• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.94-98
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• 2014

Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films with a TiN buffer layer have been fabricated on SUS430 substrate by RF reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature under 25~75% $N_2$ /Ar. The characterization of film properties were performed using surface profiler, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), and pressure-voltage measurement system. The deposition rates of AlN films were decreased with increasing the $N_2$ concentration owing to lower mass of nitrogen ions than Ar. The as-deposited AlN films showed crystalline phase, and with increasing the $N_2$ concentration, the peak of AlN(100) plane and the crystallinity became weak. Any change in the preferential orientation of the as-deposited AlN films was not observed within our $N_2$ concentration range. But in the case of 50% $N_2$ /Ar condition, the peak of (002) plane, which is determinant in pressure sensing properties, appeared. XPS depth profiling of AlN/TiN/SUS430 revealed Al/N ratio was close to stoichiometric value (45:47) when deposited under 50% $N_2/Ar$ atmosphere at room temperature. The output signal voltage of AlN sensor showed a linear behavior between 26~85 mV, and the pressure-sensing sensitivity was calculated as 7 mV/MPa.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.3-6
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• 2009

Aluminum nitride (AIN) thin films were deposited on a polycrystalline 3C-SiC intermediate layer by a pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering system. Characteristics of the AIN/SiC heterostructures were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The columnar structure of AIN thin films was observed by FE-SEM. The surface roughness of AlN films on the 3C-SiC buffer layer was measured using AFM. The XRD pattern of AlN films on SiC buffer layers was highly oriented at (002). Full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curve near (002) reflections was $1.3^{\circ}$. The infrared absorbance spectrum indicated that the residual stress of AIN thin films grown on SiC buffer layers was nearly negligible. The 3C-SiC intermediate layers are promising for the realization of nitride based electronic and mechanical devices.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.1333-1334
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• 2007

Al thin film was the most popular electrode in semiconductor and flat panel display world, because of its electrical conductivity, selectivity and easy to apply to thin film. However, Al thin films were not good to use on the bottom electrode about the crystalline growth of inorganic compound materials such as ZnO, AlN and GaN, because of its surface roughness and melting points. In this paper, we investigated Ar plasma surface treatment of Al thin film to enhance the surface roughness and electrical conductivity using the reactive ion etching system. Several process conditions such as RF power, working pressure and process time were controlled. In results, the surface roughness showed $15.53\;{\AA}$ when RF power was 100 W, working pressure was 50 mTorr and process time was 10 min. Also, we tried to deposit ZnO thin films on the each Al thin films, the upper conditions showed the best crystalline characteristics by x-ray diffraction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.235-235
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• 2009

This paper describes the influence of a polycrystalline (poly) 3C-SiC buffer layer on the surface acoustic wave (SAW) properties of poly aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films by comparing the center frequency, insertion loss, the electromechanical coupling coefficient ($k^2$), andthetemperaturecoefficientoffrequency(TCF) of an IDT/AlN/3C-SiC structure with those of an IDT/AlN/Si structure, The poly-AlN thin films with an (0002)-preferred orientation were deposited on a silicon (Si) substrate using a pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering system. Results show that the insertion loss (21.92 dB) and TCF (-18 ppm/$^{\circ}C$) of the IDT/AlN/3C-SiC structure were improved by a closely matched coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and small lattice mismatch (1 %) between the AlN and 3C-SiC. However, a drawback is that the $k^2(0.79%)$ and SAW velocity(5020m/s) of the AlN/3C-SiC SAW device were reduced by appearing in some non-(0002)AlN planes such as the (10 $\bar{1}$ 2) and (10 $\bar{1}$ 3) AlN planes in the AlN/SiC film. Although disadvantages were shown to exist, the use of the AlN/3C-SiC structure for SAW applications at high temperatures is possible. The characteristics of the AlN thin films were also evaluated using FT-IR spectra, XRD, and AFM images.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.93-93
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• 2008

This paper presents the Raman scattering characteristics of poly (polycrystalline) 3C-SiC thin films deposited on AlN buffer layer by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) using hexamethyldisilane (MHDS) and carrier gases (Ar + $H_2$).The Raman spectra of SiC films deposited on AlN layer of before and after annealings were investigated according to the growth temperature of 3C-SiC. Two strong Raman peaks, which mean that poly 3C-SiC admixed with nanoparticle graphite, were measured in them. The biaxial stress of poly 3C-SiC/AlN was calculated as 896 MPa from the Raman shifts of 3C-SiC deposited at $1180^{\circ}C$ on AlN of after annealing.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.718-723
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• 2002

$Ti_{1-x}$ $Al_{ x}$N thin films as barrier layer for memory devices application were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. The crystallinity, micro-structure, oxidation resistance and oxidation mechanism of films were investigated as a function of Al content. Lattice parameter and grain size of thin films were decreased with increasing the Al content Oxidation of the film with higher Al content is slow and then, total oxide thickness is thinner than that of lower Al content film. Oxide layer formed on the surface is AlTiNO layer. Oxidation of $Ti_{1-x}$ /$Al_{x}$ N barrier layer is diffusion limited process and thickness of oxide layer with oxidation time increased with a parabolic law. The activation energy of oxygen diffusion, Ea and diffusion coefficient, D of $Ti_{0.74}$ /X$0.74_{0.26}$N film is 2.1eV and $10^{-16}$ ~$10^{-15}$ $\textrm{cm}^2$/s, respectively. $_Ti{1-x}$ /$Al_{x}$ XN barrier layer showed good oxidation resistance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.7-9
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• 2007

Thin films of CrAlSiN were deposited on SKD11 tool steel substrate using Cr and AlSi cathodes by a cathodic arc plasma deposition system. The influence of process parameters on the deposited film properties were investigated. The oxidation characteristics of the films were studied at temperatures ranging from 800 and 1000+C up to 50 h in air. The films showed superhardness and good oxidation resistance..

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.420-424
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• 2014

Aluminum-scandium nitride ($Al_{1-x}Sc_xN$) thin films with a TiN buffer layer have been fabricated on SUS430 substrate by RF reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature under 50% $N_2$/Ar. The effect of Sc-doping on the structure and piezoelectric properties of AlN films has been investigated using SEM, XRD, surface profiler and pressure-voltage measurements. The as-deposited AlN films showed polycrystalline phase, and the Sc-doped AlN film, the peak of AlN (002) plane and the crystallinity became very strong. With Sc-doping, the crystal size of AlN film was grown from ~20 nm to ~100 nm. The output signal voltage of AlN sensor showed a linear behavior between 15~65 mV, and output signal voltage of Sc-doped AlN sensor was increased over 7 times. The pressure-sensing sensitivity of AlN film was calculated about 10.6mV/MPa, and $Al_{0.88}Sc_{0.12}N$ film was calculated about 76 mV/MPa.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.676-681
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• 2002

Microstructure, mechanical properties, and oxidation resistance of TiAIN thin films deposited on quenched and tempered STD61 tool steel by arc ion plating were studied using XRD, XPS and micro-balance. The TiAIN film was grown with the (200) orientation. The grain size of TiAIN thin film decreased with increasing Al contents, while chemical binding energy increased with Al contents. When hard coating films were oxidized at $850^{\circ}C$ in air, oxidation resistance of both TiN and TiCN films became relatively lower since the surface of films formed non-protective film such as $TiO_2$. However, oxidation resistance of TiAIN film was excellent because its surface formed protective layer such as $_A12$$O_3$ and $_Al2$$Ti_{7}$$O_{15}$, which suppressed oxygen intrusion.