• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.9-16
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• 2000

A survey over the role of sol-gel processing and metal alkoxides in the thin film preparation is given. The basic chemistry of the sol-gel process is complex due to the different reactivities of the network forming and the wide variety of reaction parameters. Despite the important progress in the investigations of the mechanisms of thin film formation, a direct relation of reaction parameters to functional oxide properties is still very difficult.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.365.2-365.2
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• 2014

Nickel sulfide (NiS) has been utilized in optoelectronic applications, such as transformation-toughening agent for materials used in semiconductor applications, catalysts, and cathodic materials in rechargeable lithium batteries. Recently, high quality nickel sulfide thin films have been explored using ALD/CVD technique. Suitable precursors are needed to deposit thin films of inorganic materials. However, nickel sulfide precursors available for ALD/CVD process are very limited to nickel complexes with dithiocarbamate and alkanethiolate ligands. Therefore, it is essential to prepare novel nickel sulfide suitable for ALD/CVD precesses. Herein we report on the synthesis and characterization of new nickel sulfide complex with designed aminothiolate ligand. Furthermore thin films of NiS have been prepared on silicon oxide substrates by spin coating nickel precursor 10 wt% in THF. The novel complex has been characterized by means of 1H-NMR, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.200-200
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• 2010

In recent times, metal oxide semiconductors thin films transistor (TFT), such as zinc and indium based oxide TFTs, have attracted considerable attention because of their several advantageous electrical and optical properties. There are many deposition methods for fabrication of ZnO-based materials such as chemical vapor deposition, RF/DC sputtering and pulsed laser deposition. However, these vacuum process require expensive equipment and result in high manufacturing costs. Also, the methods is difficult to fabricate various multicomponent oxide semiconductor. Recently, several groups report solution processed metal oxide TFTs for low cost and non vacuum process. In this study, we have newly developed solution-processed TFTs based on Ti-related multi-component transparent oxide, i. e., InTiO as the active layer. We propose new multicomponent oxide, Titanium indium oxide(TiInO), to fabricate the high performance TFT through the sol-gel method. We investigated the influence of relative compositions of Ti on the electrical properties. Indium nitrate hydrate [$In(NO^3).xH_2O$] and Titanium isobutoxide [$C_{16}H_{36}O_4Ti$] were dissolved in acetylacetone. Then monoethanolamine (MEA) and acetic acid ($CH_3COOH$) were added to the solution. The molar concentration of indium was kept as 0.1 mol concentration and the amount of Ti was varied according to weighting percent (0, 5, 10%). The complex solutions become clear and homogeneous after stirring for 24 hours. Heavily boron (p+) doped Si wafer with 100nm thermally grown $SiO_2$ serve as the gate and gate dielectric of the TFT, respectively. TiInO thin films were deposited using the sol-gel solution by the spin-coating method. After coating, the films annealed in a tube furnace at $500^{\circ}C$ for 1hour under oxygen ambient. The 5% Ti-doped InO TFT had a field-effect mobility $1.15cm^2/V{\cdot}S$, a threshold voltage of 4.73 V, an on/off current ratio grater than $10^7$, and a subthreshold slop of 0.49 V/dec. The 10% Ti-doped InO TFT had a field-effect mobility $1.03\;cm^2/V{\cdot}S$, a threshold voltage of 1.87 V, an on/off current ration grater than $10^7$, and a subthreshold slop of 0.67 V/dec.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1577-1582
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• 2018

While controlling the cation contents in perovskite rare-earth nickelate thin films, a metal-to-insulator phase transition is reported. Systematic control of cation stoichiometry has been achieved by manipulating the irradiation of excimer laser in pulsed laser deposition. Two rare-earth nickelate bilayer thin-film heterostructures with the controlled cation stoichiometry (i.e. stoichiometric and Ni-excessive) have been fabricated. It is found that the Ni-excessive nickelate film is structurally less dense than the stoichiometric film, albeit both of them are epitaxial and coherent with respect to the underlying substrate. More interestingly, as a temperature decreases, a metal-to-insulator transition is only observed in the Ni-excessive nickelate films, which can be associated with the enhanced disproportionation of the Ni charge valence. Based on our theoretical results, possible origins (e.g. anti-site defects) of the low-temperature insulating state are discussed with the need of future work for deeper understanding. Our work can be utilized to realize unusual physical phenomena (e.g. metal-to-insulator phase transitions) in complex oxide films by manipulating the chemical stoichiometry in pulsed laser deposition.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2024

The discovery of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the interface of LaAlO₃ (LAO) and SrTiO₃ (STO) substrates has sparked significant interest, providing a foundation for cutting-edge research in electronic devices based on complex oxide heterostructures. However, conventional methods for producing LAO thin films, typically employing techniques like pulsed laser deposition (PLD) within physical vapor deposition (PVD), are associated with high costs and challenges in precisely controlling the La and Al composition within LAO. In this study, we adopted a cost-effective alternative approach-solution-based processing-to fabricate LAO thin films and investigated their electrical properties. By adjusting the concentration of the precursor solution, we varied the thickness of LAO films from 2 to 65 nm and determined the sheet resistance and carrier density for each thickness. After vacuum annealing, the sheet resistance of the conductive channel ranged from 0.015 to 0.020 Ω·s^-1, indicating that electron conduction occurs not only at the LAO/STO interface but also into the STO bulk region, consistent with previous studies. These findings demonstrate the successful formation and control of 2DEG through solution-based processing, offering the potential to reduce process costs and broaden the scope of applications in electronic device manufacturing.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2000

The wavelength of the surface plasmon absorption depends on the dielectric matrix. $TiO_2/SiO_2$ complex oxide films doped with Au nanoclusters were prepared by sol-gel spin-coating method using $Ti(OPr^i)_4$, $Si(OEt)_4$, and $HAuCl_4{\cdot}7H_2O$. The wavelength of the maximum absorption of Au nanoehrsters in the $TiO_2/SiO_2$ thin films was obtained with lineality from 540 nm to 615 nm depending on the molar ratio of $TiO_2$. The particle sizes and structures of these nanoclusters have been identified through a TEM and X-ray diffraction patterns. The dielectric constants of $TiO_2/SiO_2$ thin films were calculated from the experimental results.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.202-207
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• 2024

In this study, we undertook detailed experiments to increase hydrogen production efficiency by optimizing the thickness of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) thin films. TiO₂ films were deposited on p-type silicon (Si) wafers using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology. The main goal was to identify the optimal thickness of TiO₂ film that would maximize hydrogen production efficiency while maintaining stable operating conditions. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of the TiO₂ films of different thicknesses were evaluated using open circuit potential (OCP) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) analysis. These techniques play a pivotal role in evaluating the electrochemical behavior and photoactivity of semiconductor materials in PEC systems. Our results showed photovoltage tended to improve with increasing thickness of TiO₂ deposition. However, this improvement was observed to plateau and eventually decline when the thickness exceeded 1.5 nm, showing a correlation between charge transfer efficiency and tunneling. On the other hand, LSV analysis showed bare Si had the greatest efficiency, and that the deposition of TiO₂ caused a positive change in the formation of photovoltage, but was not optimal. We show that oxide tunneling-capable TiO₂ film thicknesses of 1~2 nm have the potential to improve the efficiency of PEC hydrogen production systems. This study not only reveals the complex relationship between film thickness and PEC performance, but also enabled greater efficiency and set a benchmark for future research aimed at developing sustainable hydrogen production technologies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.77.1-77.1
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• 2013

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is known for its self-limiting reaction, which offers atomic-level controllability of the growth of thin films for a wide range of applications. The self-limiting mechanism leads to very useful properties, such as excellent uniformity over a large area and superior conformality on complex structures. These unique features of ALD provide promising opportunities for future electronics. Although the ALD of Al2O3 film (using trimethyl-aluminum and water as a metal precursor and oxygen source, respectively) can be regarded as a representative example of an ideal ALD based on the completely self-limiting reaction, there are many cases deviating from the ideal ALD reaction in recently developed ALD processes. The nonconventional aspects of the ALD reactions may strongly influence the various properties of the functional materials grown by ALD, and the lack of comprehension of these aspects has made ALD difficult to control. In this respect, several dominant factors that complicate ALD reactions, including the types of metal precursors, non-metal precursors (oxygen sources or reducing agents), and substrates, will be discussed in this presentation. Several functional materials for future electronics, such as higher-k dielectrics (TiO2, SrTiO3) for DRAM application, and resistive switching materials (NiO) for RRAM application, will be addressed in this talk. Unwanted supply of oxygen atoms from the substrate or other component oxide to the incoming precursors during the precursor pulse step, and outward diffusion of substrate atoms to the growing film surface even during the steady-state growth influenced the growth, crystal structure, and properties of the various films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.211.2-211.2
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• 2014

Epitaxial complex oxide thin film heterostructures have attracted a great attention for their multifunctional properties, such as ferroelectricity, and ferromagnetism. Two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) confined at the interface between two insulating perovskite oxides such as LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, provides opportunities to expand various electronic and memory devices in nano-scale. Recently, it was reported that the conductivity of 2DEG could be controlled by external electric field. However, the switched conductivity of 2DEG was not stable with time, resulting in relaxation due to the reaction between charged surface on LaAlO3 layer and atmospheric conditions. In this report, we demonstrated a way to control the conductivity of 2DEG in non-volatile way integrating ferroelectric materials into LAO/STO heterostructure. We fabricated epitaxial Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 films on LAO/STO heterostructure by pulsed laser deposition. The conductivity of 2DEG was reproducibly controlled with 3-order magnitude by switching the spontaneous polarization of PZT layer. The controlled conductivity was stable with time without relaxation over 60 hours. This is also consistent with robust polarization state of PZT layer confirmed by piezoresponse force microscopy. This work demonstrates a model system to combine ferroelectric material and 2DEG, which guides a way to realize novel multifunctional electronic devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.169-169
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• 2008

To keep pace with scaling trends of CMOS technologies, high-k metal oxides are to be introduced. Due to their high permittivity, high-k materials can achieve the required capacitance with stacks of higher physical thickness to reduce the leakage current through the scaled gate oxide, which make it become much more promising materials to instead of $SiO_2$. As further studying on high-k, an understanding of the relation between the etch characteristics of high-k dielectric materials and plasma properties is required for the low damaged removal process to match standard processing procedure. There are some reports on the dry etching of different high-k materials in ICP and ECR plasma with various plasma parameters, such as different gas combinations ($Cl_2$, $Cl_2/BCl_3$, $Cl_2$/Ar, $SF_6$/Ar, and $CH_4/H_2$/Ar etc). Understanding of the complex behavior of particles at surfaces requires detailed knowledge of both macroscopic and microscopic processes that take place; also certain processes depend critically on temperature and gas pressure. The choice of $BCl_3$ as the chemically active gas results from the fact that it is widely used for the etching o the materials covered by the native oxides due to the effective extraction of oxygen in the form of $BCl_xO_y$ compounds. In this study, the surface reactions and the etch rate of $Al_2O_3$ films in $BCl_3/Cl_2$/Ar plasma were investigated in an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) reactor in terms of the gas mixing ratio, RF power, DC bias and chamber pressure. The variations of relative volume densities for the particles were measured with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The surface imagination was measured by AFM and SEM. The chemical states of film was investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which confirmed the existence of nonvolatile etch byproducts.