• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.241-246
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• 2003

The transparent conducting thin film of ATO (antimony-doped tin oxide) was successfully fabricated on$SiO_2$/glass substrate by a sol-gel dip coating method. The crystalline phase of the ATO thin film was identified as SnO$_2$ major phase and the film thickness was about 100 nm/layer at the withdrawal speed of 50 mm/minute. Optical transmittance and electrical resistivity of the 400 nm-thick ATO thin film which was annealed under nitrogen atmosphere were 84% and $5.0\times 10^{-3}\Omega \textrm{cm}$, respectively. It was found that the $SiO_2$ layer inhibited Na ion diffusion and the formation of impurities like $Na_2SnO_3$ or SnO while increasing Sb ion concentration and higher ratio of $Sb^{5+}/Sb^{3+}$in the film. Annealing at nitrogen atmosphere leads to the reduction of $Sn^{4+}$ as well as $Sb^{5+}$ resulting in decrease of the electrical resistivity of the film.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.386-393
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• 2002

Fabricatio of the potassium-titanate fiber with K2O${\cdot}nTiO_2$ composition and coating of electrically conductive Sb-doped $SnO_2$ (ATO: Antimony Tin Oxide) layer on the fiber on the fiber were the fiber were the aims of this work. The fiber fabricated by slow-cooling technique showed the mean length of $15{\mu}m$ and mean diameter of $0.5{\mu}m$. Three different coating methods i.e, sol-gel, co-precipitation and urea technique, were attempted to coat the conductive ATO layer on the potassium-titanate fiber. The influences of coating method, concentrations of ATO(5∼70wt%) and Sb (0∼20wt%), temperature in the range of $450\;to\;800^{\circ}C$, number of washing (3∼4 times) on the resistivity of the ATO coated fiber were examined in details. The fiber coated ATO by coprecipitation exhibited lower resistivity of 103${\Omega}{\cdot}$cm at the 30 wt% of ATO, and showed nearly constant low value of $60{\Omega}{\cdot}cm\;to\;90{\Omega}{\cdot}$cm at the higher concentration of ATO.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.254-259
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• 2003

In the fabrication process of transparent conducting thin films of the ATO (antimony-doped tin oxide) on a soda lime glass substrate by a sol-gel dip coating method, the effects of the $SiO_2$ buffer layer formed on the substrate and $N_2$ annealing treatment were investigated by XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) analysis. Optical transmittance and electrical resistivity of the 400 nm-thick ATO thin films which were deposited on $SiO_2$ buffer layer/soda lime glass and then annealed under nitrogen atmosphere were 84 % and $5.0\times 10^{-3}\Omega \textrm{cm}$ respectively. The XPS analysis confirmed that a $SiO_2$ buffer layer inhibited Na ion diffusion from the substrate, resulting in prohibiting the formation of a secondary phase such as $Na_2SnO_3$ and SnO and increasing Sb ion concentration and ratio of $Sb^{5+}/Sb^{3+}$ in the film. And it was also found that $N_2$ annealing treatment leads to the reduction of $Sn^{4+}$as well as $Sb^{5+}$ however the reduction of $Sn^{4+}$ is more effective and therefore consequently results in decrease in the electrical resistivity to produce an excellent electrical properties of the film.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.177-182
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• 2015

Sb-doped $SnO_2$(ATO) thin films were prepared using electrospinning. To investigate the optimum properties of the electrospun ATO thin films, the deposition numbers of the ATO nanofibers(NFs) were controlled to levels of 1, 2, 4, and 6. Together with the different levels of deposition number, the structural, chemical, morphological, electrical, and optical properties of the nanofibers were investigated. As the deposition number of the ATO NFs increased, the thickness of the ATO thin films increased and the film surfaces were gradually densified, which affected the electrical properties of the ATO thin films. 6 levels of the ATO thin film exhibited superior electrical properties due to the improved carrier concentration and Hall mobility resulting from the increased thickness and surface densification. Also, the thickness of the samples had an effect on the optical properties of the ATO thin films. The ATO thin films with 6 deposited levels displayed the lowest transmittance and highest haze. Therefore, the figure of merit(FOM) considering the electrical and optical properties showed the best value for ATO thin films with 4 deposited levels.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.145-151
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• 2014

Solution-based Sb-doped $SnO_2$ (ATO) transparent conductive oxides using a low-temperature process were fabricated by an electrospray technique followed by spin coating. We demonstrated their structural, chemical, morphological, electrical, and optical properties by means of X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Hall effect measurement system, and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. In order to investigate optimum electrical and optical properties at low-temperature annealing, we systemically coated two layer, four layer, and six layers of ATO sol-solution using spin-coating on the electrosprayed ATO thin films. The resistivity and optical transmittance of the ATO thin films decreased as the thickness of ATO sol-layer increased. Then, the ATO thin films with two sol-layers exhibited superb figure of merit compared to the other samples. The performance improvement in a low temperature process ($300^{\circ}C$) can be explained by the effect of enhanced carrier concentration due to the improved densification of the ATO thin films causing the optimum sol-layer coating. Therefore, the solution-based ATO thin films prepared at $300^{\circ}C$C exhibited the superb electrical (${\sim}7.25{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$) and optical transmittance (~83.1 %) performances.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.469-478
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• 2016

In this paper, we investigate the effects of pre-reducing Sb-doped $SnO_2$ (ATO) electrodes in viologen-anchored $TiO_2$ (VTO) nanostructure-based electrochromic devices. We find that by pre-reducing an ATO electrode, the operating voltage of a VTO nanostructure-based electrochromic device can be lowered; consequently, such a device can be operated more stably with less hysteresis. Further, we find that a pre-reduction of the ATO electrode does not affect the coloration efficiency of such a device. The aforementioned effects of a pre-reduction are attributed to the fact that a pre-reduced ATO electrode is more compatible with a VTO nanostructure-based electrochromic device than a non-pre-reduced ATO electrode, because of the initial oxidized state of the other electrode of the device, that is, a VTO nanostructure-based electrode. The oxidation state of a pre-reduced ATO electrode plays a very important role in the operation of a VTO nanostructure-based electrochromic device because it strongly influences charge movement during electrochromic switching.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.54-59
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• 2018

Sb-doped $SnO_2$ (ATO) transparent conducting films are fabricated using horizontal ultrasonic spray pyrolysis deposition (HUSPD) to form uniform and compact film structures with homogeneously supplied precursor solution. To optimize the molar concentration and transparent conducting performance of the ATO films using HUSPD, we use precursor solutions of 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, and 0.30 M. As the molar concentration increases, the resultant ATO films exhibit more compact surface structures because of the larger crystallite sizes and higher ATO crystallinity because of the greater thickness from the accelerated growth of ATO. Thus, the ATO films prepared at 0.25 M have the best transparent conducting performance ($12.60{\pm}0.21{\Omega}/{\square}$ sheet resistance and 80.83% optical transmittance) and the highest figure-of-merit value ($9.44{\pm}0.17{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}^{-1}$). The improvement in transparent conducting performance is attributed to the enhanced carrier concentration by the improved ATO crystallinity and Hall mobility with the compact surface structure and preferred (211) orientation, ascribed to the accelerated growth of ATO at the optimized molar concentration. Therefore, ATO films fabricated using HUSPD are transparent conducting film candidates for optoelectronic devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.367-367
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• 2014

Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) 박막은 가시광선영역에서의 높은 투과율과 낮은 저항 특성을 동시에 갖고 있어 최근 smart windows, solar cells, liquid crystal displays (LCD), organic light emitting devices (OLED)등과 같은 최첨단 기기에 필수적인 구성요소로 활발히 사용되고 있다. 따라서, 현재까지 FTO ($SnO_2:F$), ITO ($In_2O_3:Sn$), ATO ($SnO_2:Sb$)등과 같은 다양한 TCO들이 많은 연구자들에 의해 연구되고 있다. 그 중 ITO는 우수한 전기적(${\sim}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$) 및 광학적(~85%) 특성 때문에 현재 상업적으로 활발히 응용되고 있는 대표적인 물질이다. 하지만 ITO의 주된 구성요소인 indium은 제한적인 매장량과 과도한 소비량 때문에 원가가 비싸다는 문제점이 있다. 반면에, ATO는 우수한 전기적(${\sim}10^{-3}{\Omega}cm$) 및 광학적(~80%) 특성뿐만 아니라 구성물질들의 매장량이 풍부하여 ATO의 원가가 저렴하다는 장점을 가지고 있어 현재 ITO을 대체 할 수 물질로 관심 받고 있다 [1]. 지금까지 우수한 특성을 갖는 ATO박막을 합성하는 방법으로 sol-gel spin coating, sputtering, spray pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition (CVD)등이 알려져 있다. 이 중에서도, sol-gel spin coating과 spray pyrolysis은 solution기반의 합성법으로 분류되며 합성과정이 간단하고 비용이 저렴하다는 장점이 있고 현재까지 많은 연구가 보고되었다. 그러나, 진공기반이 아닌 우수한 특성을 갖는 solution기반의 ATO박막을 합성하기 위해서는 새로운 합성법의 개발이 학문적으로나 산업적으로도 매우 중요한 이슈이다. 따라서, 본 연구에서는 electrospray을 활용하여 solution기반의 ATO박막을 처음으로 합성하였다. 게다가 ATO박막에 열처리온도에 따른 구조, 화학, 전기, 광학적 특성을 확인하기 위하여 X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Hall Effect Measurement System, UV spectrophotometer를 사용하였다. 이러한 실험 결과들을 바탕으로 electrospray을 통해 합성된 solution기반의 ATO박막에 자세한 특성을 본 학회에서 다루도록 하겠다.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.299-305
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• 2010

Purposes: The purposes of this study were to investigate the optical, structural and electrical properties of the antimony doped tin oxide(ATO) thin films according to certain variable deposition conditions, such as RF input power and T-S (target-substrate) distance change, using transparent conducting oxide (TCO). Methods: ATO thin films of Sb concentration ratio with $SnO_2:Sb_2O_5$ = 95:5 wt% were deposited at room temperature by RF magnetron sputtering method. Results: ATO thin films were most sensitive to the RF input power: light transmittance was 78% at RF input power of 30W, and 0.56 nm for the surface roughness and 1007 $\Omega{\cdot}cm^{-2}$ for the sheet resistance as well. Conclusions: It was found that ATO thin films were showed the large change in its characteristics of structural, optical and electrical properties which were affected by T-S distance and RF input power.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.371-375
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• 2022

Antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) thin films, one type of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films, were prepared on a SiO₂-coated glass substrate with different substrate temperatures by a radio-frequency magnetron sputtering system. Structural, optical, and electrical characteristics of the deposited ATO films were analyzed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, alpha-step, ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, and Hall effect measurement. The substrate temperature during deposition did not affect the basic crystal structure of the films but changed the grain size and film thickness. The optical transmittance of the ATO films deposited at different substrate temperatures was over 70%. The lowest sheet resistance and resistivity were 8.43 × 10² Ω/sq, and 0.3991 × 10^-2 Ω·cm, respectively, and the highest carrier concentration and mobility were 2.36 × 10²¹ cm^-3 and 6.627 × 10^-2 cm²V^-1s^-1, respectively, at a substrate temperature of 400 ℃.