• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.961-968
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• 2009

In this work, transparent conductive oxide(TCO) films such as $In_2O_3-SnO_2$(ITO) and $In_2O_3-ZnO$(IZO) were prepared on polyethylene naphthalene(PEN) and glass substrates by using rf-magnetron sputtering system. The TCO films deposited on PEN substrate show very poor conductivity as compared to that of the TCO films deposited on glass substrates. From the results of the residual gas analysis(RGA) test, this poor stability of plastic substrate is presumed to be caused by the deteriorated adhesion between the TCO films and the plastic substrate due to outgassing from the plastic substrate during deposition of TCO films. From our experiment, it is found that the vaporization of some defects in the plastic substrates deteriorate the adhesion of the TCO films to the plastic substrate, because the most plastic substrates containing the water vapor and/or other adsorbed particles such as organic solvents. Mixing of these gases vaporized in the sputtering process will also affect the electrical property of the deposited TCO films. Inorganic thin composite $(SiO_2)_{40}(ZnO)_{60}$ film as a gas barrier layer is coated on the PEN substrate to protecting the diffusion of vapors from the substrate, so that the TCO films with an improved quality can be obtained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of IIIuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.205-210
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• 2008

Titanium-doped indium oxide (ITiO) films were prepared on soda-lime glass substrate using a magnetic null discharge (MND) sputter source. The ITiO thin films containing 10wt.% Ti showed the minimum resistivity of $\rho=5.5{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}-cm$. The optical transmittance increases from 70% at 450 nm to 80% at 700 nm in visible spectrum. Photoelectron peaks for In 3d, Ti 2p, O 1s and C1s were detected for the ITiO film in the binding energy range of 0 to 1100 eV. The surface roughness of the sample showed a change from 10 nm to 50 nm. The ITiO film used for TCO layer of DSCs exhibited an energy conversion efficiency of about 3.8% at light intensity of 100 mW/$cm^2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.417-418
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• 2008

Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) are necessary as front electrode or anti-reflecting coating for increasing efficiency of LED and Photodiode. In this paper, aluminum-doped Zinc oxide films(AZO) were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering on glass(corning 1737) and Si substrate at temperature of $100^{\circ}C$ and then annealed at temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ for 1hr in Ar and vaccum. The AZO films were etched in diluted HCL (0.5 %) to examine the surface morphology properties. After annealing, Structural and electrical property were investigated. The c-axis orientation along (002) plane was enhanced and the electrical resistivity of the AZO film decreased from $1.1\times10^{-1}$ to $1.6\times10^{-2}{\Omega}cm$. We observed textured structure of AZO thin film etched for 2s.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.75-79
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• 2017

Honeycomb-shaped Ag-grid transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) were fabricated using two different processes, high density plasma etching and lift-off, and the optical and electrical properties were compared according to the fabrication method. For the fabrication of the Ag-grid TCEs by plasma etching, etch characteristics of the Ag thin film in $10CF_4/5Ar$ inductively coupled plasma (ICP) discharges were studied. The Ag etch rate increased as the power increased at relatively low ICP source power or rf chuck power conditions, and then decreased at higher powers due to either decrease in $Ar^+$ ion energy or $Ar^+$ ion-assisted removal of the reactive F radicals. The Ag-grid TCEs fabricated by the $10CF_4/5Ar$ ICP etching process showed better grid pattern transfer efficiency without any distortion or breakage in the grid pattern and higher optical transmittance values of average 83.3 % (pixel size $30{\mu}m/line$ width $5{\mu}m$) and 71 % (pixel size $26{\mu}m/line$ width $8{\mu}m$) in the visible range of spectrum, respectively. On the other hand, the Ag-grid TCEs fabricated by the lift-off process showed lower sheet resistance values of $2.163{\Omega}/{\square}$ (pixel size $26{\mu}m/line$ width $18{\mu}m$) and $4.932{\Omega}/{\square}$ (pixel size $30{\mu}m/line$ width $5{\mu}m$), respectively.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.155-160
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• 2013

ZnO thin films co-doped with Mg and Ga (MxGyZzO, x + y + z = 1, x = 0.05, y = 0.02 and z = 0.93) were prepared on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering with different sputtering powers ranging from 100W to 200W at a substrate temperature of $350^{\circ}C$. The effects of the sputtering power on the structural, morphological, electrical, and optical properties of MGZO thin films were investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns showed that all the MGZO thin films were grown as a hexagonal wurtzite phase with the preferred orientation on the c-axis without secondary phases such as MgO, $Ga_2O_3$, or $ZnGa_2O_4$. The intensity of the diffraction peak from the (0002) plane of the MGZO thin films was enhanced as the sputtering power increased. The (0002) peak positions of the MGZO thin films was shifted toward, a high diffraction angle as the sputtering power increased. Cross-sectional field emission scanning electron microscopy images of the MGZO thin films showed that all of these films had a columnar structure and their thickness increased with an increase in the sputtering power. MGZO thin film deposited at the sputtering power of 200W showed the best electrical characteristics in terms of the carrier concentration ($4.71{\times}10^{20}cm^{-3}$), charge carrier mobility ($10.2cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$) and a minimum resistivity ($1.3{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}cm$). A UV-visible spectroscopy assessment showed that the MGZO thin films had high transmittance of more than 80 % in the visible region and that the absorption edges of MGZO thin films were very sharp and shifted toward the higher wavelength side, from 270 nm to 340 nm, with an increase in the sputtering power. The band-gap energy of MGZO thin films was widened from 3.74 eV to 3.92 eV with the change in the sputtering power.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.119-125
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• 2013

In this study, we studied the properties of ZnO(Al) and ZnO(AlGa) thin film according to film thickness deposited on SLG by In-line magnetron sputtering system. XRD, FESEM, 4-point probe, Hall measurement system and UV/Vis-NIR spectrophotometer were employed to analyze the properties of ZnO(Al) and ZnO(AlGa) thin film. The all films exhibited (002) preferential orientation with clear peak shape and high intensity. The carrier concentration and Hall mobility of ZnO(Al) and ZnO(AlGa) thin film were improved with increasing thickness. The resistivity of both films decreased when the film thickness was raised from 500 nm to 1,450 nm. And then relatively the resistivity of ZnO(AlGa) film was lower than that of ZnO(Al) film. The transmittance of the films decreased with increasing film thickness but all films exhibited optical transmittances of over 83.3% in the visible region.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.358-358
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• 2012

The application of BZO (Boron-doped Zinc Oxide) films use as the TCO(Transparent Conductive Oxide) material for display and solar cell industries, where the conductivity of the BZO films plays a critical role for improvement of cell performance. Thin BZO films are deposited on glass substrates by using RF sputter system. Then charging flow rates of O2 gas from zero to 10 sccm, thereby controlling the impurity concentration of BZO. BZO deposited on soda lime glass and RF power was 300 W, frequency was 13.56 MHz, and working pressure was $5.0{\times}10-6$ Torr. The Substrate and glass between distance 200 mm. We measured resistivity, conductivity, mobility by hall measurement system. Optical properties measured by photo voltaic device analysis system. We measured surface build according to oxygen flow rate from XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) system. The profile of the energy distribution of the electrons emitted from BZO films by the Auger neutralization is measured and rescaled so that Auger self-convolution arises, revealing the detail structure of the valence band. It may be observed coefficient ${\gamma}$ of the secondary electron emission from BZO by using ${\gamma}$-FIB (Gamma-Focused Ion Beam) system. We observed the change in electrical conductivity by correlation of the valence band structure. Therefore one of the key issues in BZO films may be the valence band that detail structure dominates performance of solar cell devices. Demonstrating the secondary electron emission by the Auger neutralization of ions is useful for the determination of the characteristics of BZO films for solar cell and display developments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.335-335
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• 2014

Over the past several years, transparent conducting oxides have been extensively studied in order to replace indium tin oxide (ITO). Here we report on fluorine doped zinc tin oxide (FZTO) films deposited on glass substrates by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering using a 30 wt% ZnO with 70 wt% SnO2 ceramic targets. The F-doping was carried out by introducing a mixed gas of pure Ar, CF4, and O2 forming gas into the sputtering chamber while sputtering ZTO target. Annealing temperature affects the structural, electrical and optical properties of FZTO thin films. All the as-deposited FZTO films grown at room temperature are found to be amorphous because of the immiscibility of SnO2 and ZnO. Even after the as-deposited FZTO films were annealed from $300{\sim}500^{\circ}C$, there were no significant changes. However, when the sample is annealed temperature up to $600^{\circ}C$, two distinct diffraction peaks appear in XRD spectra at $2{\Theta}=34.0^{\circ}$ and $52.02^{\circ}$, respectively, which correspond to the (101) and (211) planes of rutile phase SnO2. FZTO thin film annealed at $600^{\circ}C$ resulted in decrease of resistivity $5.47{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}cm$, carrier concentration ~1019 cm-3, mobility~20 cm2 V-1s-1 and increase of optical band gap from 3.41 to 3.60 eV with increasing the annealing temperatures and well explained by Burstein-Moss effect. Change of work function with the annealing temperature was obtained by ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy. The increase of annealing temperature leads to increase of work function from ${\phi}=3.80eV$ (as-deposited FZTO) to ${\phi}=4.10eV$ ($600^{\circ}C$ annealed FZTO) which are quite smaller than 4.62 eV for Al-ZnO and 4.74 eV for SnO2. Through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, incorporation of F atoms was found at around the binding energy of 684.28 eV in the as-deposited and annealed FZTO up to 400oC, but can't be observed in the annealed FZTO at 500oC. This result indicates that F atoms in FZTO films are loosely bound or probably located in the interstitial sites instead of substitutional sites and thus easily diffused into the vacuum from the films by thermal annealing. The optical transmittance of FZTO films was higher than 80% in all specimens and 2-3% higher than ZTO films. FZTO is a possible potential transparent conducting oxide (TCO) alternative for application in optoelectronics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.360.1-360.1
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• 2014

DSSC (Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell)의 TCO (Transparent Conductive Oxide)와 전해질 사이의 전자 재결합(Back reaction)은 DSSC의 효율을 떨어뜨리는 요소 중 하나이다. 이와 같은 문제점을 해결하기 위하여 Blocking layer로서 $TiO_2$ 가 많이 사용되어지고 있다. 본 실험에서는 $HfO_2$ 를 Blocking layer로 사용하여 전자 재결합으로 인한 효율 저하를 막기 위한 연구를 진행하였다. 기존 $TiO_2$ 대비 $HfO_2$는 큰 에너지 밴드갭을 가지고 있어, TCO와 전해질 사이에 전자 재결합을 줄여주는 역할을 하기 때문에 DSSC의 효율 향상을 확인할 수 있다. 효율 측정은 1sun (100 mW/cm, AM1.5)조건에서 solar simulator를 이용하여 측정 했으며, 전자 재결합 감소는 Dark Current, EIS (Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy)의 측정을 통하여 확인하였다. $HfO_2$를 이용한 blocking layer를 염료 감응 태양전지에 적용하면, 전자 재결합에 의한 손실을 줄여 성능적 측면에서 개선 가능할 것으로 생각된다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.53.2-53.2
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• 2011

Dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs) have been recognized as an alternative to the conventional p-n junction solar cells because of their simple fabrication process, low production cost, and transparency. A typical DSSC consists of a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) electrode, a dye-sensitized oxide semiconductor nanoparticle layer, liquid redox electrolyte, and a Pt-counter electrode. In dye-sensitized solar cells, charge recombination processes at interfaces between coducting glass, $TiO_2$, dye, and electrolyte play an important role in limiting the photon-to-electron conversion efficiency. A layer of ZTO thin film less than ~200nm in thickness, as a blocking layer, was deposited by DC magnetron sputtering method directly onto the anode electrode to be isolated from the electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells(DSCs). This is to prevent the electrons from back-transferring from the electrode to the electrolyte ($I^-/I_3^-$). The presented DSCs were fabricated with working electrode of Ga-doped ZnO glass coated with blocking ZTO layer, dye-attached nanoporous $TiO_2$ layer, gel electrolyte and counter electrode of Pt-deposited GZO glass. The effects of blocking layer were studied with respect to impedance and conversion efficiency of the cells.