• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.236.1-236.1
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• 2015

The surface morphology of front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films is very important to achieve high current density in amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cells since it can scatter the light in a better way. In this study, we present the low cost hydrothermal deposited uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-flower structure with various aspect ratios for a-Si thin film solar cells. The ZnO nano-flower structures with various aspect ratios were grown on the RF magnetron sputtered AZO films. The diameters and length of the ZnO nano-flowers was controlled by varying the annealing time. The length of ZnO nano-flowers were varied from 400 nm to $2{\mu}m$ while diameter was kept higher than 200 nm to obtain different aspect ratios. The ZnO nano-flowers with higher surface area as compared to conventional ZnO nano structure are preferred for the better light scattering. The conductivity and crystallinity of ZnO nano-flowers can be enhanced by annealing in hydrogen atmosphere at 350 oC. The vertical aligned ZnO nano-flowers showed higher haze ratio as compared to the commercially available FTO films. We also observed that the scattering in the longer wavelength region was favored for the high aspect ratio of ZnO nano-flowers. Therefore, we proposed low cost and vertically aligned ZnO nano-flowers for the high performance of thin film solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.503-509
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• 2001

Thin films of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si : H) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) of different compositions were deposited on Si(100) wafer and glass by RF plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD). In the present work, we have investigated the effects of the RF power on the properties, such as optical band gap, transmittance and crystallinity. The Raman data show that the a-Si:H material consists of an amorphous and crystalline phase for the co-presence of two peaks centered at 480 and $520 cm^{-1}$ . The UV-VIS data suggested that the optical energy band gap ($E_{g}$ ) is not changed effectively with RF power and the obtained $E_{g}$(1.80eV) of the $\mu$c-Si:H thin film has almost the same value of a-Si:H thin film (1.75eV), indicating that the crystallity of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film can mainly not affected to their optical properties. However, the experimental results have shown that$ E_{g}$ of the a-SiC:H thin films changed little on the annealing temperature while $E_{g}$ increased with the RF power. The Raman spectrum of the a-SiC:H thin films annealed at high temperatures showed that graphitization of carbon clusters and microcrystalline silicon occurs.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.13 no.4 s.57
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• pp.285-289
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• 2006

Co-Fe-Ni-B-Si-Cr based amorphous strips containing nitrogen were manufactured via melt spinning, and then devitrified by crystallization treatment at the various annealing temperatures of $300^{\circ}C{\sim}540^{\circ}C$ for up to 30 minutes in an inert gas $(N_2)$ atmosphere. The microstructures were examined by using XRD and TEM and the magnetic properties were measured by using VSM and B-H meter. Among the alloys, the amorphous ribbons of $Co_{72.6}Fe_{9.8}Ni_{5.5}B_{2.4}Si_{7.1}Cr_{2.6}$ containing 121 ppm of nitrogen showed relatively high saturation magnetization. The alloy ribbons crystallized at $540^{\circ}C$ showed that the grain size of $Co_{72.6}Fe_{9.8}Ni_{5.5}B_{2.4}Si_{7.1}Cr_{2.6}$ alloy containing 121 ppm of nitrogen was about f nm, which exhibited paramagnetic behavior. The formation of nano-grain structure was attributed to the finely dispersed Fe4N particles and the solid-solutionized nitrogen atoms in the matrix. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the nano-grain structure of 5nm in size could reduce the core loss within the normally applied magnetic field of 300A/m at 10kHz.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.64.2-65
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• 2003

A 4 nm layer of ZrOx (targeted x-2) was deposited on an interfacial layer(IL) of native oxide (SiO, t∼1.2 nm) surface on 200 mm Si wafers by a manufacturable atomic layer chemical vapor deposition technique at 30$0^{\circ}C$. Some as-deposited layers were subjected to a post-deposition, rapid thermal annealing at $700^{\circ}C$ for 5 min in flowing oxygen at atmospheric pressure. The experimental x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution parallel electron energy loss spectroscopy results showed that a multiphase and heterogeneous structure evolved, which we call the Zr-O/IL/Si stack. The as-deposited Zr-O layer was amorphous $ZrO_2$-rich Zr silicate containing about 15% by volume of embedded $ZrO_2$ nanocrystals, which transformed to a glass nanoceramic (with over 90% by volume of predominantly tetragonal-$ZrO_2$(t-$ZrO_2$) and monoclinic-$ZrO_2$(m-$ZrO_2$) nanocrystals) upon annealing. The formation of disordered amorphous regions within some of the nanocrystals, as well as crystalline regions with defects, probably gave rise to lattice strains and deformations. The interfacial layer (IL) was partitioned into an upper Si $o_2$-rich Zr silicate and the lower $SiO_{x}$. The latter was sub-toichiometric and the average oxidation state increased from Si0.86$^{＋}$ in $SiO_{0.43}$ (as-deposited) to Si1.32$^{＋}$ in $SiO_{0.66}$ (annealed). This high oxygen deficiency in $SiO_{x}$ indicative of the low mobility of oxidizing specie in the Zr-O layer. The stacks were characterized for their dielectric properties in the Pt/{Zr-O/IL}/Si metal oxide-semiconductor capacitor(MOSCAP) configuration. The measured equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) was not consistent with the calculated EOT using a bilayer model of $ZrO_2$ and $SiO_2$, and the capacitance in accumulation (and therefore, EOT and kZr-O) was frequency dispersive, trends well documented in literature. This behavior is qualitatively explained in terms of the multi-layer nanostructure and nanochemistry that evolves.ves.ves.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.45-49
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• 2001

We have investigated physical and electrical properties of the Hf $O_2$/HfS $i_{x}$/ $O_{y}$ thin film for alternative gate dielectrics in the metal-oxide-semiconductor device. The oxidation of Hf deposited directly on the Si substrate results in the H $f_{x}$/ $O_{y}$ interfacial layer and the high-k Hf $O_2$film simultaneously. Interestingly, the post-oxidation N2 annealing of the H102/H1Si70y thin films reduces(increases) the thickness of an amorphous HfS $i_{x}$/ $O_{y}$ layer(Hf $O_2$ layer). This phenomenon causes the increase of the effective dielectric constant, while maintaining the excellent interfacial properties. The hysteresis window in C-V curves and the midgap interface state density( $D_{itm}$) of Hf $O_2$/HfS $i_{x}$/ $O_{y}$ thin films less than 10 mV and ~3$\times$10$^{11}$ c $m^{-2}$ -eV without post-metallization annealing, respectively. The leakage current was also low (1$\times$10-s A/c $m^2$ at $V_{g}$ = +2 V). It is believed that these excellent results were obtained due to existence of the amorphous HfS $i_{x}$/ $O_{y}$ buffer layer. We also investigated the charge trapping characteristics using Fowler-Nordheim electron injection: We found that the degradation of Hf $O_2$/HfS $i_{x}$/ $O_{y}$ gate oxides is more severe when electrons were injected from the gate electrode.e electrode.e.e electrode.e.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.237-241
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• 2004

Amorphous silicon (a-Si) films are used in a broad range of solar cell, flat panel display, and sensor. Because of the greater ease of deposition and lower processing temperature, thin films are widely used for thin film transistors (TFTs). However, they have lower stability under the exposure of visible light and because of their low field effect mobility ($\mu$$_{FE}$ ) , less than 1 c $m^2$/Vs, they require a driving IC in the external circuits. On the other hand, polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films have superiority in $\mu$$_{FE}$ and optical stability in comparison to a-Si film. Many researches have been done to obtain high performance poly-Si because conventional methods such as excimer laser annealing, solid phase crystallization and metal induced crystallization have several difficulties to crystallize. In this paper, a new crystallization process using a molybdenum substrate has been proposed. As we use a flexible substrate, high temperature treatment and roll-to-roll process are possible. We have used a high temperature process above 75$0^{\circ}C$ to obtain poly-Si films on molybdenum substrates by a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of the amorphous silicon (a-Si) layers. The properties of high temperature crystallized poly-Si studied, and poly-Si has been used for the fabrication of TFT. By this method, we are able to achieve high crystal volume fraction as well as high field effect mobility.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.478-480
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• 2001

Fe-base amorphous films exhibit large saturation magnetostriction and soft magnetic Properties, which make them suitable for strain sensor applications. Most important material properties for the performance of these elements are the superior soft magnetic properties, such as high permeability and small coercive force, as well as magnetoelastic properties. It is well known that the strain generated in film deposition and/or post-heat treatment processes is one of important material properties, which effects on the soft magnetic properties of the film via magnetoelastic coupling. In this study, the effect of an isotropic strain in plane of magnetic films have been performed experimently. Amorphous films with the composition of (F $e_{90}$ $Co_{10}$)$_{78}$S $i_{l2}$ $B_{10}$ were employed in this study. The film with 5${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ thick was deposed onto the polyimide substrate with 50${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ thick by virtue of RF sputtering. The film was subject to post annealing with a static magnetic field with 500Oe magnetic field intensity at 35$0^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour. The polyimide substrate with the film was bonded with an adhesive on PZT piezoelectric substrate with 600${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ thick in applying voltage of 500V. The change in MH loops of films due to the isotropic strain was measured by using VSM. The coercive force was evaluated from MH loops. It has shown in the results that M-H loops of films are subject to change considerably with a dc voltage, resulting of the magnetization rotation from normal to plane direction as the applied voltage is changed from 500V to 250V.50V.V.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.846-849
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• 2013

Thin film of $TiO_2$ was obtained by the sol-gel dip method on the brosilicate glass substrate. It was found that the film was about $1.5{\mu}m$ thick as obtained by 4 successive coatings and annealed at varied temperatures ranged from $300^{\circ}C$ to $1100^{\circ}C$ for 2 hrs. The substrate used was having the surface area of $100mm^2$. Increasing the annealing temperature caused to change in mineralogical phase of titanium oxide i.e., amorphous, crystalline antase to rutile phases. The particle size of the titanium oxide film were ranged from $0.1{\sim}0.54{\mu}m$ estimated by the SEM analysis. The material showed an absorbance maximum at the wavelength 390nm obtained by UV-visible spectrophotometer. These results therefore, indicated that the $TiO_2$ film obtained relatively at low annealing temperature consisted predominantly with anatase phase; possessed higher photocatalytic behavior i.e., 2.4 times higher than that of only UV lamp irradiation.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.314-320
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• 1998

In this study, we have investigated crystallization properties of $Te_x(Sb_{85}Ge_{15})_{100-x}$ (x=0.3, 0.5, 1.0) thin films prepared by thermal evaporation. The change of reflectance according to phase change from amorphous to crystalline phases with annealing and exposure of diode laser is measured b the n&k analyzer and the surface morphology between amorphous and crystalline phase is analyzed by SEM and AFM. The difference in reflectance($\DeltaR$) between amorphous and crystalline phase appears approximately 20% at the diode laser wavelength, 780nm in all prepared films. Especially, the reflectance difference,$\DeltaR$ comes up to about 30% in $Te_{0.5}(Sb_{85}Ge_{15})_{99.5}$ thin film. Also, amorphous-to-crystalline phase change is observed in all prepared films. As a result of the measurement of the reflectance using diode laser, the reflectance is increased in proportion to the laser power and exposure time in all films. As a result of observing each film with the SEM and AFM, the surface morphology of the annealed and the exposed films are evidently increased than those of as-deposited films. The fast crystallization is occurred by increasing in Te content. Therefore, we conclude that the $Te_{0.5}(Sb_{85}Ge_{15})_{99.5}$ and $Te_1(Sb_{85}Ge_{15})_{99}$ thin films can be evaluated as an attractive optical recording medium with high contast ratio and fast erasing time due to crystallization.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.255-263
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• 1999

We have investigated the interfacial reactions in Co/Ti multilayer thin films prepared by DC Magnetron sputtering system. We observed that the amorphous Co-Ti phase formed by SSAR (Solid State Amorphization Reaction) upon annealing at $200^{\circ}C$. Upon annealing treatments at $300^{\circ}C\;and\;400^{\circ}C$, a crystalline phase of CoTi formed at the Co/Ti interface. The sheet resistance of Co/Ti multilayer thin film increased by the formation of the amorphous phase at the Co/Ti interface, which decreased by the formation of new crystalline compound CoTi.