• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.9 s.280
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• pp.624-630
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• 2005

To investigate the possibility of the $ZrO_2$ buffer layer as the insulator for the Metal-Ferroelectric-Insulator-semiconductor (MFIS) structure, $ZrO_2$ and $SrBi_2Ta_2O_9$ (SBT) thin films were deposited on the P-type Si(111) wafer by the R.F. magnetron-sputtering method. According to the process with and without the post-annealing of the $ZrO_2$ buffer layer and SBT thin film, the diffusion amount of Sr, Bi, Ta elements show slight difference through the Glow Discharge Spectrometer (GDS) analysis. From X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) results, we could confirm that the post-annealing process affects the chemical binding condition of the interface between the $ZrO_2$ thin film and the Si substrate. Compared to the MFIS structure without the post-annealing of the $ZrO_2$ buffer layer, memory window value of MFlS structure with post-annealing of the $ZrO_2$ buffer layer were considerably improved. The window memory of the Pt/SBT (260 nm, $800^{\circ}C)/ZrO_2$ (20 nm) structure increases from 0.75 to 2.2 V under the applied voltage of 9 V after post-annealing.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.73-77
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• 2021

Inorganic-organic hybrid perovskite solar cells have demonstrated considerable improvements, reaching 25.5% of certified power conversion efficiency in 2020 from 3.8% in 2009. In normal structured perovskite solar cells, TiO2 electron-transporting materials require heat treatment process at a high temperature over 450℃ to induce crystallinity. Inverted perovskite solar cells have also been studied to exclude the additional thermal process by using [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as a non-oxide electron-transporting layer. However, the drawback of the PCBM layer is a charge accumulation at the interface between PCBM and a metal electrode. The impact of bathocuproin (BCP) buffer layer on photovoltaic performance has been investigated herein to solve the problem of PCBM. 2-mM BCP-modified perovskite solar cells were observed to exhibit a maximum efficiency of 12.03% compared with BCP-free counterparts (5.82%) due to the suppression of the charge accumulation at the PCBM-Au interface and the resulting reduction of the charge recombination between perovskite and the PCBM layer.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.120-129
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• 2006

We comparatively studied the epitaxial growth conditions of $CeO_2$ and $Y_2O_3$ thin buffers on textured Ni tapes using rf magnetron sputtering and investigated the feasibility of getting a single mixture layer or sequential layers of $CeO_2$ and $Y_2O_3$ for more simplified buffer architecture. All the buffer layers were first deposited using the reducing gas of $Ar/4%H_2$ and subsequently the reactive gas mixture of Ar and $O_2$, The crystalline quality and biaxial alignment of the films were investigated using X-ray diffraction techniques (${\Theta}-2{\Theta},\;{\phi}\;and\;{\omega}\;scans$, pole figures). The $CeO_2$ single layer exhibited well developed (200) epitaxial growth at the condition of $10%\;O_2$ below an $450^{\circ}C$, but the epitaxial property was decreased with increasing the layer thickness. $Y_2O_3$ seldom showed optimum condition for (400) epitaxial growth. The sequential architecture of $CeO_2/Y_2O_3/CeO_2$ having good epitaxial property was achieved by sputtering at a temperature of $700^{\circ}C$ on the initial $CeO_2$ bottom layer sputtered at $400^{\circ}C$. Cracking of the sputtered buffer layers was seldom observed except the double layer structure of $CeO_2/Y_2O_3$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.126-132
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• 2017

The power conversion efficiency of organic polymer solar cells was enhanced by introducing a ferroelectric polymer layer at the interface between active layer and metal electrode. The power conversion efficiency was increased by 50% through the enhancement of the open circuit voltage. To investigate the role of the ferroelectric layer on the dissociation process of the excitons, non-radiative portion of the exciton decay was directly measured by using photoacoustic technique. The results show that the ferroelectric nature of the buffer layer does not play any roles on the dissociation process of the excitons, which indicates the efficiency enhancement is not due to the ferroelectricity of the buffer layer.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.54-60
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• 2015

ZnSnO thin films were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) process using diethyl zinc ($Zn(C_2H_5)_2$) and tetrakis (dimethylamino) tin ($Sn(C_2H_6N)_4$) as metal precursors and water vapor as a reactant. ALD process has several advantages over other deposition methods such as precise thickness control, good conformality, and good uniformity for large area. The composition of ZnSnO thin films was controlled by varying the ratio of ZnO and $SnO_2$ ALD cycles. The ALD ZnSnO film was an amorphous state. The band gap of ZnSnO thin films increased as the Sn content increased. The CIGS solar cell using ZnSnO buffer layer showed about 18% energy conversion efficiency. With such a high efficiency with the ALD ZnSnO buffer and no light soaking effect, AlD ZnSnO buffer mighty be a good candidate to replace Zn(S,O) buffer in CIGSsolar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.699-704
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• 2017

Recently, the use of an aluminum nitride(AlN) buffer layer has been actively studied for fabricating a high quality gallium nitride(GaN) template for high efficiency Light Emitting Diode(LED) production. We confirmed that AlN deposition after $N_2$ plasma treatment of the substrate has a positive influence on GaN epitaxial growth. In this study, $N_2$ plasma treatment was performed on a commercial patterned sapphire substrate by RF magnetron sputtering equipment. GaN was grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD). The surface treated with $N_2$ plasma was analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) to determine the binding energy. The XPS results indicated the surface was changed from $Al_2O_3$ to AlN and AlON, and we confirmed that the thickness of the pretreated layer was about 1 nm using high resolution transmission electron microscopy(HR-TEM). The AlN buffer layer deposited on the grown pretreated layer had lower crystallinity than the as-treated PSS. Therefore, the surface $N_2$ plasma treatment on PSS resulted in a reduction in the crystallinity of the AlN buffer layer, which can improve the epitaxial growth quality of the GaN template.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2011

[ $CeO_2$ ]has been widely used for single buffer layer of coated conductor because of superior chemical and structural compatibility with $ReBa_2Cu_3O_{7-{\delta}}$(Re=Y, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Ho, etc.). But, the surface of $CeO_2$ layer showed cracks because of the large difference in thermal expansion coefficient between metal substrate and deposited $CeO_2$ layer, when thickness of $CeO_2$ layer exceeds 100 nm on the biaxially textured Ni-3%W substrate. The deposition rate has been limited to be less than 6 $\AA$/sec in order to get a good epitaxy. In this research, we deposited $CeO_2$ single buffer layers on biaxially textured Ni-3%W substrate with 2-step process such as thin nucleation layer(>10 nm) with low deposition rate(3 $\AA$/sec) and thick homo epitaxial layer(>240 nm) with high deposition rate(30 $\AA$/sec). Effect of deposition temperature on degree of texture development was tested. Thick homo epitaxial $CeO_2$ layer with good texture without crack was obtained at $600^{\circ}C$, which has ${\Delta}{\phi}$ value of $6.2^{\circ}$, ${\Delta}{\omega}$ value of $4.3^{\circ}$ and average surface roughness(Ra) of 7.2 nm within $10{\mu}m{\times}10{\mu}m$ area. This result shows the possibility of preparing advanced Ni substrate with simplified architecture of single $CeO_2$ layer for low cost coated conductor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.380-380
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• 2010

Currently, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been proven of their readiness for commercialization in terms of lifetime and efficiency. In accordance with emerging new technologies, enhancement of light efficiency and extension of application fields are required. Particularly inverted structures, in which electron injection occurs at bottom and hole injection on top, show crucial advantages due to their easy integration with Si-based driving circuits for active matrix OLED as well as large open area for brighter illumination. In order to get better performance and process reliability, usually a proper buffer layer for carrier injection is needed. In inverted top emission OLED, the buffer layer should protect underlying organic materials against destructive particles during the electrode deposition, in addition to increasing their efficiency by reducing carrier injection barrier. For hole injection layers, there are several requirements for the buffer layer, such as high transparency, high work function, and reasonable electrical conductivity. As a buffer material, a few kinds of transition metal oxides for inverted OLED applications have been successfully utilized aiming at efficient hole injection properties. Among them, we chose 2 nm of $WO_3$ between NPB [N,N'-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine] and Au (or Al) films. The interfacial energy-level alignment and chemical reaction as a function of film coverage have been measured by using in-situ ultraviolet and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It turned out that the $WO_3$ interlayer substantially reduces the hole injection barrier irrespective of the kind of electrode metals. It also avoids direct chemical interaction between NPB and metal atoms. This observation clearly validates the use of $WO_3$ interlayer as hole injection for inverted OLED applications.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.331-338
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• 2021

Ti-Al-Si target and Cr-Si target are sputtered alternately to develop a multi-layered nitride coating on a steel mold to improve die-casting lifetime. Prior to the multi-layer deposition, a CrN layer is developed as a buffer layer on the mold to suppress the diffusion of reactive elements and enhance the cohesive strength of the multi-layer deposition. Approximately 50 nm CrSiN and TiAlSiN layers are deposited layer by layer, and form about three ㎛-thickness of multi-layered coating. From the observation of the uncoated and coated steel molds after the acceleration experiment of liquid metal injection casting, the uncoated mold is severely eroded by the adhesion of molten metallic glass. On the other hand, the multi-layer coating on the mold prevents element diffusion from the metallic glass and mold erosion during the experiment. The multi-layer structure of the coating transforms the nano-composite structured coating during the acceleration test. Since the nano-composite structure disrupts element diffusion to molten metallic glass, despite microstructure changes, the coating is not eroded by the 1,050 ℃ molten metallic glass.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 2002.02a
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• pp.339-339
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• 2002

In the RABiTS approach to coated conductor development, successful (both economic and technological) depends on the refinement and optimization of each of three important components: the metal tape substrate, the buffer layer(s), and the HTS layer. Here we will report on the ORNL approach and progress in each of these areas. - Most applications will require metal tapes with low magnetic hysteresis, mechanical strength, and excellent crystalline texture. Some of these requirements are competing. We report on progress in obtaining a good combination of these characteristics on metal alloys of Ni-Cr and Ni-W. - The deposition of appropriate buffer layers is a crucial step. Recently, base research has shown that the presence of a stable sulfur superstructure present on the metal surface is needed for the nucleation and epitaxial growth of vapor-deposited seed buffer layers such as YSZ, CeO$_2$ and SrTiO$_3$. We report on the details and control of this superstructure for nickel tapes, as well as recent results for Cu and Ni-13%Cr. - Processes for deposition of the HTS coating must economically provide large values of the figure-of-merit for conductors, current x length. At ORNL, we have devoted efforts to a precursor/post-annealing approach to YBCO coatings, for which the deposition and reaction steps are separate. We describe motivation for and progress toward developing this approach. - Finally, we address some issues for the implementation of coated conductors in real applications, including the need for texture control and electrical stabilization of the HTS coating.