• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.162-167
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• 1999

GaN epilayers deposited by the OMVPE method on sapphires with 3 different surface orientations were investigated by TEM and their difference in mucrostructure were compared with each other. GaN epilayers were grown on the all three kinds of sapphire substrates; however, the best interfacial state and crystallinity were observed in the specimen using a {0001} substrate The density of defects in GaN epilayers on {0001} substrates was also less than others. No buffer layer was found at the interfaces of all the specimens; however, it was observed that the region which shows lattice distortion at the interface was only a few nonameter wide. Accordingly, TEM investigation revealed that GaN epilayers having some internal defects could be grown on sapphire {1120} and {1102} planes without a buffer layer, and the hetero-epitaxial GaN films were obtained from the specimen using {0001} substrates with the microstructural point of view.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.263-266
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• 1997

We studied an interfacial characteristics of $In_{0.1}Ga_{0.9}As$/ GaAs by photoreflectance (PR) measurement at room temperature. With increasing thickness of epitaxial layer, Franz-Keldysh oscillation (FKO) periods of PR signals were decreased, and interfacial electric field was decreased. This can be explained by the increases of defects due to lattice mismatch near the heterointerface between InGaAs and GaAs. For the thickness of epitaxial layer thinner than the 300$\AA$, InGaAs epitazial layer closed to critical thickness and increased strain, and then the bandgap energy shifted high greatly.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.201-208
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• 2023

The dependence of the electrical characteristics on the fast neutron fluence of an epitaxial 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode (SBD) was investigated. The 30 MeV cyclotron was used for fast neutron irradiation. The neutron fluences evaluated through Monte Carlo simulation were in the 2.7 × 10¹¹ to 1.45 × 10¹³ neutrons/cm² range. Current-voltage and capacitance-voltage measurements were performed to characterize the samples by extracting the parameters of the irradiated SBDs. Neutron-induced defects in the epitaxial layer were identified and quantified using a deep-level transient spectroscopy measurement system developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. As the neutron fluence increased from 2.7 × 10¹¹ to 1.45 × 10¹³ neutrons/cm², the concentration of the Z_1/2 defects increased by approximately 20 times. The maximum defect concentration was estimated as 1.5 × 10¹⁴ cm^-3 at a neutron fluence of 1.45 × 10¹³ neutrons/cm².

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.306-306
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• 2011

Three dimensional(3D) topological insulators(TIs) of Bi binary alloys are characterized by a bulk energy gap with strong spin-orbit coupling and metallic surface states protected by time-reversal symmetry. It was reported that film forms of such materials were advantageous over bulk forms due to less defect density and better crystallinity. So far, the films have been prepared on several substrates including semiconductors and graphene. But, there were no studies on metal substrates. For electronic transport experiments and device applications, it is necessary to know epitaxial relation between TIs and metal electrodes. In this study, Atomically flat films of Bi2Se3 were grown on a Au(111) metal substrate by in-situ molecular beam epitaxy. Using home-built scanning tunneling microscope, we observed hexagonal atomic structures which corresponded to the outmost selenium atomic layer of Bi2Se3. Triangular-shaped defects known as Selenium vacancy were also found.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.125-125
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• 2012

Graphene was epitaxially grown on a 6H-SiC(0001) substrate by thermal decomposition of SiC under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we monitored the evolution of the graphene growth as a function of the temperature. We found that the evaporation of Si occurred dominantly from the corner of the step rather than on the terrace. A carbon-rich $(6{\sqrt{3}}{\times}6{\sqrt{3}})R30^{\circ}$ layer, monolayer graphene, and bilayer graphene were identified by measuring the roughness, step height, and atomic structures. Defect structures such as nanotubes and scattering defects on the monolayer graphene are also discussed. Furthermore, we confirmed that the Dirac points (ED) of the monolayer and bilayer graphene were clearly resolved by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.9-10
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• 2010

Since the discovery of graphene by mechanical exfoliation from graphite[1], various fabrication methods are available today such as chemical exfoliation, epitaxial graphene on SiC substrates, etc. In view of industrialization, the mechanical exfoliation method may not be an option. Epitaxial graphene on SiC substrates, in this respect, is by far more practical because the method consists of conventional thermal treatments familiar to semiconductor industry. Still, the use of the SiC substrate itself, and hence the incompatibility with the Si technology, lessens the importance of this technology in its future industrialization. In this context, we have tackled the problem of forming graphene on Si substrates (GOS). Our strategy is to form an ultrathin (~80 nm) SiC layer on top of a Si substrate, and to graphitize the top SiC layers by a vacuum annealing. We have actually succeeded in forming the GOS structure [2,3,4]. Raman-scattering microscopy indicates presence of few-layer graphene (FLG) formed on our annealed SiC/Si heterostructure, with the G ($1580\;cm^{-1}$) and the G'($2700\;cm^{-1}$) bands, both related to ideal graphene, clearly observed. Presence of the D ($1350\;cm^{-1}$) band indicates presence of defects in our GOS films, whose elimination remains as a challenge in the future. To obtain qualified graphene films on Si substrate, formation of qualified SiC films is crucial in the first place, and is achieved by tuning the growth parameters into a process window[5]. With a potential for forming graphene films on large-scale Si wafers, GOS is a powerful candidate as a key technology in bringing graphene into silicon technology.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2009

We have investigated the intrinsic defects remaining in epitaxial GaSb layers grown on SI-GaAs substrates compared to those in bulk GaSb crystal substrate, which is a basic material of Sb-based strained-layer superlattice infrared photodetectors. From the functional dependence of the band-to-band transition energy of the photomuminescence (PL) spectra observing up to near room-temperature (250 K), the temperature parameters of [$E_o$, $\alpha$, $\beta$] of undoped GaSb crystal are determined by using the Varshni empirical equation describing the temperature variation of the bandgap energy. Additionally to the antisite-Ga ([$Ga_{Sb}$]) with an ionization energy of 29 meV that is well known to a major intrinsic defect in GaSb, epitaxial GaSb layers show a pair of deep states at the emission energy of 732/711 meV that may be related with a complex of two antisite-Ga and antisite-Sb ([$Ga_{Sb}-Sb_{Ga}$]). Based on the analysis of the temperature and the excitation-power dependences of PL, it suggests that excess-Sb substitutes Ga-site by self-diffusion and two anti sites of [$Ga_{Sb}$] and [$Sb_{Ga}$] could form as a complex of [$Ga_{Sb}-Sb_{Ga}$] in GaSb epilayers grown under Sb-rich condition.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.7-12
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• 2020

Electromechanical properties of REBCO CC tapes are known to be limited by defects (cracks) that form in the brittle REBCO layer. These defects could be inherently acquired during the CC tapes' manufacturing process, such as slitting, and which can be initiated at the CC tapes' edges. If propagated and long enough, they are believed to cause critical current degradation and can substantially decrease the delamination strength of CC tapes. Currently, commercially available CC tapes from various manufacturers utilize different growth techniques for depositing the REBCO layers on the substrates in their CC tapes preparation. Their epitaxial techniques, unfortunately, cannot perfectly avoid the formation of particles, in which sometimes acts as current blocking defects, known as outgrowths. Collective research regarding the composition, size, and formation of these particles for various CC tapes with different deposition techniques are particularly uncommon in a single study. Most importantly, these particles might interact in one way or another to the existing cracks. Therefore, systematic investigation on the interactions between the cracks' development mechanism and particles on the REBCO superconducting layers of practical CC tapes are of great importance, especially in the design of superconducting devices. Here, a proper etching process was employed for the CC tapes to expose and observe the REBCO layers, clearly. The scanning electron microscope, field emission scanning microscope, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy were utilized to observe the interactions between cracks and particles in various practical CC tapes. Particle compositions were identified whether as non-superconducting or superconducting and in what manner it interacts with the cracks were studied.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.232.2-232.2
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• 2014

Since its discovery in 2004, graphene, a sp2-hybridized 2-Dimension carbon material, has drawn enormous attention. A variety of approaches have been attempted, such as epitaxial growth from silicon carbide, chemical reduction of graphene oxide and CVD. Among these approaches, the CVD process takes great attention due to its guarantee of high quality and large scale with high yield on various transition metals. After synthesis of graphene on metal substrate, the subsequent transfer process is needed to transfer graphene onto various target substrates, such as bubbling transfer, renewable epoxy transfer and wet etching transfer. However, those transfer processes are hard to control and inevitably induce defects to graphene film. Especially for wet etching transfer, the metal substrate is totally etched away, which is horrendous resources wasting, time consuming, and unsuitable for industry production. Thus, our group develops one-step process to directly grow graphene on glass substrate in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Copper foil is used as catalyst to enhance the growth of graphene, as well as a temperature shield to provide relatively low temperature to glass substrate. The effect of growth time is reported that longer growth time will provide lower sheet resistance and higher VSG flakes. The VSG with conductivity of $800{\Omega}/sq$ and thickness of 270 nm grown on glass substrate can be obtained under 12 min growing time. The morphology is clearly showed by SEM image and Raman spectra that VSG film is composed of base layer of amorphous carbon and vertically arranged graphene flakes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.283-290
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• 2024

The aggressive scaling of dynamic random-access memory capacitors has increased the need to maintain high capacitance despite the limited physical thickness of electrodes and dielectrics. This makes it essential to use high-k dielectric materials. TiO₂ has a large dielectric constant, ranging from 30~75 in the anatase phase to 90~170 in rutile phase. However, it has significant leakage current due to low energy barriers for electron conduction, which is a critical drawback. Suppressing the leakage current while scaling to achieve an equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) below 0.5 nm is necessary to control the influence of interlayers on capacitor performance. For this, Pt and Ru, with their high work function, can be used instead of a conventional TiN substrate to increase the Schottky barrier height. Additionally, forming rutile-TiO₂ on RuO₂ with excellent lattice compatibility by epitaxial growth can minimize leakage current. Furthermore, plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) can be used to deposit a uniform thin film with high density and low defects at low temperatures, to reduce the impact of interfacial reactions on electrical properties at high temperatures. In this study, TiO₂ was deposited using PEALD, using substrates of Pt and Ru treated with rapid thermal annealing at 500 and 600 ℃, to compare structural, chemical, and electrical characteristics with reference to a TiN substrate. As a result, leakage current was suppressed to around 10^-6 A/cm² at 1 V, and an EOT at the 0.5 nm level was achieved.