• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.239-243
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• 2014

The electrical and optical properties of amorphous In-Tin-Zinc-Oxide(ITZO) deposited at room temperature using rf-magnetron sputtering were investigated. The amorphous ITZO thin films were obtained at the composition of In:Sn:Zn = 6:2:2, 4:3:3, and 2:4:4, but the ITZO (8:1:1) showed a crystalline phase of bixbyite structure of In2O3. The resistivity of ITZO could be controlled by oxygen pressure in the sputtering ambient. The resistivity of post-annealed ITZO thin films exhibited the dependence on the amount of Indium. Optical energy band gap and transmittance increased as the amount of indium in ITZO increased. For the device application with ITZO, the bottom-gated thin-film transistor using ITZO as a active channel layer was fabricated. It showed a threshold voltage of 1.42V and an on/off ratio of $5.63{\times}10^7$ operated with saturation field-effect mobility of $14.2cm^2/V{\cdot}s$.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.105-109
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• 2007

In this paper, we fabricated TCO (transparent conductive oxide) electrode on flexible substrate in order to study effects of electrical and optical properties according to Al-doped ZnO(AZO) film thickness. The thickness of film was from 100 nm to 500 nm and was controlled by changing deposition time. We used High Resolution X-ray Diffractometer (HR-XRD) to analyze crystal structure and UV-visible spectrophotometer to measure property of optical transmittance, respectively. The surface images are obtained by using ESEM (Environment Scanning Electron Microscopy). In this experiment, all the AZO films deposited on flexible substrate show high transmittance over 90% and especially in the films with 400 nm and 500 nm thickness, the resistivity ($4.5{\times}10^{-3}\;{\Omega}-cm$) and optical bandgap energy (3.61 eV) are superior to the other films.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.492-498
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• 2021

This feasibility study evaluated an optically transparent planar antenna using liquid salt-water as the conducting material. The most significant reason behind using liquid salt-water for transparent antenna applications is its excellent average optical transparency (OTav) (> 95% at a salinity of 40 ppt) compared to other typical solid transparent thin-film electrodes, such as indium tin oxide (ITO:> 73%) or multi-layer films (MLF: > 78%). Each conductive arm of the proposed dipole is constructed from a salt-water layer held between two clear planar acrylic layers (��r = 2.61, tan�� = 0.01, OTav > 90%) (acrylic/salt-water/acrylic; ASA) due to surface tension. To examine the electrical and optical properties of the ASA structure, the surface tension was measured to determine the thickness of the salt-water layer that finalized its sheet resistance and OTav. The average gain and efficiency of the antenna were 1.72 dBi and 74%, respectively, in the operating UHF (Ultra high frequency) band (470-771 MHz). Therefore, the proposed antenna can be a good candidate for applications as a transparent planar antenna using salt-water.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.255-255
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• 2011

Zinc oxide based thin films have been extensively studied in recent several years because they have very interesting properties and zinc oxide is non-poisonous, abundant and cheap material. ZnO films are employed in different applications like transparent conductive layers in solar cells, protective coatings and so on. Wide industrial application of the ZnO films requires of development of cheap, effective and scalable technology. Typically used technologies don't completely satisfy the industrial requirements. In the present work, we studied effect of the deposition parameters on the structure and properties of ZnO films deposited by DC arc plasmatron. The varied parameters were gas flow rates, precursor composition, substrate temperature and post-deposition annealing temperature. Vapor of Zinc acetylacetone was used as source materials, oxygen was used as working gas and argon was used as the cathode protective gas and a transport gas for the vapor. The plasmatron power was varied in the range of 700-1500 watts. Flow rate of the gases and substrate temperature rate were varied in the wide range to optimize the properties of the deposited coatings. After deposition films were annealed in the hydrogen atmosphere in the wide range of temperatures. Structure of coatings was investigated using XRD and SEM. Chemical composition was analyzed using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Sheet conductivity was measured by 4-point probe method. Optical properties of the transparent ZnO-based coatings were studied by the spectroscopy. It was shown that deposition by a DC Arc plasmatron can be used for low-cost production of zinc oxide films with good optical and electrical properties. Increasing of the oxygen content in the gas mixture during deposition allow to obtain high-resistive protective and insulation coatings with high adhesion to the metallic surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.434-434
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• 2012

Despite recent efforts for fabricating flexible transparent conducting films (TCFs) with low resistance and high transmittance, several obstacles to meet the requirement of flexible displays still remain. Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films, which have been traditionally used as the TCFs, have a serious obstacle in TCFs applications. SWNTs are the most appropriate materials for conductive films for displays due to their excellent high mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. Recently, it has been demonstrated that acid treatment is an efficient method for surfactant removal. However, the treatment has been reported to destroy most SWNT. In this work, the fabrication by the spraying process of transparent SWNT films and reduction of its sheet resistance by Au-ionic doping treatment on PET substrates is researched. Arc-discharge SWNTs were dispersed in deionized water by adding sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant and sonicated, followed by the centrifugation. The dispersed SWNT was spray-coated on PET substrate and dried on a hotplate. When the spray process was terminated, the TCF was immersed into deionized water to remove the surfactant and then it was dried on hotplate. The TCF film was then was doped with Au-ionic doping treatment, rinsed with deionized water and dried. The surface morphology of TCF was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The sheet resistance and optical transmission properties of the TCF were measured with a four-point probe method and a UV-visible spectrometry, respectively. This was confirmed and discussed on the XPS and UPS studies. We show that 87 ${\Omega}/{\Box}$ sheet resistances with 81% transmittance at the wavelength of 550 nm. The changes in electrical and optical conductivity of SWNT film before and after Au-ionic doping treatments were discussed. The effects of hole transport interface layer using Au-ionic doping SWNT on the performance of organic solar cells were investigated.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.193-203
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• 2005

Highly c-axis oriented nanocrystalline ZnO thin films on silica glass substrates were prepared by spin coating-pyrolysis process with a zinc naphthenate precursor. Only the XRD intensity peak of (002) phase was observed for all samples. With an increase in heat treatment temperature, the peak intensity of (002) phase increases. No significant aggregation of particle was present. From scanning probe microscopy analyses, three-dimensional grain growth, which was thought to be due to inhomogeneous substrate surface and c-axis oriented grain growth of the ZnO phase, was independent on heal-treatment temperature. Highly homogeneous surface of the highly-oriented ZnO film was observed at $800^{\circ}C$. All the films exhibited a high transmittance (above 80%) in visible region except film heat treated at $1000^{\circ}C$, and showed a sharp fundamental absorption edge at about $0.38{\sim}0.40{\mu}m$. The estimated energy band gap for all the films were within the range previously reported for films and single crystal. ZnO films, consisting of densely packed grains with smooth surface morphology were obtained by heat treatment at $600^{\circ}C{\sim}800^{\circ}C$, expected to be ideal for practical application, such as transparent conductive film and optical device.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.233-239
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• 2002

Reflection properties of $SiO_2$/ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) thin films coated for electromagnetic shielding, anti-static and anti-reflection on the front surface in CRT were studied. The behavior of reflectance as a function of thickness of $SiO_2$/ITO was investigated and applied to theoretical anti0reflection model of double layers and three layers. As the thickness of ITO layer increased, the deviation from theoretical value increased because uniformity of film deteriorated by pore. Because of the effect of mixed layer of $SiO_2$ and ITO, experimental reflectance showed better acceptance to the three layer antireflection model of $SiO_2$/$SiO_2$+ITO/ITO than the two layer model. Based on the theoretical antireflection design, the double layer whose thickness of $SiO_2$ and ITO were 90, 65 nm, respectively appear 2.5% in reflectance at standard wavelength, 550 nm. This phenomenon was similar to theoretical reflectance in visual range.

• 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 the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.116-125
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• 2018

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a commonly used material for the front contact layer of chalcopyrite $CuInGaSe_2$ (CIGS) based thin film solar cells since it satisfies the requisite optical and electrical properties with low cost and abundant elemental availability. Low-resistivity and high-transmission front contacts have been developed for high-performance CIGS solar cells, and nearly meet the required performance. However, the durability of the cell especially for the corrosion resistance of AZO films has not been studied intensively. In this work, AZO films were prepared on Corning glass 7059 substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering depending on the hydrogen content. The electrical and optical properties and electrochemical corrosion resistance of the AZO films were evaluated as a function of the hydrogen content. With increasing hydrogen content to 6 wt%, the crystallinity, crystal size, and surface roughness of the films increased, and the resistivity decreased with increased carrier concentration, Hall mobility, oxygen vacancies, and $Zn(OH)_2$ binding on the AZO surface. At a hydrogen content of 6 wt%, the corrosion resistance was also relatively high with less columnar morphology, shallow pore channels, and lower grain boundary angles.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2007

The ITO films were deposited on glass substrates by RF-superimposed dc reactive magnetron sputtering and were annealed in $N_2$ vacuum furnace with temperatures in the range of $403K{\sim}573K$ for 30 minutes. Electrical, optical and structural properties of ITO films were examined with varying annealing temperatures from 403 K to 573 K. The resistivity of as-deposited ITO films was $5.4{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ at the sputter conditions of applied RF/DC power of 200/200 W, $O_{2}$ flow of 0.2 seem and Ar flow of 0.2 seem. As a result of annealing in the temperature range of $403K{\sim}573K$, the crystallization occurred at 423 K that is lower than the crystallization temperature caused by a conventional sputtering method. And the resistivity decreased from $5.4{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm\;to\;2.3{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$, the carrier concentration and mobility of ITO films increased from $4.9{\times}10^{20}/cm^3\;to\;6.4{\times}10^{20}/cm^3$, from $20.4cm^2/Vsec\;to\;41.0cm^2/Vsec$, respectively. The transmittance of ITO films in visible became higher than 90% when annealed in the temperature range of $423K{\sim}573K$. High quality ITO thin films made by RF-superimposed dc reactive magnetron sputtering and annealing in $N_2$ vacuum furnace will be applied to transparent conductive oxides of the advanced flat panel display.