• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.273.2-273.2
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• 2014

Sputtering process has been widely used in Si-based semiconductor industry and it is also an ideal method to deposit transparent oxide materials for thin-film transistors (TFTs). The oxide films grown at low temperature by conventional RF sputtering process are typically amorphous state with low density including a large number of defects such as dangling bonds and oxygen vacancies. Those play a crucial role in the electron conduction in transparent electrode, while those are the origin of instability of semiconducting channel in oxide TFTs due to electron trapping. Therefore, post treatments such as high temperature annealing process have been commonly progressed to obtain high reliability and good stability. In this work, the scheme of electron-assisted RF sputtering process for high quality transparent oxide films was suggested. Through the additional electron supply into the plasma during sputtering process, the working pressure could be kept below $5{\times}10-4Torr$. Therefore, both the mean free path and the mobility of sputtered atoms were increased and the well ordered and the highly dense microstructure could be obtained compared to those of conventional sputtering condition. In this work, the physical properties of transparent oxide films such as conducting indium tin oxide and semiconducting indium gallium zinc oxide films grown by electron-assisted sputtering process will be discussed in detail. Those films showed the high conductivity and the high mobility without additional post annealing process. In addition, oxide TFT characteristics based on IGZO channel and ITO electrode will be shown.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.23-25
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• 2001

In this work, the $Ta_2O_5$ thin films were deposited on Pt/n-Si substrate by reactive magnetron sputtering and the RTA treatment at temperatures range from 650 to $750^{\circ}C$ in $O_2$ and vacuum. X-ray diffraction analysis, FE SEM, dielectric properties and leakage current density have been used to study the structural and electrical properties of the $Ta_2O_5$ thin films. XRD result showed that as- deposited films were amorphous and the annealed films crystallized (<$700^{\circ}C$) into ${\beta}-Ta_2O_5$. The crystallinity increased with temperature in terms of an increase in the intensity of the diffracted peaks(${\beta}-Ta_2O_5$) and annealing in oxygen reduced defect dang1ing Ta-O bonds. As deposited $Ta_2O_5$ films show the leakage current density $10^{-7}$ to $10^{-8}$ (A/$cm^2)$ at low electric fields (<200 kV/cm) However, it was found leakage current density of $Ta_2O_5$ thin films decreased with $O_2$ ambient annealing. The dielectric constant of the as deposited $Ta_2O_5$ thin films was ${\varepsilon}_r$ $9{\sim}11$ but the dielectric constant was increased after RTA treatment in $O_2$ ambient more then in vacuum.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.467-472
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• 1997

In this study, we investigated the thickness dependence of thermal bleaching(TB) effect as well as photo-induced scalar phenomena, such as photodrakening(PD) effect and photorefraction(PR) change, in chalcogenide A $s_{40}$ G $e_{10}$S $e_{15}$ $S_{35}$ thin films. We found that when these films were exposed for 15 minutes using blue-pass filtered Hg lamp(~4300$\AA$) after annealing for 30 minutes around the glass transition temperature Tg(20$0^{\circ}C$), the refractive index change ($\Delta$n) was varied up to 0.02~0.46 according to each thickness condition and the optical energy gap ($\Delta$ $E_{op}$ ) was shifted to a longer wavelength of approximately 0.67eV, especially for 1000$\AA$-thickness. Also, the TB PD effects have been understood by the results related to optical absorption characteristics. The TB effect could be estimated as increasing the stabilization of amorphous chalcogenide films since absorption slope of extended regions(U) was not changed by annealing. On the other hand, the PD effect could be understood as due to the enhancement of disorder since U and the slope of Urbachs tail(1/F) around an absorption edge were decreased by exposing.ing.n edge were decreased by exposing.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2003

High quality $Ta_2O_5$ thin films have been obtained from the anodization of deposited tantalum (Ta). The as-deposited amorphous films of 750 $\AA$ thickness have excellent electrical properties. These properties include refractive indices 2.1~2.2 dielectric constants ~25, and leakage currents $10^{-8}$ /A$\textrm{cm}^{-2}$ at 1 MV$\textrm{cm}^{-1}$. We fabricated a MIM element with the $Ta_2O_5$ films. They have perfect current-voltage symmetry characteristics. A high performance MIM device was formed by newly developed processes based on our unique anodization and annealing treatment. The effects of various processing conditions (top-electrode metals, annealing conditions) on the MIM device performances will be extensively discussed throughout this work.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.100-101
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• 2012

The plasma damage free and room temperature processedthin film deposition technology is essential for realization of various next generation organic microelectronic devices such as flexible AMOLED display, flexible OLED lighting, and organic photovoltaic cells because characteristics of fragile organic materials in the plasma process and low glass transition temperatures (Tg) of polymer substrate. In case of directly deposition of metal oxide thin films (including transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS)) on the organic layers, plasma damages against to the organic materials is fatal. This damage is believed to be originated mainly from high energy energetic particles during the sputtering process such as negative oxygen ions, reflected neutrals by reflection of plasma background gas at the target surface, sputtered atoms, bulk plasma ions, and secondary electrons. To solve this problem, we developed the NBAS (Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering) process as a plasma damage free and room temperature processed sputtering technology. As a result, electro-optical properties of NBAS processed ITO thin film showed resistivity of $4.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}m$ and high transmittance (>90% at 550 nm) with nano- crystalline structure at room temperature process. Furthermore, in the experiment result of directly deposition of TCO top anode on the inverted structure OLED cell, it is verified that NBAS TCO deposition process does not damages to the underlying organic layers. In case of deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin film on the plastic polymer substrate, the room temperature processed sputtering coating of high quality TCO thin film is required. During the sputtering process with higher density plasma, the energetic particles contribute self supplying of activation & crystallization energy without any additional heating and post-annealing and forminga high quality TCO thin film. However, negative oxygen ions which generated from sputteringtarget surface by electron attachment are accelerated to high energy by induced cathode self-bias. Thus the high energy negative oxygen ions can lead to critical physical bombardment damages to forming oxide thin film and this effect does not recover in room temperature process without post thermal annealing. To salve the inherent limitation of plasma sputtering, we have been developed the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process as the high quality oxide thin film deposition process at room temperature. The MFSS process is effectively eliminate or suppress the negative oxygen ions bombardment damage by the plasma limiter which composed permanent magnet array. As a result, electro-optical properties of MFSS processed ITO thin film (resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, transmittance 95% at 550 nm) have approachedthose of a high temperature DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) ITO thin film were. Also, AOS (a-IGZO) TFTs fabricated by MFSS process without higher temperature post annealing showed very comparable electrical performance with those by DMS process with $400^{\circ}C$ post annealing. They are important to note that the bombardment of a negative oxygen ion which is accelerated by dc self-bias during rf sputtering could degrade the electrical performance of ITO electrodes and a-IGZO TFTs. Finally, we found that reduction of damage from the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment drives improvement of crystalline structure in the ITO thin film and suppression of the sub-gab states in a-IGZO semiconductor thin film. For realization of organic flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates, gas barrier coatings are required to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency flexible AMOLEDs needs an extremely low water vapor transition rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$. The key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required (under ${\sim}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$) is the suppression of nano-sized defect sites and gas diffusion pathways among the grain boundaries. For formation of high quality single inorganic gas barrier layer, we developed high density nano-structured Al2O3 single gas barrier layer usinga NBAS process. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to a nano- crystalline phase with various grain sizes in a single inorganic thin film. As a result, the water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film have improved order of magnitude compared with that of conventional $Al_2O_3$ layers made by the RF magnetron sputteringprocess under the same sputtering conditions; the WVTR of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film was about $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2/day$ by just single layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.420-420
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• 2014

최근, 과학 기술이 발달함에 따라 현장에서의 실시간 검사 및 자가 지단 등 질병 치유에 대한 사람들의 관심이 증가하고 있으며, 이에 따라 의료, 환경, 산업과 같은 많은 분야에서 바이오 센서에 대한 연구가 활발하게 이루어지고 있다. 그 중, EGFET는 전해질 속의 각종 이온 농도를 전기적으로 측정하는 바이오 센서로, 외부 환경으로부터 안전하고, 제작이 쉬우며, 재활용이 가능하여 비용을 절감 할 수 있다는 장점을 가지고 있다 [1]. EGFET는 감지부와 FET부로 분리된 구조를 가지고 있으며, 감지부의 감지막으로는 Al2O3, HfO2, $TiO_2$, SnO2 와 같은 다양한 물질들이 사용되고 있다. 그 중, SnO2는 우수한 감도와 안정성을 가지고 있는 물질로 추가적인 열처리 공정 없이도 우수한 감지 특성을 나타내기 때문에 본 연구에서 감지막으로 사용하였다. 한편, EGFETs 의 FET부로는 기존의 비정질 실리콘 TFTs 에 비해 10배 이상의 높은 이동도와 온/오프 전류비를 갖는 InGaZnO 를 채널층으로 사용한 TFTs 를 사용하였다. a-IGZO 는 넓은 밴드 갭으로 인해 가시광 영역에서 투명하며, 향후 투명 바이오센서 제작 시, 물질들 사이의 반응을 전기적 신호뿐만 아니라 광학적인 분석 방법으로도 검출이 가능하기에 고 신뢰성을 갖는 센서의 제작이 가능할 것으로 기대된다. 한편, a-IGZO TFTs 의 경우 우수한 전기적 특성을 나타냄에도 불구하고 소자 동작 시 문턱 전압이 불안정하다는 단점이 있으며 [2], 이러한 문제의 개선과 향후 투명 기판 위에서의 소자 제작을 위해서는 저온 열처리 공정이 필수적이다. 따라서, 본 연구에서는 저온 열처리 공정인 u-wave 열처리를 통하여 a-IGZO TFTs 의 전기적 특성 및 안정성을 향상시켰으며, 9.51 [$cm2/V{\cdot}s$]의 이동도와 135 [mV/dec] 의 SS값, 0.99 [V]의 문턱 전압, 1.18E+08의 온/오프 전류 비를 갖는 고성능 스위칭 TFTs 를 제작하였다. 최종적으로, 제작된 a-IGZO TFTs 를 SnO2 감지막을 갖는 EGFETs 에 적용함으로써 우수한 감지 특성과 안정성을 갖는 바이오 센서를 제작하였다.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.762-769
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• 2008

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si : H) layers, 120 nm and 50 nm in thickness, were deposited on 200 $nm-SiO_2$/single-Si substrates by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition(ICP-CVD). Subsequently, 30 nm-Ni layers were deposited by E-beam evaporation. Finally, 30 nm-Ni/120 nm a-Si : H/200 $nm-SiO_2$/single-Si and 30 nm-Ni/50 nm a-Si:H/200 $nm-SiO_2$/single-Si were prepared. The prepared samples were annealed by rapid thermal annealing(RTA) from $200^{\circ}C$ to $500^{\circ}C$ in $50^{\circ}C$ increments for 30 minute. A four-point tester, high resolution X-ray diffraction(HRXRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning probe microscopy(SPM) were used to examine the sheet resistance, phase transformation, in-plane microstructure, cross-sectional microstructure, and surface roughness, respectively. The nickel silicide on the 120 nm a-Si:H substrate showed high sheet resistance($470{\Omega}/{\Box}$) at T(temperature) < $450^{\circ}C$ and low sheet resistance ($70{\Omega}/{\Box}$) at T > $450^{\circ}C$. The high and low resistive regions contained ${\zeta}-Ni_2Si$ and NiSi, respectively. In case of microstructure showed mixed phase of nickel silicide and a-Si:H on the residual a-Si:H layer at T < $450^{\circ}C$ but no mixed phase and a residual a-Si:H layer at T > $450^{\circ}C$. The surface roughness matched the phase transformation according to the silicidation temperature. The nickel silicide on the 50 nm a-Si:H substrate had high sheet resistance(${\sim}1k{\Omega}/{\Box}$) at T < $400^{\circ}C$ and low sheet resistance ($100{\Omega}/{\Box}$) at T > $400^{\circ}C$. This was attributed to the formation of ${\delta}-Ni_2Si$ at T > $400^{\circ}C$ regardless of the siliciation temperature. An examination of the microstructure showed a region of nickel silicide at T < $400^{\circ}C$ that consisted of a mixed phase of nickel silicide and a-Si:H without a residual a-Si:H layer. The region at T > $400^{\circ}C$ showed crystalline nickel silicide without a mixed phase. The surface roughness remained constant regardless of the silicidation temperature. Our results suggest that a 50 nm a-Si:H nickel silicide layer is advantageous of the active layer of a thin film transistor(TFT) when applying a nano-thick layer with a constant sheet resistance, surface roughness, and ${\delta}-Ni_2Si$ temperatures > $400^{\circ}C$.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2012

The development of martensitic grades which can be processed in continuous galvanizing lines requires the reduction of the oxides formed on the steel during the hot dip process. This reduction mechanism was investigated in detail by means of High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM) of cross-sectional samples. Annealing of a martensitic steel in a 10% $H_2+N_2$ atmosphere with the dew point of $-35^{\circ}C$ resulted in the formation of a thin $_{C-X}MnO.SiO_{2}$ (x>1) oxide film and amorphous $_{a-X}MnO.SiO_{2}$ oxide particles on the surface. During the hot dip galvanizing in Zn-0.13%Al, the thin $_{C-X}MnO.SiO_{2}$ (x>1) oxide film was reduced by the Al. The $_{a-X}MnO.SiO_{2}$ (x<0.9) and $a-SiO_{2}$ oxides however remained embedded in the Zn coating close to the steel/coating interface. No $Fe_{2}Al_{5-X}Zn_{X}$ inhibition layer formation was observed. During hot dip galvanizing in Zn-0.20%Al, the $_{C-X}MnO.SiO_{2}$ (x>1) oxide film was also reduced and the amorphous $_{a-X}MnO.SiO_{2}$ and $a-SiO_{2}$ particles were embedded in the $Fe_{2}Al_{5-X}Zn_{X}$ inhibition layer formed at the steel/coating interface during hot dipping. The results clearly show that Al in the liquid Zn bath can reduce the crystalline $_{C-X}MnO.SiO_{2}$ (x>1) oxides but not the amorphous $_{a-X}MnO.SiO_{2}$ (x<0.9) and $a-SiO_{2}$ oxides. These oxides remain embedded in the Zn layer or in the inhibition layer, making it possible to apply a Zn or Zn-alloy coating on martensitic steel by hot dipping. The hot dipping process was also found to deteriorate the mechanical properties, independently of the Zn bath composition.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.445-449
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• 1997

The complex refractive indices of $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ which show reversible phase change between the crystalline phase and an amorphous one depending upon the annealing process have been determined in the spectral range of 0.7-4.5 eV. The $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ films were DC sputter deposited on the crystalline silicon substrate. The spectro-ellipsometry data of a thick film were analyzed following the modelling procedure where the quantum mechanical dispersion relation were used for the complex refractive indices of both the cryastalline phase $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ and and amorphous phase $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$, respectively. On the other hand, with the surface micro-roughness layer whose effective thickness was determined from AFM analysis, the spectro-ellipsometry data were numerically inverted to yield the complex refractive index of $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ at each wavelength. With these set of complex refractive indices, the reflectance spectra were calculated and those spectra obtained from the numerical inversion showed better agreement with the experimental reflection spectra for both the cryastalline phase and an amorphous phase. Finally, the thin $Ge_2Se_2Te_5$ film which has the optimum thickness of 26 nm as the medium for optical recording was also analyzed and the quantitative result of the film thickness and the surface microroughness has been reported.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.58-63
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• 2022

Graphite has been used as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries for the past 30 years due to its low de-/lithiation voltage, high theoretical capacity of 372 mAh/g, low price, and long life properties. Recently, all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries (ASSLB), which are composed of inorganic solid materials with high stability, have received great attention as electric vehicles and next-generation energy storage devices, but research works on graphite that works well for ASSLB systems are insufficient. Therefore, we induced the performance improvement of ASSLB anode electrode graphite material by removing the amorphous carbon present in the carbon material surface, acting as a resistive layer from the graphite. As a result of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis using heat treated graphite in air at 400, 500, and 600 ℃, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) at (002) peak was reduced compared to that of bare graphite, indicating that the crystallinity of graphite was improved after heat treatment. In addition, the discharge capacity, initial coulombic efficiency (ICE) and cycle stability increased as the crystallinity of graphite increased after heat treatment. In the case of graphite annealed in air at 500 ℃, the high capacity retention rate of 331.1 mAh/g and ICE of 86.2% and capacity retention of 92.7% after 10-cycle measurement were shown.