• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.158-158
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• 2009

This paper focuses on improving organic thin film transistor (OTFT) characteristics by controlling the self-organization of pentacene molecules with an alignable high-dielectric-constant film. The process, based on the growth of pentacene film through high-vacuum sublimation, is a method of self-organization using ion-beam (IB) bombardment of the $HfO_2/Al_2O_3$ surface used as the gate dielectric layer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that the IB raises the rate of the structural anisotropy of the $HfO_2/Al_2O_3$film, and X-ray diffraction patterns show the possibility of increasing the anisotropy to create the self-organization of pentacene molecules in the first polarized monolayer. An effective mobility of $2.3{\times}10^{-3}cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ was achieved, which is significantly different from that of pentacene films that are not aligned. The proposed OTFT devices with an ultrathin $HfO_2$ structure as the gate dielectric layer were operated at a gate voltage lower than 5 V.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.365-373
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• 2008

We have succeeded in synthesizing vertically aligned thin multi-walled carbon nanotubes (VA thin-MWCNTs) by a catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) method onto Fe/Al thin film deposited on a Si wafers using an optimum amount of hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) additive. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images revealed that the as-synthesized CNT arrays were vertically well-oriented perpendicular to the substrate with relatively uniform length. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations indicated that the as-grown CNTs were nearly catalyst-free thin-MWCNTs with small outer diameters of less than 10nm. The average wall number is about 5. We suggested a possible growth mechanism of the VA thin-MWCNT arrays. The VA thin-MWCNTs showed a low turn-on electric field of about $1.1\;V/{\mu}m$ at a current density of $0.1\;{\mu}A/cm^2$ and a high emission current density about $2.5\;mA/cm^2$ at a bias field of $2.7\;V/{\mu}m$. Moreover, the VA thin-MWCNTs presented better field emission stability without degradation over 20 hours (h) at the emission current density of about $1\;mA/cm^2$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.655-659
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• 2010

Nanoporous titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) is very attractive material for various applications due to the high surface to volume ratio. In this study, we have fabricated nanoporous $TiO_2$ thin films on Si by anodic oxidation. 500-nm-thick titanium (Ti) films were deposited on Si by using electron beam evaporation. Nanoporous structures in the Ti films were obtained by anodic oxidization using ethylene glycol electrolytes containing 0.3 wt% $NH_4F$ and 2 vol% $H_2O$ under an applied bias of 5 V. The diameter of nanopores in the Ti films linearly increased with anodization time and the whole Ti layer could become nanoporous after anodizing for 3 hours, resulting in vertically aligned nanotubes with the length of 200~300 nm and the diameter of 50~80 nm. Upon annealing at $600^{\circ}C$ in air, the anodized Ti films were fully crystallized to $TiO_2$ of rutile and anatase phases. We believe that our method to fabricate nanoporous $TiO_2$ films on Si is promising for applications to thin-film gas sensors and thin-film photovoltaics.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.472-476
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• 2016

The nano-array of the vertically aligned rod-like particles grown on ZnO coated glass-substrates was obtained via hydrothermal process. ZnO thin film coatings were prepared on the glass substrates using a MOD (metallorganic deposition) dip-coating method with zinc chloride dihydrate as starting material and 2-ethylhexanol as solvent. ZnO nanorods were synthesized on the seeded substrates by hydrothermal method at $80^{\circ}C$ using zinc-nitrate hexahydrate as a Zn source and sodium hydroxide as a mineralizer. Under the hydrothermal condition, the rod-like nanocrystals were easily attaching on the already ZnO seeded (coated) glass surface. It has been shown that the hydrothermal synthesis parameters are key factors in the nucleation and growth of ZnO crystallites. By controlling of hydrothermal parameters, the ZnO particulate morphology could be easily tailored. Rod-shaped ZnO arrays on the glass substrates consisted of elongated crystals having 6-fold symmetry were predominantly developed at high Zn precursor concentration in the pH range 7~11.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.273-277
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• 2007

Vertically aligned Zinc Oxide rod arrays were grown by the self-assembly hydrothermal process on the GaN epitaxial layer which has a same lattice structure with ZnO. Zinc nitrate and DETA solutions are used in the hydrothermal process. The $(HfO_2)$ thin film was deposited on GaN and the patterning was made by the photolithography technique. The selective growth of ZnO rod was achieved with the patterned GaN substrate. The fabricated ZnO rods are single crystal, and have grown along hexagonal c-axis direction of (002) which is the same growth orientation of GaN epitaxial layer. The density and the size of ZnO rod can be controlled by the pattern. The optical property of ordered array of vertical ZnO rods will be discussed in the present work.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.135-138
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• 2007

In this study, we investigated the electro-optical (EO) characteristic of fringe-field switching (FFS) mode cell by the two kinds of ultraviolet (UV) alignment method on the organic thin film (polyimide: PI). The suitable organic layers for FFS cell and the aligning capabilities of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) using the in-situ photoalignment method were studied; Disclination is observed after conventional photoalignment method for 1h, and in-situ photoalignment method for 1h. Monodomain alignment of the NLC can be observed via insitu photo alignment method for 2 h and 3 h. It is considered that NLC alignment is due to photo-depolymerization of the polymer with oblique non-polarized UV irradiation on PI surface. An unstable V-T curve of UV-aligned FFS-LCD with conventional photoalignment method can be achieved. However, a stable V-T curve of UV-aligned FFS-LCD with in-situ photoalignment method (1 h), and V-T curve of UV-aligned FFS-LCD with in-situ photo alignment method was much stable comparing with that of other UV-aligned FFSLCD's. As a result, more stable EO performance of UV-aligned FFS-LCD with in-situ photoalignment method for 3h is obtained than that of the other UV-aligned FFS-LCD's.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.79-83
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• 2015

This paper presents a numerical study on the alignment of ridge-like surface structures evolving on silicon-germanium thin films under localized modulation of surface diffusivity. A situation is considered in which the surface diffusion of film material is selectively promoted such that its morphology is perturbed to periodic patterns. To simulate the growth behavior, a governing equation is formulated taking the surface chemical potential into account, and its solution is numerically sought using a finite-difference method. Results show that an initially planar surface coalesces upon the diffusivity modulation, and the surface structures can be aligned by changing the frequency of modulation condition. This research suggests a bottom-up fabrication technique that can manage the regularity of surface structures for thin film devices.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

The $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ (CIGS) thin film obtained by two-step process (metal deposition and Se annealing) has a rough surface morphology and many voids at the CIGS/Mo interface. To solve the problem a precursor that contains Se was employer by depositing a (In,Se)/(Cu,Ga) stacked layer. We devised a two-step annealing (vacuum pre-annealing and Se annealing) for the precursor because direct annealing of the precursor in Se environment resulted in the small grains with unwanted demarcation between stacked layers. After vacuum pre-annealing up to $500^{\circ}C$ the CIGS film consisted of CIGS phase and secondary phases including $In_4Se_3$, InSe, and $Cu_9(In,Ga)_4$. The secondary phases were completely converted to CIGS phase by a subsequent Se annealing. A void-free CIGS/Mo interface was obtained by the two-step annealing process. Especially, the CIGS film prepared by vacuum annealing $450^{\circ}C$ and subsequent Se annealing $550^{\circ}C$ showed a densely-packed grains with smooth surface, well-aligned bamboo grains on the top of the film, little voids in the film, and also little voids at the CIGS/Mo interface. The smooth surface enhanced the cell performance due to the increase of shunt resistance.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.669-672
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• 2008

Well-aligned Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires were synthesized on silicon substrates by a carbothermal evaporation method using a mixture of ZnO and graphite powder with Au thin film was used as a catalyst. The XRD results showed that as-prepared product is the hexagonal wurzite ZnO nanostructure and SEM images demonstrated that ZnO nanowires had been grown along the [0001] direction with hexagonal cross section. As-grown ZnO nanowires were coated with glucose oxidase (GOx) for glucose sensing. Glucose converted into gluconic acid by reaction with GOx and two electrons are generated. They transfer into ZnO nanowires due to the electric force between electrons and the positively charged ZnO nanostructures in PBS. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy was employed for investigating the movements of electrons, and the peak PL intensity increased with the glucose concentration and became saturated when the glucose concentration is above 10 mM. These results demonstrate that ZnO nanostructures have potential applications in biosensors.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.112-112
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• 2006

Detailed surface characteristics of polymer films have been investigated by atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and NEXAFS spectroscopy experiments. The geometric confinement of the surfaces and the necessity to minimize the surface energy lead to the significant molecular organization and orientation in polymer surfaces, with their properties strongly depending upon the atomistic monomer structures. As compared with polymers, oligomeric electronic materials are much more readily aligned by employing various surface anchoring forces, rendering them highly attractive as polarized-light emitting materials and active semiconducting materials in thin film transistors.