• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.267-275
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• 1988

Fine powders of amorphous $Al_2O_3,\;SiO_2,\;Al_2O_3-SiO_2$ system were prepared by hydrolysis of solutions containing alkoxides, aluminium tri-isopropoxide and silicon tetra-ethoxide. High purity ultrafine ${\beta}-sialon$ powders were prepared by the carbothermal reduction-nitridation of amorphous $Al_2O_3-SiO_2$ powders mixed with carbon black as a reducing agent. In the hydrolysis step the effect of the factors such as pH, reaction temperature and amount of water on the conversion rate of alkoxides to oxides was investigated. In the carbothermal reduction-nitridation the reaction path was assumed by the analysis of intermediates formed in the process of ${\beta}-sialon$ synthesis and the reaction kinetics of ${\beta}-sialon$ formation was considered.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.46-49
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• 2016

A thin film transistor (TFT) has been fabricated using the amorphous 0.5 wt% Si doped zinc-tin-oxide (a-0.5 SZTO) with different electrodes made of either aluminium (Al) or titanium/aluminium(Ti/Al). Contact resistance and total channel resistance of a-0.5SZTO TFTs have been investigated and compared using the transmission line method (TLM). We measured the total resistance of 1.0×10² Ω/cm using Ti/Al electrodes. This result is due to Ti, which is a material known for its adhesion layer. We found that the Ti/Al electrode showed better contact characteristics between the channel and electrodes compared with that made of Al only. The former showed a less contact and total resistance. We achieved high performance of the TFTs characteristic, such as Vth of 2.6 V, field effect mobility of 20.1 cm² V⁻¹s⁻¹, S.S of 0.9 Vdecade⁻¹, and on/off current ratio of 9.7×10⁶ A. It was demonstrated that the Ti/Al electrodes improved performance of TFTs due to enhanced contact resistance.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.738-742
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• 2007

The variations in the device characteristics of hydrogenated amorphous thin-film transistors (a-Si:H TFTs) were studied according to the processes of pixel electrode fabrication to make active-matrix flat-panel displays. The off-state current was about 1 pA and the switching ratio was over $10^6$ before fabrication of pixel electrodes; however, the off-state current increased over 10 pA after fabrication of pixel electrodes. Surface treatment on SiNx passivation layers using plasma could improve the off-state characteristics after pixel electrode process. $N_2$ plasma treatment gave the best result. Charge accumulation on the SiNx passivation layer during the deposition of transparent conducting layer might cause the increase of off-state current after the fabrication of pixel electrodes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.436-445
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• 1996

비정질 실리콘박막의 고상결정화 특성에 대한 비정질 박막의 증착방법, 수소화 정도, 표면결정 활성화 에너지 변화 및 열처리 환경 영향을 X선 회절, EDAX, Raman 분광 분석으로 조사하였다. 저온(58$0^{\circ}C$)열처리 corning 시료에서 기판 barium(Ba), aluminum(AI) 성분의 막내 확산 임계열처리시간 및 확산에 기인 한 불안정 결정화 특성을 관찰하였다. 화학기상증착 석영 수소화 시료에서 hard damage 기계적 활성화 효과로 얻어진 조대결정립 결정화 특성을 X선 회절의 (111) 배향 상대강도 변화로 관찰 할 수 있었으며, 이는 활성화 효과에 의한 고상 결정화 시 핵생성과 성장속도변화로 다결정 실리콘의 전기적물성 향상 가능성을 보여주었다. Soft damage, bare 활성화 처리 수소화막의 결정화는 비정질 상의 혼재, 박막 응력등의 저품위 입계특성 및 미세결정립 성장 특성으로 관찰되었으나, 활성화 전처리에 의한 저온 및 고온(875$^{\circ}C$)단시간(30분) 결정화는 확인 되었다. 스퍼터링 비수소화 막의 결정화는 상변태 상태의 Raman 결정피크로 분석 되었으며, 결정화 거동에 선행막의 스퍼터링 및 비수소화 영향은 활성화효과에 관계없이 불완전 저품위 결정특성으로 확인되었다. AFM 표면형상은 3차원 island 성막특성을 보여주었고 표면거칠기정도는 높은 것으로 관찰되었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.254-255
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• 2012

Interest in nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films has been growing because of their favorable processing conditions for certain electronic devices. In particular, there has been an increase in the use of nc-Si thin films in photovoltaics for large solar cell panels and in thin film transistors for large flat panel displays. One of the most important material properties for these device applications is the macroscopic charge-carrier mobility. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) or nc-Si is a basic material in thin film transistors (TFTs). However, a-Si:H based devices have low carrier mobility and bias instability due to their metastable properties. The large number of trap sites and incomplete hydrogen passivation of a-Si:H film produce limited carrier transport. The basic electrical properties, including the carrier mobility and stability, of nc-Si TFTs might be superior to those of a-Si:H thin film. However, typical nc-Si thin films tend to have mobilities similar to a-Si films, although changes in the processing conditions can enhance the mobility. In polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films, the performance of the devices is strongly influenced by the boundaries between neighboring crystalline grains. These grain boundaries limit the conductance of macroscopic regions comprised of multiple grains. In much of the work on poly-Si thin films, it was shown that the performance of TFTs was largely determined by the number and location of the grain boundaries within the channel. Hence, efforts were made to reduce the total number of grain boundaries by increasing the average grain size. However, even a small number of grain boundaries can significantly reduce the macroscopic charge carrier mobility. The nano-crystalline or polymorphous-Si development for TFT and solar cells have been employed to compensate for disadvantage inherent to a-Si and micro-crystalline silicon (${\mu}$-Si). Recently, a novel process for deposition of nano-crystralline silicon (nc-Si) thin films at room temperature was developed using neutral beam assisted chemical vapor deposition (NBaCVD) with a neutral particle beam (NPB) source, which controls the energy of incident neutral particles in the range of 1~300 eV in order to enhance the atomic activation and crystalline of thin films at room temperature. In previous our experiments, we verified favorable properties of nc-Si thin films for certain electronic devices. During the formation of the nc-Si thin films by the NBaCVD with various process conditions, NPB energy directly controlled by the reflector bias and effectively increased crystal fraction (~80%) by uniformly distributed nc grains with 3~10 nm size. The more resent work on nc-Si thin film transistors (TFT) was done. We identified the performance of nc-Si TFT active channeal layers. The dependence of the performance of nc-Si TFT on the primary process parameters is explored. Raman, FT-IR and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to study the microstructures and the crystalline volume fraction of nc-Si films. The electric properties were investigated on Cr/SiO2/nc-Si metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.219-226
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• 2008

In this study, we have conducted characterization of imaging performance for a flat panel digital X-ray detector using amorphous Selenium and a-Si TFT which was developed by the authors. The procedures for characterization were in concordance with internationally recommended standards such as IEC (international electrotechnical commission). The measures used for imaging performance characterization include response characteristic, modulation transfer function (MTF), detective quantum efficiency (DQE), noise power spectrum (NPS), and quantum limited performance. The measured DQEs at lowest and highest spatial frequencies were 40% and 25% respectively, which was superior to that of commercial products by overseas vendor. The MTF values were significantly superior to that of CR and indirect type DRs. The quantum limited performance showed the detector was limited by quantum noise at the entrance exposure level below 0.023 mR, which is sufficiently low for general X-ray examination.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.21-29
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• 2008

We studied both the wavelength and intensity dependent photo-responses (photofield-effect) in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). During the a-IGZO TFT illumination with the wavelength range from $460\sim660$ nm (visible range), the off-state drain current $(I_{DS_off})$ only slightly increased while a large increase was observed for the wavelength below 400 nm. The observed results are consistent with the optical gap of $\sim$3.05eV extracted from the absorption measurement. The a-IGZO TFT properties under monochromatic illumination ($\lambda$=420nm) with different intensity was also investigated and $I_{DS_off}$ was found to increase with the light intensity. Throughout the study, the field-effect mobility $(\mu_{eff})$ is almost unchanged. But due to photo-generated charge trapping, a negative threshold voltage $(V_{th})$ shift is observed. The mathematical analysis of the photofield-effect suggests that a highly efficient UV photocurrent conversion process in TFT off-region takes place. Finally, a-IGZO mid-gap density-of-states (DOS) was extracted and is more than an order of magnitude lower than reported value for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), which can explain a good switching properties observed for a-IGZO TFTs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.183-183
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• 2012

In the era of 45 nm or beyond technology, conventional etch mask using photoresist showed its limitation of etch mask pattern collapse as well as pattern erosion, thus hard mask in etching became necessary for precise control of etch pattern geometry. Currently available hard mask materials are amorphous carbon and polymetric materials spin-on containing carbon or silicon. Amorphous carbon layer (ACL) deposited by PECVD for etch hard mask has appeared in manufacturing, but spin-on carbon (SOC) was also suggested to alleviate concerns of particle, throughput, and cost of ownership (COO) [1]. SOC provides some benefits of reduced process steps, but it also faced with wiggling on a sidewall profile. Diamond like carbon (DLC) was also evaluated for substituting ACL, but etching selectivity of ACL was better than DLC although DLC has superior optical property [2]. Developing a novel material for pattern hard mask is very important in material research, but it is also worthwhile eliminating a potential issue to continuously develop currently existing technology. In this paper, we investigated in-situ dry-cleaning (ISD) monitoring of ACL coated process chamber. End time detection of chamber cleaning not only provides a confidence that the process chamber is being cleaned, but also contributes to minimize wait time waste (WOW). Employing Challenger 300ST, a 300mm ACL PECVD manufactured by TES, a series of experimental chamber cleaning runs was performed after several deposition processes in the deposited film thickness of $2000{\AA}$ and $5000{\AA}$. Ar Actinometry and principle component analysis (PCA) were applied to derive integrated and intuitive trace signal, and the result showed that previously operated cleaning run time can be reduced by more than 20% by employing real-time monitoring in ISD process.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.13-18
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• 2006

Currently, the flexible organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) are investigated. They are very vulnerable to moisture, and thus have been found to show some problems. Thus, an effective barrier layer is needed to protect from moisture in air. We deposited thin films with magnesium oxide (MgO) and silicon oxide $(SiO_{2})$ compounds mixed at various mixture ratios on flexible polyether sulfone (PES) substrates by an electron-beam evaporator to investigate their applizability for transparent barrier applications. In this study, we found that as the MgO fraction increased, thin films comprised of MgO and $(SiO_{2})$ compounds became more amorphous and their surface morphologies become smoother and denser. In addition, zirconium oxide $(ZrO_{2})$ was added to the above-mentioned compound mixtures. $ZrO_{2}$ made thin mixture films more amorphous and made the surface morphology denser and more uniform. The water vapor transmission rates (WVTRs) of the whole films decreased rapidly. The best WVTR was obtained by depositing thin films of Mg-Si-Zr-O compound among the whole thin films. As the thin mixture films became more amorphous, and the surface morphology become denser and more uniform, the WVTRs decreased. Therefore, the thin mixture films became more suitable for flexible OLED applications as transparent passivation layers against moisture in air.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.395-402
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• 2011

The nanomechanical properties of fully lithiated and unlithiated silicon nanowire deposited on silicon substrate have been studied with atomic force microscopy. Silicon nanowires were synthesized using the vapor-liquid-solid process on stainless steel substrates using Au catalyst. Fully lithiated silicon nanowires were obtained by using the electrochemical method, followed by drop-casting on the silicon substrate. The roughness, derived from a line profile of the surface measured in contact mode atomic force microscopy, has a smaller value ($0.65{\pm}0.05$ nm) for lithiated silicon nanowire and a higher value ($1.72{\pm}0.16$ nm) for unlithiated silicon nanowire. Force spectroscopy was utilitzed to study the influence of lithiation on the tip-surface adhesion force. Lithiated silicon nanowire revealed a smaller value (~15 nN) than that of the Si nanowire substrate (~60 nN) by a factor of two, while the adhesion force of the silicon nanowire is similar to that of the silicon substrate. The elastic local spring constants obtained from the force-distance curve, also shows that the unlithiated silicon nanowire has a relatively smaller value (16.98 N/m) than lithiated silicon nanowire (66.30 N/m) due to the elastically soft amorphous structures. The frictional forces of lithiated and unlithiated silicon nanowire were obtained within the range of 0.5-4.0 Hz and 0.01-200 nN for velocity and load dependency, respectively. We explain the trend of adhesion and modulus in light of the materials properties of silicon and lithiated silicon. The results suggest a useful method for chemical identification of the lithiated region during the charging and discharging process.