• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.1116-1122
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• 2010

Metal interconnections of multilayer Al/Ni and TiW/seed-Ni/Ni were formed on glass, and the adhesion strength and nanoindentation response of the composite layers were evaluated. The Al/Ni multilayer was formed by an anodic bonding of glass to Al and subsequent electroless plating of Ni, while the TiW/Ni multilayer was fabricated by sputter deposition of TiW and seed-Ni onto glass and electroless plating of Ni. Because of the diffusion of aluminum into glass during the anodic bonding, anodically bonded glass/Al joint exhibited greater interfacial strength than the sputtered glass/TiW one. The Al/Ni on glass also showed excellent resistance against delamination by bending deformation compared to the TiW/seed-Ni/Ni on glass. From the nanoindentation experiment of each metal layer on glass, it was found that the aluminum layer had extremely low hardness and elastic modulus similar to the glass substrate and played a beneficial role in the delamination resistance by lessening stress intensification at the joint. The indentation data of the multilayers also supported superior joint reliability of the Al/Ni to glass compared to that of the TiW/seed-Ni/Ni to glass.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.243-247
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• 2012

A ruthenium (Ru) catalytic layer and a conventional Pt layer were assessed as counter electrodes (CE) for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Ru films with different thicknesses of 34, 46, and 90 nm were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Pt layers with the same thicknesses were prepared by sputtering. $0.45cm^2$ DSSCs were prepared and their properties were characterized by FE-SEM, cyclic voltammetry (CV), impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and current-voltage (I-V). FE-SEM revealed that the crystallized Ru films and Pt films had been deposited quite conformally. CV showed that the catalytic activity of Pt was much greater than that of Ru. In addition, although the catalytic activity of Pt did not depend on the thickness, that of Ru showed an increase with increasing thickness. Impedance analysis revealed high charge transfer resistance at the Ru interface and a decrease with increasing Ru thickness, whereas Pt showed low resistance with no thickness dependence. Despite the relatively small catalytic activity of Ru, the I-V result revealed the average energy conversion efficiency of Ru and Pt to be 2.98% and 6.57%, respectively. These results suggest that Ru can be used as counter electrodes in DSSCs due to its extremely low temperature process compatibility.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.11-15
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• 2000

This paper presents a process optimization of antireflection (AR) coating on crystalline Si solar cells. Theoretical and experimental investigations were performed on a double-layer AR(DLAR) coating of MgFe$_2$/GeO$_2$. We investigated GeO$_2$ films as an AR layer because they have a proper refractive index of 2.46 and demonstrate the same lattice constant as Si substrate. RF sputter grown GeO$_2$ film showed deposition temperature strong dependence. The GeO$_2$ at 400$\^{C}$ exhibited a strong (111) preferred orientation and the lowest surface roughness of 6.87 $\AA$. Refractive index of MgFe$_2$film was measured as 1.386 for the most of growth temperature. An optimized DLAR coating showed a reflectance as low as 2.04% in the wavelengths ranged from 0.4 ㎛ to 1.1 ㎛. Solar cells with a structure of MgFe$_2$/GeO$_2$/Ag/N$\^$+//p-type Si/P$\^$+//Al were investigated with the without DLAR coatings. We achieved the efficiency of solar cells greater than 15% with 3.12% improvement with DLAR coatings. Further details about MgFe$_2$,GeO$_2$ films, and cell fabrication parameters are presented in this paper.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.204-210
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• 2020

ZnO thin films are of considerable interest because they can be customized by various coating technologies to have high electrical conductivity and high visible light transmittance. Therefore, ZnO thin films can be applied to various optoelectronic device applications such as transparent conducting thin films, solar cells and displays. In this study, ZnO rod and thin films are fabricated using aqueous chemical bath deposition (CBD), which is a low-cost method at low temperatures, and environmentally friendly. To investigate the structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO for the presence of citrate ion, which can significantly affect crystal form of ZnO, various amounts of the citrate ion are added to the aqueous CBD ZnO reaction bath. As a result, ZnO crystals show a nanorod form without citrate, but a continuous thin film when citrate is above a certain concentration. In addition, as the citrate concentration increases, the electrical conductivity of the ZnO thin films increases, and is almost unchanged above a certain citrate concentration. Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cell substrates are used to evaluate whether aqueous CBD ZnO thin films can be applicable to real devices. The performance of aqueous CBD ZnO thin films shows performance similar to that of a sputter-deposited ZnO:Al thin film as top transparent electrodes of CIGS solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.255-262
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• 1997

Titanium nitride (TiN) films were prepared by reactive sputter deposition in mixed gas of Ar+$N_2$. The volume percentage of $N_2$ in the working gas was chosen so as to grow stoichiometric TiN films and the substrate temperature during film growth was set from room temperature to $700^{\circ}C$. Stoichiometric $Ti_{0.5}N){0.5}$ films with (111) texture were grown at temperatures over $600^{\circ}C$, while films prepared at temperatures below $600^{\circ}C$ showed N-rich TiN. The composition X and y in the $Ti_xN_y$ films determined by XPS and RBS varied within 5% with the substrate temperature. The sheet resistance of the TiN films decreases as the substrate temperature increased. TiN film prepared at $600^{\circ}C$ showed 14.5$\Omega\Box$, and it decreased to 8.9$\Omega\Box$ after the sample was annealed at $700^{\circ}C$, 30 sec in Ar-gas ambient by RTA. By far, high quality stoichiometric TiN films by reactive sputtering in the mixed gas ambient could be prepared at substrate temperature over $600^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.67-71
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• 2014

An attempt to grow high quality GaN on silicon substrate using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), herein GaN epitaxial layers were grown on various Si(111) substrates. Thin Platinum layer was deposited on Si(111) substrate using sputtering, followed by thermal annealing to form Pt nano-clusters which act as masking layer during dry-etched with inductively coupled plasma-reactive ion etching to generate nano-patterned Si(111) substrate. In addition, micro-patterned Si(111) substrate with circle shape was also fabricated by using conventional photo-lithography technique. GaN epitaxial layers were subsequently grown on micro-, nano-patterned and conventional Si (111) substrate under identical growth conditions for comparison. The GaN layer grown on nano-patterned Si (111) substrate shows the lowest crack density with mirror-like surface morphology. The FWHM values of XRD rocking curve measured from symmetry (002) and asymmetry (102) planes are 576 arcsec and 828 arcsec, respectively. To corroborate an enhancement of the growth quality, the FWHM value achieved from the photoluminescence spectra also shows the lowest value (46.5 meV) as compare to other grown samples.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.145-152
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• 2013

The growth behavior of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) film has been studied for three different substrates, i.e. bare Si wafer, 1 ${\mu}m$ thick W and Ti films deposited on Si wafer by DC sputter. The surface roughness values of the substrates measured by AFM were Si < W < Ti. After ultrasonic seeding treatment using nanometer sized diamond powder, surface roughness remained as Si < W < Ti. The contact angles of the substrates were Si ($56^{\circ}$) > W ($31^{\circ}$) > Ti ($0^{\circ}$). During deposition in the microwave plasma CVD system, NCD particles were formed and evolved to film. For the first 0.5h, the values of NCD particle density were measured as Si < W < Ti. Since the energy barrier for heterogeneous nucleation is proportional to the contact angle of the substrate, the initial nucleus or particle densities are believed to be Si < W < Ti. Meanwhile, the NCD growth rate up to 2 h was W > Si > Ti. In the case of W substrate, NCD particles were coalesced and evolved to the film in the short time of 0.5 h, which could be attributed to the fact that the diffusion of carbon species on W substrate was fast. The slower diffusion of carbon on Si substrate is believed to be the reason for slower film growth than on W substrate. The surface of Ti substrate was observed as a vertically aligned needle shape. The NCD particle formed on the top of a Ti needle should be coalesced with the particle on the nearby needle by carbon diffusion. In this case, the diffusion length is longer than that of Si or W substrate which shows a relatively flat surface. This results in a slow growth rate of NCD on Ti substrate. As deposition time is prolonged, NCD particles grow with carbon species attached from the plasma and coalesce with nearby particles, leaving many voids in NCD/Ti interface. The low adhesion of NCD films on Ti substrate is related to the void structure of NCD/Ti interface.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.437-444
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• 2000

We investigated the effect of substrate temperature, chemical composition and post-deposition heat-treatment on the crystal structure and electrical transport of $La_{1-x}Sr_xMnO_{3-{\delta}}$(0.19${\leq}x{\leq}$0.31) thin films. As-prepared $La_{1-x}Sr_xMnO_{3-{\delta}}$ films grown at $500^{\circ}C$ by sputter techniques were found to have the pseudo-tetragonal system(a/c=0.97) and a highly preferential <001> orientation. The films were changed to be of the cubic system by post-deposition annealing at around $900^{\circ}C$. A main target of $La_{0.67}Sr_{0.33}MnO_3$ as well as auxliary targets of $La_{0.3}Sr_{0.7}MnO_3$ ceramics were co-sputtered to control the chemical composition of the film. The Sr content(x) of the film ranged from 0.19 to 0.31, depending on the number of the auxiliary target. When x increased from 0.19 to 0.31, the electrical resistivity of the film decreased and the transition temperature between metal and semiconductor shifted to higher temperature. With a magnetic field of 0.18 T, the magneto-resistance ratio (MR(%) = (${\rho}_o-{\rho}_H/{\rho}_H$) of the $La_{0.69}Sr_{0.31}MnO_3$ thin film was about 390%.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2013

For the coating of diamond films on WC-Co tools, a buffer interlayer is needed because Co catalyzes diamond into graphite. W and Ti were chosen as candidate interlayer materials to prevent the diffusion of Co during diamond deposition. W or Ti interlayer of $1{\mu}m$ thickness was deposited on WC-Co substrate under Ar in a DC magnetron sputter. After seeding treatment of the interlayer-deposited specimens in an ultrasonic bath containing nanometer diamond powders, $2{\mu}m$ thick nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films were deposited at $600^{\circ}C$ over the metal layers in a 2.45 GHz microwave plasma CVD system. The cross-sectional morphology of films was observed by FESEM. X-ray diffraction and visual Raman spectroscopy were used to confirm the NCD crystal structure. Micro hardness was measured by nano-indenter. The coefficient of friction (COF) was measured by tribology test using ball on disk method. After tribology test, wear tracks were examined by optical microscope and alpha step profiler. Rockwell C indentation test was performed to characterize the adhesion between films and substrate. Ti and W were found good interlayer materials to act as Co diffusion barriers and diamond nucleation layers. The COFs on NCD films with W or Ti interlayer were measured as less than 0.1 whereas that on bare WC-Co was 0.6~1.0. However, W interlayer exhibited better results than Ti in terms of the adhesion to WC-Co substrate and to NCD film. This result is believed to be due to smaller difference in the coefficients of thermal expansion of the related films in the case of W interlayer than Ti one. By varying the thickness of W interlayer as 1, 2, and $4{\mu}m$ with a fixed $2{\mu}m$ thick NCD film, no difference in COF and wear behavior but a significant change in adhesion was observed. It was shown that the thicker the interlayer, the stronger the adhesion. It is suggested that thicker W interlayer is more effective in relieving the residual stress of NCD film during cooling after deposition and results in stronger adhesion.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2007

Interfacial fracture energy(${\Gamma}$) between $Al_2O_3$ thin film deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition(ALD) and sputter deposited Cu electrode for embedded PCB applications is measured from a $90^{\circ}$ peel test. While the interfacial fracture energy of $Cu/Al_2O_3$ is very poor, Cr adhesion layer increases the interfacial fracture energy to $39.8{\pm}3.2g/mm\;for\;Ar^+$ RF plasma power density of $0.123W/cm^2$, which seems to come from the enhancement of the mechanical interlocking and Cr-O chemical bonding effects.