• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.688-688
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• 2013

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films have attracted a lot of attention as a cheap transparent conducting oxide (TCO) material that can replace the expensive Sn-doped In2O3. In particular, AZO thin films are widely used as a window layer of chalcogenide-based thin film solar cells such as Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS). Mostly important requirements for the window layer material of the thin film solar cells are the high transparency and the low sheet resistance, because they influence the light absorption by the activelayer and the electron collection from the active layer, respectively. In this study, we prepared the AZO thin films by RF magnetron sputtering using a ZnO/Al2O3 (98：2wt%) ceramic target, and the effect of the sputtering condition such as the working pressure, RF power, and the working distance on the optical, electrical, and crystallographic properties of the AZO thin films was investigated. The AZO thin films with optimized properties were used as a window layer of CZTS thin film solar cells. The CZTS active layers were prepared by the electrochemical deposition and the subsequent sulfurization process, which is also one of the cost-effective synthetic approaches. In addition, the solar cell properties of the CZTS thin film solar cells, such as the photocurrent density-voltage (J-V) characteristics and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) were investigated.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2013

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering at room temperature and the effect of heat treatment on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the films were examined. As the annealing temperature and time increased, the resistivity decreased and the transmittance improved. All AZO films had c-axis oriented (002) plane of ZnO, regardless of the annealing process employed. As the annealing temperature and time increased, the crystallinity of AZO thin films increased due to the formation of a new ZnO phase in which Al was substituted for Zn. However, at the high annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, the resistivity of the films increased via separation of Zn and Al from ZnO phase due to their low melting points. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron micrograph and Hall effect measurement confirmed the formation of uniformly distributed new grains of ZnO substituted with Al. The variation of Al contents in AZO films was shown to be the primary factor for the changes in resistivity and carrier concentration of the films.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.67-68
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• 2006

We prepared the AZO thin film with different $O_2$ gas flow rate. the AZO thin films were deposited on glass substrate at room temperature, working gas pressure of 1mTorr. the electrical, structural and optical properties of AZO thin films were investigated by using Hall Effect measurement system, X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) and UV-VIS spectrometer. From the results, we could obtain that AZO thin film with low resistivity of $8.5{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ was exhibited in specific $O_2$ gas flow rate. Also, the transmittance of over 80% in visible range was observed in specific $O_2$ gas flow rate. In all of the AZO thin film with the transmittance of over 80%, diffraction peak of (002) direction was observed, while amorphous peak was observed in the AZO thin film with the low transmittance.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.61.2-61.2
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• 2011

본 연구에서는 박막 태양전지용 투명전극으로 사용하기 위해서 Gun-type RF 마그네트론 스퍼트링을 이용하였다. 챔퍼안의 타겟은 AZO타겟(Zn: 98[wt.%], Al:2[wt.%]을 장착하였고 공정압력은 고진공을 유지하였다. 온도는 $300^{\circ}C$로 고정하였고 전력은 70W로 고정하였다. $Ar^+$ 가스유량비를 20sccm~100sccm으로 변화를 주어 기판 위에 AZO를 증착하여 AZO의 구조적 및 광학적 특성의 의존성을 알아보았다. 모든 가스변화에서 400에서 700 nm까지의 가시광 영역에서의 AZO 박막의 평균 투과도는 약 85% 이상의 우수한 투과율을 보인다. AZO 박막 내의 결정 구조는 (002)면으로 우선 배향을 하는 wurtzite 구조를 가지며, $Ar^+$변화에 의해 두께가 증가하면서 결정립의 주상 (columnar) 성장이 향상되고 결정립의 크기도 증가한다. 이러한 경향성은 $Ar^+$변화에 의해 결정성이 향상된다는 것을 의미한다. 이와 같은 구조 및 광학 특성을 가지는 유리 기판 위에 증착된 AZO는 박막 태양전지용 투명 전극으로 응용이 가능할 것이다.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.590-594
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• 2012

ZnO nanowires were fabricated by hydrothermal synthesis technique for field emission device application. Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were prepared as seed layer of catalyst for the ZnO nanowire synthesis, for which conductivity of the seed layer was tried to be improved for enhancing the field emission property of the ZnO nanowire. The AZO seed layer revealed specific resistivity of $ 7.466{\times}10^{-4}[{\Omega}{\cdot}cm]$ and carrier mobility of 18.6[$cm^2$/Vs]. Additionally, upper tip of the prepared ZnO nanowires was treated by hydrochloric acid (HCl) to form a nanocone shape of ZnO nanowire, which was aimed for enhanced focusing of electric field on that and resultingly to improve field emission property of the ZnO nanowires. The ZnO nanowire with nanocone shape revealed decreased threshold electric field and increased current density than those of the simple ZnO nanowires.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.172-175
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• 2003

ZnO:Al thin film for application to FBAR's bottom electrode using ZnO piezoelectric thin film were prepared by FTS, in order to improve the crystallographic properties of ZnO thin films because the ZnO:Al thin film and ZnO thin films structure is equal each other. So we prepared the ZnO:Al thin film with oxygen gas flow rate. Thickness and c-axis preferred orientation and electric properties of ZnO:Al bottom electrode were evaluated by $\alpha$-step, XRD and 4-point probe..

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.8-16
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• 2010

In this paper, we investigated the effects of $O_2$ fraction on the properties of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films prepared by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. Hall, photoluminescence (PL), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed that the p-type conductivity was exhibited for AZO films with an $O_2$ fraction of 0.9 while the n-type conductivity was observed for films with $O_2$ fractions in range of 0 - 0.6. PL and XPS also showed that the acceptor-like defects, such as zinc vacancies and oxygen interstitials, increased in films prepared by an $O_2$ fraction of 0.9, resulting in the p-type conductivity in the films. Hall results indicated that AZO films prepared by $O_2$ fractions in range of 0 - 0.6 can be used for electrode layers in the applications of transparent thin film transistor. We concluded from the X-ray diffraction analysis that worse crystallinity with a smaller grain size as well as higher tensile stress was observed in the films prepared by a higher $O_2$ fraction, which is related to incorporation of more oxygen atoms into the films during deposition. The study of atomic force microscope suggested that the smoother surface morphology was observed in films prepared by using $O_2$ fraction, which causes the higher resistivity in those films, as evidenced by Hall measurements.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2015

In this study, we fabricated the indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), zinc oxide (ZnO), aluminum zinc oxide (AZO). oxide and silver are deposited by magnetron sputtering and thermal evaporator, respectively transparency and energy bandgap were changed by the thickness of silver layer. To fabricate metal oxide metal (OMO) structure, IGZO sputtered on a corning 1,737 glass substrate was used as bottom oxide material and then silver was evaporated on the IGZO layer, finally IGZO was sputtered on the silver layer we get the final OMO structure. The radio-frequency power of the target was fixed at 30 W. The chamber pressure was set to $6.0{\times}10^{-3}$ Torr, and the gas ratio of Ar was fixed at 25 sccm. The silver thickness are varied from 3 to 15 nm. The OMO thin films was analyzed using XRD. XRD shows broad peak which clearly indicates amorphous phase. ZnO, AZO, OMO show the peak [002] direction at $34^{\circ}$. This indicate that ZnO, AZO OMO structure show the crystalline peak. Average transmittance of visible region was over 75%, while that of infrared region was under 20%. Energy band gap of OMO layer was increased with increasing thickness of Ag layer. As a result total transmittance was decreased.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.378-379
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• 2012

ITO 만큼 높은 전도성과 광학적 투과성을 갖는 Al-doped ZnO (AZO) 박막을 DC-Pulse magnetron sputtering을 이용하여 40 nm 두께로 증착 후 리소그라피 공정을 통해 $30{\mu}m$ 간격으로 패터닝 하였다. 간격 30 ${\mu}m$로 배열된 AZO를 촉매층으로 하는 수열합성법을 리사이클 공정을 반복하여 수행하여 ZnO 나노선을 성장시켰다. 이와 같이 AZO 전극 사이에 길이 $30{\mu}m$의 ZnO 나노선이 래터럴 구조로 연결된 소자의 $NH_3$ 가스감지 특성을 조사하였다. 합성된 나노선의 전기적, 광학적, 구조적인 특성을 분석하여 높은 가스 감지도를 예상할 수 있는 특성을 확인하였다. 제작된 가스센서를 진공 챔버에 설치 후 양 전극간에 동작전압(Operating voltage)을 1 V로 인가하여 고정한 후에 $NH_3$를 주입(Injection)과 퍼지(Purge)를 반복하며 그 주입량(10 ppm, 20 ppm, 40 ppm, 60 ppm)에 변화를 주었고, 그에 따른 전류변화를 관찰하여 $NH_3$ 가스감지특성을 평가하였다.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.13 no.spc2
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• pp.407-410
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• 2012

The properties of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films were investigated as a function of H2/(Ar + H2) gas ratio using an AZO (2 wt% Al2O3) ceramic target in a radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering system. The deposition process was done at 200 ℃ and in 2 × 10-2Torr working pressure and with various ratios of H2/(Ar + H2) gas. During the AZO film deposition process, partial H2 gas affected the AZO film characteristics. The electron resistivity (~ 9.21 × 10-4 Ωcm) was lowest and mobility (~17.8 ㎠/Vs) was highest in AZO films when the H2/(Ar + H2) gas ratio was 2.5%. When the H2/(Ar + H2) gas ratio was increased above 2.5%, the electron resistivity increased and mobility decreased with increasing H2/(Ar + H2) gas ratio in AZO films. The carrier concentration increased with increasing H2/(Ar + H2) gas ratio from 0% to 7.5%. This phenomenon was explained by reaction of hydrogen and oxygen and additional formation of oxygen vacancy. The average optical transmission in the visible light wavelength region over 90% and an orientation of the deposition was [002] orientation for AZO films grown with all H2/(Ar + H2) gas ratios.