• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.213-226
• /
• 2022

In the present study, the corrosion behavior of aluminum Al-7075 tempered (T-6 condition) alloy was evaluated by immersion testing and electrochemical testing in 1.75% and 3.5% NaCl environment at acidic, neutral and basic pH. The data obtained by both immersion tests and electrochemical corrosion tests (potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests) present that the corrosion rate of the alloy specimens is minimum for the pH=7 condition of the solution due to the formation of dense and well adherent thin protective oxide layer. Whereas the solutions with acidic and alkaline pH cause shift in the corrosion behavior of aluminum alloy to more active domains aggravated by the constant flux of acidic and alkaline ions (Cl^- and OH^-) in the media which anodically dissolve the Al matrix in comparison to precipitated intermetallic phases (cathodic in nature) formed due to T6 treatment. Consequently, the pitting behavior of the alloy, as observed by cyclic polarization tests, shifts to more active regions when pH of the solutions changes from neutral to alkaline environment due to localized dissolution of the matrix in alkaline environment that ingress by diffusion through the pores in the oxide film. Microscopic analysis also strengthens the results obtained by immersion corrosion testing and electrochemical corrosion testing as the study examines the corrosion behavior of this alloy under a systematic evaluation in marine environment.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.60-63
• /
• 2023

The AlGaN/GaN heterostructure has high electron mobility due to the two-dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) layer, and has the characteristic of high breakdown voltage at high temperature due to its wide bandgap, making it a promising candidate for high-power and high-frequency electronic devices. Despite these advantages, there are factors that affect the reliability of various device properties such as current collapse. To address this issue, this paper used metal-organic chemical vapor deposition to continuously deposit AlGaN/GaN heterostructure and SiN passivation layer. Material and electrical properties of GaN HEMTs with/without SiN cap layer were analyzed, and based on the results, low-frequency noise characteristics of GaN HEMTs were measured to analyze the conduction mechanism model and the cause of defects within the channel.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.44-48
• /
• 2023

In heterojunction technology (HJT) solar cells, low-temperature curing paste is used because the passivation layer deteriorates at high temperatures of 200℃ or higher. However, manufacturing HJT photovoltaic (PV) modules is challenging due to the weak peel strength between busbar electrodes and cells after soldering process. For this issue, the electrode thicknesses of the busbars of the HJT solar cell were analyzed, and the peel strengths between electrodes and wires were measured after soldering using an infrared (IR) lamp. As a result, the electrodes printed by the screen printing method had a difference in thickness due to screen mask. Also, as the thickness of the electrode increased, the peel strength of the wire increased.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.394-399
• /
• 2006

The polishing performance and the relationships of electrochemistry depending upon oxidizers and additives in the tungsten CMP slurry used in semiconductor industry were investigated. Hydrogen peroxide, ferric nitrate and potassium iodate were used as oxidizers and they showed different oxidation reactions on tungsten film depending on the kind of oxidizers and pH of slurry. The differences influenced the polishing performance. Etching reaction was predominated in the hydrogen peroxide. However, passivation reaction was prevailed in ferric nitrate and potassium iodate. TMAH and KOH raised the potential energy and removal rate of tungsten, and improved a dispersion characteristic of slurry by increasing absolute value of zeta potential. Addition of 100 ppm of poly(acrylic acid) of M.W. 250,000 improved dispersion ability.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.8-14
• /
• 2024

Austenitic stainless steel 316L has been used a lot of applications because of its high corrosion resistance and formability. In addition, copper brazing is employed to create complex shape of 316L stainless steel for various engineering parts. In such system, copper-based filler metals make galvanic cell at metal/filler metal interface, and it accelerates corrosion of stainless steel. Furthermore, Cu-rich region formed by diffused copper in austenitic stainless steel can promote a pitting corrosion. In this study, we used an ammonia (NH₃) gas to nitride the 316L stainless steel for improving the corrosion resistance. The thickness of the nitride (nitrogen high) layer increased with the treatment temperature, and the surface hardness also increased. The potentiodynamic polarization test showed the improvement of corrosion resistance of 316L stainless steel by enhancing the passivation on nitride layer. However, in case of high temperature nitriding, a chromium nitride was formed and its fraction increased, so that the corrosion resistance was decreased compared to the intact 316L stainless steel.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.447-454
• /
• 2014

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have intensively studied in recent years due to their advantages such as cost effectiveness and possibility of applications in flexible devices. In spite of the high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10 %, the OSCs still have a draw back of their low environmental stability due to the oxidization of aluminum cathode and etching of transparent conducting oxide as electrode. To solve these problems, the inverted structured OSCs (I-OSCs) having greatest potential for achieving an improvement of device performances are suggested. Therefore, there are a lot of studies to develope of interface layer based on organic/inorganic materials for the electron transport layer (ETL) and passivation layer, significant advancements in I-OSCs have driven the development of interface functional materials including electron transport layer. Recent efforts to employing 2D/3D zinc oxide (ZnO) based ETL into I-OSCs have produced OSCs with a power conversion efficiency level that matches the efficiency of ~9 %. In this review, the technical issues and recent progress of ZnO based ETL in I-OSCs to enhancement of device efficiency and stability in terms of materials, process and characterization have summarized.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.08a
• /
• pp.251-252
• /
• 2012

Recently, the growing interest in organic microelectronic devices including OLEDs has led to an increasing amount of research into their many potential applications in the area of flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates. However, these organic devices require a gas barrier coating to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency OLEDs require an extremely low Water Vapor Transition Rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2$/day. The Key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required ($1{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2$/day) is the suppression of defect sites and gas diffusion pathways between grain boundaries. In this study, we developed an $Al_2O_3$ nano-crystal structure single gas barrier layer using a Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering (NBAS) process. The NBAS system is based on the conventional RF magnetron sputtering and neutral beam source. The neutral beam source consists of an electron cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasma source and metal reflector. The Ar+ ions in the ECR plasma are accelerated in the plasma sheath between the plasma and reflector, which are then neutralized by Auger neutralization. The neutral beam energies were possible to estimate indirectly through previous experiments and binary collision model. The accelerating potential is the sum of the plasma potential and reflector bias. In previous experiments, while adjusting the reflector bias, changes in the plasma density and the plasma potential were not observed. The neutral beam energy is controlled by the metal reflector bias. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to nano-crystal phase of various grain sizes within a single inorganic thin film. These NBAS process effects can lead to the formation of a nano-crystal structure barrier layer which effectively limits gas diffusion through the pathways between grain boundaries. Our results verify the nano-crystal structure of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ single gas barrier layer through dielectric constant measurement, break down field measurement, and TEM analysis. Finally, the WVTR of $Al_2O_3$ nano-crystal structure single gas barrier layer was measured to be under $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2$/day therefore we can confirm that NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ nano-crystal structure single gas barrier layer is suitable for OLED application.

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

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.60 no.6
• /
• pp.402-409
• /
• 2016

Thin films of lead sulfide colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) of 2.8 nm in diameter are fabricated and their surfaces are passivated by 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) ligand or hybrid type ($MPA+CdCl_2$) ligand, respectively. The changes in valence band electronic structure and atomic composition of each PbS CQD film upon post-treatment such as air, N2 annealing or UV/Ozone have been studied by photoelectron spectroscopy. The air annealing makes the CQD fermi level to move toward the valence band leading to "p-type doping" regardless of ligand type. The UV/Ozone post-treatment generates $Pb(OH)_2$, $PbSO_x$ and PbO on both CQD surfaces. But the amount of the PbO has been reduced in hybrid type ligand case, especially. That is probably because the extra Pb cations in (111) surface are additionally passivated by $Cl_2$ ligand, which limits the reaction between the Pb cation and ozone.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2009.11a
• /
• pp.24.2-24.2
• /
• 2009

Indium Antimonide(InSb)는 $3{\sim}5\;{\mu}m$대 적외선 감지영역에서 기존 HgCdTe(MCT)를 대체할 물질로 각광받고 있다. 1970년대부터군사적 용도로 미국, 이스라엘 등 일부 선진국에서 연구되기 시작했으며,이온주입, MOCVD, MBE 등 다양한 공정을 통해 제작되어 왔다. InSb 적외선 감지소자는 $3{\sim}5{\mu}m$대에서 HgCdTe와 성능은 대등한데 반해, 기판의 대면적화와 저렴한 가격, 우주공간 및 야전에서 소자 동작의안정성 등으로 InSb적외선 감지기는 냉각형 고성능 적외선 감지영역에서 HgCdTe를 대체해 가고 있다. 하지만 InSb는 77 K에서 0.225eV의 작은 밴드갭을 갖고 있기 때문에 누설전류로 인한 성능저하가 고질적인문제로 대두되었고, 이를 해결하기 위한 고품질 절연막 연구가 InSb적외선 수광 소자 연구의 주요이슈 중 하나가 되어왔다. 그 동안 PECVD, photo-CVD, anodic oxidation 등의 공정을 이용하여 $SiO_2$, $Si_3N_4$, 양극산화막(anodic oxide) 등 다양한 절연막에 대한 연구가 진행되었고[1,2], 절연막과 반도체 사이 계면에서의 열확산을 억제하여 계면트랩밀도를 최소화하기 위한 공정개발이 이루어졌다[3]. 하지만 InSb 적외선 감지기술은 국방 및 우주개발의 핵심기술중 하나로 그 기술의 이전이 엄격히 통제되고 있으며, 현재도 미국과 이스라엘, 일본, 영국 등 일부 선진국 만이 기술을 확보하고 있고, 국내의 경우 연구가 매우 취약한 실정이다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 InSb 적외선 감지기의 암전류를 제어하기 위한 낮은 계면트랩밀도를 갖는 절연막 증착 공정을 찾고자 하였다. 본 연구에서는 n형 (100) InSb 기판 ($n=0.2{\sim}0.85{\times}10^{15}cm^{-3}$ @ 77K)에 PECVD를 이용하여 $SiO_2$, $Si_3N_4$ 등을 증착하고 절연막으로서 이들의 특성을 비교 분석하였다. $SiO_2$는 160, 200, $240^{\circ}C$에서 $Si_3N_4$는 200, $300^{\circ}C$에서 증착하였다. Atomic Force Microscopy(AFM) 사진으로 확인한 결과, 모든 샘플에서표면거칠기가 ~2 nm의 평탄한 박막을 얻을 수 있었다. Capacitance-Voltage 측정(77K)을 통해 절연막 특성을 평가하였다. $SiO_2$와 $Si_3N_4$ 모두에서 온도가 증가할수록 벌크트랩밀도가 감소하는 경향을 볼 수 있었는데, 이는 고온에서 증착할 수록 박막 내의 결함이 감소했음을 의미한다. 반면계면트랩밀도는 온도가 증가함에 따라, 1011 eV-1cm-2 대에서 $10^{12}eV^{-1}cm^{-2}$ 대로 증가하였는데, 이는 고온에서 증착할 수 록 InSb 표면에서의 결함은 증가하였음을의미한다. 암전류에 큰 영향을 주는 것은 계면트랩밀도 이므로, $SiO_2$와 $Si_3N_4$ 모두 $200^{\circ}C$이하의 저온에서 증착시켜야 함을 확인할 수 있었다.