/AlQ(60 nm)/LiF(1 nm)/Al(75 nm) based on the plastic substrate. Preliminary life time to 91 % of initial luminance (1300 cd/$m^2$) was 260 hours for the OLED encapsulated with 100 nm of PECVD deposited $SiN_x$/30 nm of ALD deposited $AlO_x$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.519-523
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• 2013

When atomic layer deposition (ALD) is performed on a porous material by using an organometallic precursor, minimum exposure time of the precursor for complete coverage becomes much longer since the ALD is limited by Knudsen diffusion in the pores. In the previous report by Min et al. (Ref. 23), shrinking core model (SCM) was proposed to predict the minimum exposure time of diethylzinc for ZnO ALD on a porous cylindrical alumina monolith. According to the SCM, the minimum exposure time of the precursor is influenced by volumetric density of adsorption sites, effective diffusion coefficient, precursor concentration in gas phase and size of the porous monolith. Here we modify the SCM in order to consider undesirable adsorption of byproduct molecules. $TiO_2$ ALD was performed on the cylindrical alumina monolith by using titanium tetrachloride ($TiCl_4$) and water. We observed that the byproduct (i.e., HCl) of $TiO_2$ ALD can chemically adsorb on adsorption sites, unlike the behavior of the byproduct (i.e., ethane) of ZnO ALD. Consequently, the minimum exposure time of $TiCl_4$ (~16 min) was significantly much shorter than that (~71 min) of DEZ. The predicted minimum exposure time by the modified SCM well agrees with the observed time. In addition, the modified SCM gives an effective diffusion coefficient of $TiCl_4$ of ${\sim}1.78{\times}10^{-2}\;cm^2/s$ in the porous alumina monolith.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.130-139
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• 2023

Thermoelectric materials and devices are energy-harvesting devices that can effectively recycle waste heat into electricity. Thermoelectric power generation is widely used in factories, engines, and even in human bodies as they continuously generate heat. However, thermoelectric elements exhibit poor performance and low energy efficiency; research is being conducted to find new materials or improve the thermoelectric performance of existing materials, that is, by ensuring a high figure-of-merit (zT) value. For increasing zT, higher σ (electrical conductivity) and S (Seebeck coefficient) and a lower κ (thermal conductivity) are required. Here, interface engineering by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is used to increase zT of n-type BiTeSe (BTS) thermoelectric powders. ALD of the BTS powders is performed in a rotary-type ALD reactor, and 40 to 100 ALD cycles of ZnO thin films are conducted at 100℃. The physical and chemical properties and thermoelectric performance of the ALD-coated BTS powders and pellets are characterized. It is revealed that electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity are decoupled, and thus, zT of ALD-coated BTS pellets is increased by more than 60% compared to that of the uncoated BTS pellets. This result can be utilized in a novel method for improving the thermoelectric efficiency in materials processing.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.25-33
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• 2015

Ruthenium (Ru) thin films were grown on thermally-grown $SiO_2$ substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using a sequential supply of four kinds of novel zero-valent Ru precursors, isopropyl-methylbenzene-cyclohexadiene Ru(0) (IMBCHDRu, $C_{16}H_{22}Ru$), ethylbenzen-cyclohexadiene Ru(0) (EBCHDRu, $C_{14}H_{18}Ru$), ethylbenzen-ethyl-cyclohexadiene Ru(0) (EBECHDRu, $C_{16}H_{22}Ru$), and (ethylbenzene)(1,3-butadiene)Ru(0) (EBBDRu, $C_{12}H_{16}Ru$) and molecular oxygen (O2) as a reactant at substrate temperatures ranging from 140 to $350^{\circ}C$. It was shown that little incubation cycles were observed for ALD-Ru processes using these new novel zero-valent Ru precursors, indicating of the improved nucleation as compared to the use of typical higher-valent Ru precursors such as cyclopentadienyl-based Ru (II) or ${\beta}$-diketonate Ru (III) metallorganic precursors. It was also shown that Ru nuclei were formed after very short cycles (only 3 ALD cycles) and the maximum nuclei densities were almost 2 order of magnitude higher than that obtained using higher-valent Ru precursors. The step coverage of ALD-Ru was excellent, around 100% at on a hole-type contact with an ultra-high aspect ratio (~32) and ultra-small trench with an aspect ratio of ~ 4.5 (top-opening diameter: ~ 25 nm). The developed ALD-Ru film was successfully used as a seed layer for Cu electroplating.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.357.2-357.2
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• 2014

Ruthenium (Ru) 박막은 우수한 화학적 열적 안정성 및 높은 일함수(4.7eV) 특성으로 인해 20 nm급 이하의 차세대 DRAM capacitor의 전극 물질 및 Cu metalization을 위한 seed layer로 각광을 받고 있다. Ru박막의 나노스케일 정보전자소자로의 적용을 위해서는 두께제어가 용이하고 3D 구조에서 우수한 단차 피복 특성을 갖는 atomic layer deposition (ALD)을 이용한 박막 형성이 필수적이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 ALD 방법을 이용하여 0가의(cymene) (1,5-hexadiene) Ru (0) (C16H24Ru) 전구체를 합성, ALD 방법을 이용하여 우수한 초기성장거동을 갖는 Ru 박막을 증착 하였다. 형성된 Ru 박막의 표면 형상, 두께, 밀도를 주사전자현미경(Scanning electron microscopy)과 X-선 반사율 측정(X-ray reflectometer)으로 조사하였다. 또한 전기적 특성을 4침법(four-point-probe)으로 측정하였고, 박막의 화학적 조성과 결정성의 정보를 X-선 광전자분광법(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy)과 X-선 회절(X-ray diffraction)을 이용하여 확인하였다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.469-475
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• 2013

Al-doped ZnO(AZO) thin films were synthesized using atomid layer deposition(ALD), which acurately controlled the uniform film thickness of the AZO thin films. To investigate the electrical and optical properites of the AZO thin films, AZO films using ALD was controlled to be three different thicknesses (50 nm, 100 nm, and 150 nm). The structural, chemical, electrical, and optical properties of the AZO thin films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field-emssion scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Hall measurement system, and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. As the thickness of the AZO thin films increased, the crystallinity of the AZO thin films gradually increased, and the surface morphology of the AZO thin films were transformed from a porous structure to a dense structure. The average surface roughnesses of the samples using atomic force microscopy were ~3.01 nm, ~2.89 nm, and ~2.44 nm, respectively. As the thickness of the AZO filmsincreased, the surface roughness decreased gradually. These results affect the electrical and optical properties of AZO thin films. Therefore, the thickest AZO thin films with 150 nm exhibited excellent resistivity (${\sim}7.00{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$), high transmittance (~83.2 %), and the best FOM ($5.71{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}^{-1}$). AZO thin films fabricated using ALD may be used as a promising cadidate of TCO materials for optoelectronic applications.