• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.105-105
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• 2011

ZnO is a promising material since it could be applied to many fields such as solar cells, laser diodes, thin films transistors and gas sensors. ZnO has a wide and direct band gap for about 3.37 eV at room temperature and a high exciton binding energy of 60 meV. In particular, ZnO features high sensitivity to toxic and combustible gas such as CO, NOX, so on. The development of gas sensors to monitor the toxic and combustible gases is imperative due to the concerns for enviromental pollution and the safety requirements for the industry. In this study, we investigated the effect of substrate temperature and post-annealing on structural and electrical properties of ZnO thin films. ZnO thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at various temperatures at from room temperature to $600^{\circ}C$. After that, post-annealing were performed at $600^{\circ}C$. To inspect the structural properties of the deposited ZnO thin films, X-ray diffraction (XRD) was carried out. For gas sensors, the morphology of the films is dominant factor since it is deeply related with the film surface area. Therefore, the atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were used to observe the surface of the ZnO thin films. Furthermore, we analyzed the electrical properties by using a Hall measurement system.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.358-363
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• 2015

We present an excellent detection for nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas using polycrystalline ZnO wire-like films synthesized via a simple method combined with sputtering of Zn metallic films and subsequent thermal oxidation of the sputtered Zn nanowire films in dry air. Structural and morphological characterization revealed that it would be possible to synthesize polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite ZnO films of a wire-like nanostructure with widths of 100-150 nm and lengths of several microns by controlling the sputtering conditions. It was found from the gas sensing measurements that the ZnO wire-like thin film gas sensor showed a significantly high response, with a maximum value of 29.2 for 2 ppm NO at $200^{\circ}C$, as well as a reversible fast response to NO with a very low detection limit of 50 ppb. In addition, the ZnO wire-like thin film gas sensor also displayed an NO-selective sensing response for NO, $O_2$, $H_2$, $NH_3$, and CO gases. Our results illustrate that polycrystalline ZnO wire-like thin films are potential sensing materials for the fabrication of NO-sensitive high-performance gas sensors.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.3453-3458
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• 2011

The $Mg_xZn_{1-x}O$ thin films with the various content ratio ranging from 0 to 0.4 were prepared by sol-gel spincoating method. To investigate the effects of content ratio on the structural and optical properties of the $Mg_xZn_{1-x}O$ thin films, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and photoluminescence (PL) were carried out. With increase in the content ratio, the grain size of the $Mg_xZn_{1-x}O$ thin films was increased, however, at the content ratio above 0.2, MgO particles with cubic structure were formed on the surface of the $Mg_xZn_{1-x}O$ thin films, indicating that the Mg content exceeded its solubility limit in the thin films. The residual stress of the $Mg_xZn_{1-x}O$ thin films is increased with increase in the Mg mole fraction. In the PL investigations, the bandgap and the activation energy of the $Mg_xZn_{1-x}O$ thin films was increased with the Mg mole fraction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.77.2-77.2
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• 2013

In this talk, I will briefly review recent results of my group related to application of atomic layer deposition (ALD) for fabricating environmental catalysts and organic solar cells. ALD was used for preparing thin films of TiO2 and NiO on mesporous silica with a mean pore size of 15 nm. Upon depositing TiO2 thin films of TiO2 using ALD, the mesoporous structure of the silica substrate was preserved to some extent. We show that efficiency for removing toluene by adsorption and catalytic oxidation is dependent of mean thickness of TiO2 deposited on silica, i.e., fine tuning of the thickness of thin film using ALD can be beneficial for preparing high-performing adsorbents and oxidation catalysts of volatile organic compound. NiO/silica system prepared by ALD was used for catalysts of chemical conversion of CO2. Here, NiO nanoparticles are well dispersed on silica and confiend in the pore, showing high catalytic activity and stability at 800oC for CO2 reforming of methane reaction. We also used ALD for surface modulation of buffer layers of organic solar cell. TiO2 and ZnO thin films were deposited on wet-chemically prepared ZnO ripple structures, and thin films with mean thickness of ~2 nm showed highest power conversion efficiency of organic solar cell. Moreover, performance of ALD-prepared organic solar cells were shown to be more stable than those without ALD. Thin films of oxides deposited on ZnO ripple buffer layer could heal defect sites of ZnO, which can act as recombination center of electrons and holes.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.223-227
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• 2016

The Zn, Sn, and ZnSn thin films were deposited on Si(100) substrate using radio frequency (RF) magnetron co-sputtering method. A surface profiler and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to investigate the Zn, Sn, and ZnSn thin films. Thickness of the thin films was measured by a surface profiler. The deposition rates of pure Zn and Sn thin films were calculated with thickness and sputtering time for optimization. From the survey XPS spectra, we could conclude that the thin films were successfully deposited on Si(100) substrate. The chemical environment of the Zn and Sn was monitored with high resolution XPS spectra in the binding energy regions of Zn 2p, Sn 3d, O 1s, and C 1s.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.242-244
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• 2015

ZnO:Ga thin films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering technique from ZnO (3 wt.% $Ga_2O_3$) target onto glass substrates under various RF power. The influence of RF power on the structural, electrical, and optical properties of ZnO:Ga thin films was investigated by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, Hall method and optical transmission spectroscopy. As the RF power increases from 50 to 110W, the crystallinity is deteriorated, the root main square surface roughness is decreased and the sheet resistance is increased. The increase of sheet resistance is caused by decreasing carrier concentration due to interstitial Ga ion. All films are transparent up to 80% in the visible wavelength range and the adsorption edge is a red-shift with increasing RF power.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.366-370
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• 2014

ZnO:Al transparent conductive films were deposited on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering technique and annealed by rapid thermal annealing system. The influence of annealing time on the structural, electrical, and optical properties of ZnO:Al thin films was investigated by atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Hall method and optical transmission spectroscopy. As the annealing time increases from 0 to 5 min, the crystallinity is improved, the root main square surface roughness is decreased and the sheet resistance is decreased. The lowest sheet resistance of ZnO:Al thin film is 90 ohm/sq. The reduction of sheet resistance is caused by increasing carrier concentration due to substituent Al ion. All films are transparent up to 80% in the visible wavelength range and the adsorption edge is a blue-shift due to Burstein-Moss effect with increasing annealing time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.247-247
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• 2009

In this work, Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films for toxic gas sensor application were deposited on low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates, by RF magnetron sputtering method. LTCC is one of promising materials for integration with heater, low cost production and high manufacturing yields than silicon substrate. The LTCC substrates with thickness of $400\;{\mu}m$ were fabricated by laminating 12 greentapes which consist of alumina and glass particle in an organic binder. The GZO thin films deposited on the substrates and were analyzed by X-ray diffraction method (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The films are well crystallized in the hexagonal (wurzite) structure with increasing thickness. The fabricated sensors showed good sensitivity and fast response time to common types of toxic gases (NOx, COx).

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.274-282
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• 1999

The In doped ZnO(ZnO:In)thin films sensitive to $NH_3$ gas were prepared by the double layer depositions of In film by vacuum evaporation and ZnO film by rf magnetron sputtering method onto a $SiO_2$/Si wafer substrate, and subsequent heat treatment process. The structural and electrical characteristics of the ZnO:In thin films were studied as a function of heat treatment temperature by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and 4 point probing method. And the dependence of the sensitivity, the selectivity and the time response of the thin films on heat treatment temperature was investigated. The thin film heat-treated at $400^{\circ}C$ showed the highest sensitivity of 140% at an operating temperature of $300^{\circ}C$. The sensitivity towards CO, $NO_x$, gases observed in the same temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.297-302
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• 2014

$La_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}CoO_3$ (LSCO) electrode thin films with a resistivity of ~ 1,600 ${\mu}{\Omega}cm$ were grown on c-$Al_2O_3$ (0001) substrate. $ZnSnO_3$ (ZTO) thin films with different thicknesses were directly grown on LSCO/c-$Al_2O_3$ (0001) substrates at a substrate temperature that ranged from 550 to $750^{\circ}C$ using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The secondary phase $Zn_2SnO_4$ occurred during the growth of ZTO films and it became more significant with further increasing substrate temperature. Polarization-electric-field (P-E) hysteresis characteristics, with a remnant polarization and coercive field of 0.05 ${\mu}C/cm^2$ and 48 kV/cm, respectively, were obtained in the ZTO film grown at $700^{\circ}C$ in 200 mTorr.