• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2015

Transparent and conductive multilayer thin films consisting of three alternating layers FZTO/Ag/$WO_3$ have been fabricated by radio-frequency (RF) sputtering for the applications as transparent conducting oxides and the structural and optical properties of the resulting films were carefully studied. The single layer fluorine doped zinc tin oxide (FZTO) and tungsten oxide ($WO_3$) films grown at room temperature are found to have an amorphous structure. Multilayer structured electrode with a few nm Ag layer embedded in FZTO/Ag/$WO_3$ (FAW) was fabricated and showed the optical transmittance of 87.60 % in the visible range (${\lambda}=380{\sim}770nm$), quite low electrical resistivity of ${\sim}10^{-5}{\Omega}cm$ and the corresponding figure of merit ($T^{10}/R_s$) is equivalent to $3.0{\times}10^{-2}{\Omega}^{-1}$. The resultant power conversion efficiency of 2.50% of the multilayer based OPV is lower than that of the reference commercial ITO. Asymmetric D/M/D multilayer is a promising transparent conducting electrode material due to its low resistivity, high transmittance, low temperature deposition and low cost components.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.219-223
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• 2015

Indium free consisting of three alternating layers GTO/Ag/GTO has been fabricated by radio-frequency (RF) sputtering for the applications as transparent conducting electrodes and the structural, electrical and optical properties of the gallium tin oxide (GTO) films were carefully studied. The gallium tin oxide thin films deposited at room temperature are found to have an amorphous structure. Hall Effect measurements show a strong influence on the conductivity type where it changed from n-type to p-type at $700^{\circ}C$. GTO/Ag/GTO multilayer structured electrode with a few nm of Ag layer embedded is fabricated and show the optical transmittance of 86.48% in the visible range (${\lambda}$ = 380~770 nm) and quite low electrical resistivity of ${\sim}10^{-5}{\Omega}cm$. The resultant power conversion efficiency of 2.60% of the multilayer based OPV (GAG) is lower than that of the reference commercial ITO. GTO/Ag/GTO multilayer is a promising transparent conducting electrode material due to its low resistivity, high transmittance, low temperature deposition and low cost components.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.525-528
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• 2001

ZnO:Al thin film can be used as a transparent conducting oxide(TCO) which has low electric resistivity and high optical transmittance for the front electrode of amorphous silicon solar cells and display devices. This study of electrical, crystallographic and optical properties of Al doped ZnO thin films prepared by Facing Targets Sputtering (FTS), where strong internal magnets were contained in target holders to confine the plasma between the targets, is described. Optimal transmittance and resistivity was obtained by controlling flow rate of O$_2$ gas and substrate temperature. When the of gas rate of 0.3 and substrate temperature 200$^{\circ}C$ , ZnO:Al thin film had strongly oriented c-axis and lower resistivity(<10$\^$-4/Ω-cm).

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.29-32
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• 2010

In this study, transparent and conductive Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were prepared on a glass substrate by an radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method using a 150-nm-thick AZO target (Al: 2 wt.%) at room temperature. We investigated the effects of RF power between 100-350 W (in steps of 50 W) on the structural, electrical, and optical properties of the AZO films. The thickness and cross-sectional images of the films were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The thicknesses of all films were kept constant at 150 nm and grown on a glass substrate. The grain sizes of the AZO films were determined with the X-ray diffraction by using the Scherrer' equation, and their electrical properties were investigated using a Hall effect electronic transport measurement system. The transmittance of the AZO films was also measured by an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.314-314
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• 2013

Recently, flexibility is one of the hottest issues in the field of electronic devices. For flexible displays or solar cells, a development of transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) with flexibility, bendability and foldability is an essential element. Hundreds of nanometers indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films have been widely used and commercialized as a transparent electrode, but their brittleness make them difficulty to apply flexible electronics. Many researchers have been studying for flexible TCEs such as a few layers of graphene sheets, carbon nanotube networks, conductive polymer films and combinations among them. Although gained flexibility, their transmittance and resistivity have not reached those of commercialized ITO films. Metal grids electrode cannot act as TCEs only, but they can be used to lower the resistance of TCEs with few losses of transmittance. However, the possibility of device shortage will be rise at the devices with metal grids because a surface flatness of TCEs may be deteriorated when metal grids are introduced using conventional methods. In our research, we have developed hybrid TCEs, which combined tens of nanometers ITO film and metal grids which are embedded in flexible substrate. They show $13{\Omega}$/${\Box}f$ sheet resistance with 94% of transmittance. Moreover, the sheet resistance was maintained up to 1 mm of bending radius. Also, we have verified that flexible organic light emitting diodes and organic solar cells with the TCEs showed similar performances compared to commercial ITO (on glass substrate) devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.417-417
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• 2009

Although a transparent conductive film (TCF) belongs to essential supporting materials for many device applications such as touch screens, flat panel displays, and sensors, a conventional transparent conductive material, indium-tin oxide (ITO), suffers from considerable drawback because the price of indium has soared since 2001. Despite a recent falloff, a demand of ITO is expected to increase sharply in the future due to the trend of flat panel display technologies toward flexible, paper-like features. There have been recently extensive studies to replace ITO with new materials, in particular, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) since CNTs possess excellent properties such as flexibility, electrical conductivity, optical transparency, mechanical strength, etc., which are prerequisite to TCFs. This study fabricated TCFs with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) produced by arc discharge. The SWCNTs were dispersed in water with a surfactant of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (NaDDBS) under sonication. Carbon black and fullerene nanoparticles were added to the SWCNT-dispersed solution to enhance contact resistance between CNTs. TCFs were manufactured by a filtration and transfer method. TCFs added with carbon black and fullerene nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis spectroscopy (optical transmittance), and four-point probe measurement (sheet resistance).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.857-860
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• 2002

The material that is both conductive in electricity and transparent to the visible-ray is called transparent conducting thin film. It has many field of application such as solar cell, liquid crystal display, transparent electrical heater, selective optical filter, and a optical electric device. In this study, indium tin oxide (ITO ; Sn-doped $In_2O_3$) thin films were deposited on $SiO_2$/soda-lime glass plates by a dc magnetron sputtering technique. The crystallinity and electrical properties of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction(XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) scanning and 4-point probe. The optical transmittance of ITO films in the range of 300-1000nm were measured with a spectrophotometer. As a result, we obtained polycrystalline structured ITO films with (222), (400), and (440) peak. Transmittance of all the films were higher than 90% in the visible range.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2008.07a
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• pp.1254-1255
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• 2008

Low cost TCO(Transparent Conductive oxide) thin films were prepared by 6" DC/RF magnetron sputtering systems. For the AZO preparation processes a 99.99% AZO target (Zn: 98 wt.%, $Al_2O_3$: 2 wt.%) was used. In order to verify the optical properties of the AZO thin films, the transparency was tested with sputtering conditions using UV-visible spectroscopy. As a result, we got the transmittance properties over 80% and low resistivity in the sputtering conditions of DC 200[W], Ar 30 [sccm], 1 [mtorr], 20 [min].

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-18
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• 2012

Transparent conductive indium zinc oxide thin films were prepared by spin-coating a sol-gel solution. Zinc acetate dihydrate [$Zn(CH_3COO)_2{\cdot}2H_2O$] and indium acetate [In$(CH_3COO)_3$] were used as starting precursors, and 2-methoxyethanol with 1-propanol as solvents. Upon annealing in a temperature range from 500 to $1000^{\circ}C$, the thin film crystallizes into polycrystalline $In_2O_3$(ZnO). The lowest electrical resistivity was obtained at an annealing temperature of $700^{\circ}C$ as $2{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. Average optical transmittances were higher than 80% at all annealing temperatures. These experimental results confirm that the sol-gel spin-coating can be a good simplified practical method for forming transparent electrodes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.297-297
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• 2010

Transparent conductive Oxide (TCO) is an essential material in the various optoelectronic applications as a transparent electrode, such as solar cells, flat panel displays and organic light emitting diodes. Currently, Indium tin oxide (ITO) is commonly used in industry due to its low electrical resistivity, high transmittance and high adhesion to substrate. However, ITO is expensive and should be prepared at high temperature, which makes it hard to use ITO in flexible devices. In this regard, Ga-doped ZnO is expected as an ideal candidate for replacing ITO.