• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.333-334
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• 2007

This paper describes the characteristics of poly (polycrystalline) 3C-SiC grown on SiOz and AlN substrates, respectively. The crystalline quality of poly 3C-SiC was improved from resulting in decrease of FWHM (full width half maximum) of XRD by increasing the growth temperature. The minimum growth temperature of poly 3C-SiC was $1100^{\circ}C$. The surface chemical composition and the electron mobility of poly 3C-SiC grown on each substrate were investigated by XPS and Hall Effect, respectively. The chemical compositions of surface of poly 3C-SiC films grown on $SiO_2$ and AlN were not different. However, their electron mobilities were $7.65\;cm^2/V.s$ and $14.8\;cm^2/V.s$, respectively. Therefore, since the electron mobility of poly 3C-SiC films grown on AlN buffer layer was two times higher than that of 3C-SiC/$SiO_2$, a AlN film is a suitable material, as buffer layer, for the growth of poly 3C-SiC thin films with excellent properties for M/NEMS applications.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.04b
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• pp.101-104
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• 2004

In this study AlN/Al thin films were prepared at various conditions, such as $N_2$ gas flow rate $[N_2/(N_2+Ar)]$ from 0.6 to 0.9, a substrate temperature ranging from room temperature to $300^{\circ}C$ and working pressure 1mTorr. We estimated crystallographic characteristics and c-axis preferred orientations of AlN/Al thin films as function of Al electrode surface roughfness. The optimal processing conditions for Al electrode were found at substrate temperature of $300^{\circ}C$, sputtering power of 100W and a working pressure of 2mTorr. In these conditions, we obtained the c-axis preferred orientation of $AlN/Al/SiO_2/Si$ thin film about 4 degree.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.543-551
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• 2012

In this study, transparent conducting Al-doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) films with a thickness of 150 nm were prepared on corning glass substrate by the RF magnetron sputtering with using a Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO), ($Al_2O_3$: 2 wt%) target at room temperature. This study investigated the effect of rapid thermal annealing temperature and oxygen ambient on structural, electrical and optical properties of Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films. The films were annealed at temperatures ranging from 400 to $700^{\circ}C$ by using Rapid thermal equipment in oxygen ambient. The effect of RTA treatment on the structural properties were studied by x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. It is observed that the Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin film annealed at $500^{\circ}C$ at 5 minute oxygen ambient gas reveals the strongest XRD emission intensity and narrowest full width at half maximum among the temperature studied. The enhanced UV emission from the film annealed at $500^{\circ}C$ at 5 minute oxygen ambient gas is attributed to the improved crystalline quality of Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin film due to the effective relaxation of residual compressive stress and achieving maximum grain size.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.138-143
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• 2015

Aluminum nitride, a compound semiconductor, has a Wurtzite structure; good material properties such as high thermal conductivity, great electric conductivity, high dielectric breakdown strength, a wide energy band gap (6.2eV), a fast elastic wave speed; and excellent in thermal and chemical stability. Furthermore, the thermal expansion coefficient of the aluminum nitride is similar to those of Si and GaAs. Due to these characteristics, aluminum nitride can be applied to electric packaging components, dielectric materials, SAW (surface acoustic wave) devices, and photoelectric devices. In this study, we surveyed the crystallization and preferred orientation of AlN thin films with an X-ray diffractometer. To fabricate the AlN thin film, we used the magnetron sputtering method with $N_2$, NH3 and Ar. According to an increase in the partial pressures of $N_2$ and $NH_3$, Al was nitrified and deposited onto a substrate in a molecular form. When AlN was fabricated with $N_2$, it showed a c-axis orientation and tended toward a high orientation with an increase in the temperature. On the other hand, when AlN was fabricated with $NH_3$, it showed a-axis orientation. This result is coincident with the proposed mechanism. We fabricated AlN thin films with an a-axis orientation by controlling the sputtering electric power, $NH_3$ pressure, deposition speed, and substrate temperature. According to the proposed mechanism, we also fabricated AlN thin films which demonstrated high a-axis and c-axis orientations.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.245-252
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• 2009

Changes in the surface morphology and light scattering of textured Al doped ZnO thin films on glass substrates prepared by rf magnetron sputtering were investigated. As-deposited ZnO:Al films show a high transmittance of above 80% in the visible range and a low electrical resistivity of $4.5{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. The surface morphology of textured ZnO:Al films are closely dependent on the deposition parameters of heater temperature, working pressure, and etching time in the etching process. The optimized surface morphology with a crater shape is obtained at a heater temperature of $350^{\circ}C$, working pressure of 0.5 mtorr, and etching time of 45 seconds. The optical properties of light transmittance, haze, and angular distribution function (ADF) are significantly affected by the resulting surface morphologies of textured films. The film surfaces, having uniformly size-distributed craters, represent good light scattering properties of high haze and ADF values. Compared with commercial Asahi U ($SnO_2$:F) substrates, the suitability of textured ZnO:Al films as front electrode material for amorphous silicon thin film solar cells is also estimated with respect to electrical and optical properties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.394-394
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• 2012

We fabricated organic-inorganic superlattice films using molecular layer deposition (MLD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD). The MLD is a gas phase process in the vacuum like to atomic layer deposition (ALD) and also relies on a self-terminating surface reaction of organic precursor which results in the formation of a monolayer in each sequence. In the MLD process, 'Alucone' is very famous organic thin film fabricated using MLD. Alucone layers were grown by repeated sequential surface reactions of trimethylaluminum and ethylene glycol at substrate temperature of $80^{\circ}C$. In addition, we developed UV-assisted $Al_2O_3$ with gas diffusion barrier property better than typical $Al_2O_3$. The UV light was very effective to obtain defect-free, high quality $Al_2O_3$ thin film which is determined by water vapor transmission rate (WVTR). Ellipsometry analysis showed a self-limiting surface reaction process and linear growth of each organic, inorganic film. Composition of the organic films was confirmed by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Ultra-violet (UV) spectroscopy was employed to measure transparency of the organic-inorganic superlattice films. WVTR is calculated by Ca test. Organic-inorganic superlattice films using UV-assisted $Al_2O_3$ and alucone have possible use in gas diffusion barrier for OLED.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.05b
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• pp.62-65
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• 2002

Transparent conducting aluminum-doped Zinc oxide films (ZnO:Al) were prepared by rf magnetron sputtering on glass (Coming 1737) substrate as a variation of the deposition condition. After deposition, the smooth ZnO:Al films were etched in diluted HCl (0.5%) to examine the electrical and surface morphology properties as a variation of the time. The most important deposition condition of surface-textured ZnO films by chemical etching is the processing pressure and the substrate temperature. In low pressures (0.9mTorr) and high substrate temperatures $({\leq}300^{\circ}C)$, the surface morphology of films exhibits a more dense and compact film structure with effective light-trapping to apply the silicon thin film solar cells.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.10
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• pp.1488-1493
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• 2017

Boron-doped ZnO:Al films were deposited by rf magnetron sputtering. The structural and optical property variations of the films with the boron amounts were studied. ZnO nanorods were grown on $SiO_2/Si$ wafers and glass by a hydrothermal method. ~50 nm-thick boron-doped ZnO:Al films were deposited on the substrates as seed layers. The mixed solution of zinc nitrate hexahydrate and hexamethylenetetramine in DI water was used as a precursor for ZnO nanorods. The concentration of zinc nitrate hexahydrate and that of hexamethylenetetramine were 0.05 mol, respectively. ZnO nanorods were grown at $90^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. X-ray diffraction was conducted to observe the crystallinity of ZnO nanorods. A field emission scanning electron microscope was employed to study the morphology of nanorods. Optical transmittance was measured by a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and photoluminescence was carried out with 266 nm light. The ZnO nanorods grown on the 0.5 wt% boron-doped ZnO seed layer showed the best crystallinity.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.280-284
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• 2015

Among many the oxynitrides, TiNO and AlCrNO, have diverse applications in different technological fields. We prepared TiNO/AlCrNO/Al thin films on aluminum substrates using the method of dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The reactive gas flow, gas mixture, and target potential were applied as the sputtering conditions during the deposition in order to control the chemical composition. The multi-layer films have been prepared in an Ar and O₂+N₂ gas mixture rate. The surface properties were estimated by performing scanning electron microscopy (SEM). At a wavelength range of 0.3~2.5 μm, the exact composition and optical properties of thin films were measured by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and Ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) spectrophotometry. The optimal absorptance of multi-layer films was exhibited above 95.5% in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the reflectance was achieved below 1.89%.