• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.424-432
• /
• 2019

Planar BiVO₄ and 3 wt% Mo-doped BiVO₄ (abbreviated as Mo:BiVO₄) film were prepared by the facile spin-coating method on fluorine doped SnO₂(FTO) substrate in the same precursor solution including the Mo precursor in Mo:BiVO₄ film. After annealing at a high temperature of 450℃ for 30 min to improve crystallinity, the films exhibited the monoclinic crystalline phase and nanoporous architecture. Both films showed no remarkably discrepancy in crystalline or morphological properties. To investigate the effect of surface passivation exploring the Al₂O₃ layer, the ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer with a thickness of approximately 2 nm was deposited on BiVO₄ film using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. No distinct morphological modification was observed for all prepared BiVO₄ and Mo:BiVO₄ films. Only slightly reduced nanopores were observed. Although both samples showed some reduction of light absorption in the visible wavelength after coating of Al₂O₃ layer, the Al₂O₃ coated BiVO₄ (Al₂O₃/BiVO₄) film exhibited enhanced photoelectrochemical performance in 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ solution (pH 6.5), having higher photocurrent density (0.91 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), briefly abbreviated as V_RHE) than BiVO₄ film (0.12 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). Moreover, Al₂O₃ coating on the Mo:BiVO₄ film exhibited more enhanced photocurrent density (1.5 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE) than the Mo:BiVO₄ film (0.86 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). To examine the reasons, capacitance measurement and Mott-Schottky analysis were conducted, revealing that the significant degradation of capacitance value was observed in both BiVO₄ film and Al₂O₃/Mo:BiVO₄ film, probably due to degraded capacitance by surface passivation. Furthermore, the flat-band potential (V_FB) was negatively shifted to about 200 mV while the electronic conductivities were enhanced by Al₂O₃ coating in both samples, contributing to the advancement of PEC performance by ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.213-220
• /
• 2009

The optimal condition of low temperature deposition of transparent conductive Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films is studied by RF magnetron sputtering method. To achieve enhanced-electrical property and good crystallites quality, we tried to deposit on glass using a two-step growth process. This process was to deposit AZO buffer layer with optimal growth condition on glass in-situ state. The AZO film grown at rf 120 W on buffer layer prepared at RF $50{\sim}60\;W$ shows the electrical resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$, Carrier concentration $1.22{\times}10^{21}/cm^3$, and mobility $9.9\;cm^2/Vs$ in these results, The crystallinity of AZO film on buffer layer was similar to that of AZO film on glass with no buffer later but the electrical properties of the AZO film were 30% improved than that of the AZO film with no buffer layer. Therefore, the cause of enhanced electrical properties was explained to be dependent on degree of crystallization and on buffer layer's compressive stress by variation of $Ar^+$ ion impinging energy.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.216-221
• /
• 2006

ZnO thin films prepared by PLD method exhibit an excellent optical property, but may have some problems such as incomplete surface roughness and crystallinity. In this study, undoped ZnO buffer layers were deposited on (0001) sapphire substrates by ultra high vacuum pulse laser deposition (UHV-PLD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) methods, respectively. After post annealing of ZnO buffer layer, undoped ZnO thin films were deposited under different oxygen pressure ($35{\sim}350$ mtorr) conditions. The Arsenic-doped (1, 3 wt%) ZnO thin layers were deposited on the buffer layer of undoped ZnO by UHV-PLD method. The optical property of the ZnO thin films was analyzed by photoluminescence (PL) measurement. The ${\theta}-2{\theta}$ XRD analysis exhibited a strong (002)-peak, which indicates c-axis preferred orientation. Field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) revealed that microstructures of the ZnO thin films were varied by oxygen partial pressure, Arsenic doping concentration, and deposition method of the undoped ZnO buffer layer. The denser and smoother films were obtained when employing MBE-buffer layer under lower oxygen partial pressure. It was also found that higher Arsenic concentration gave the enhanced growing of columnar structure of the ZnO thin films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2016.11a
• /
• pp.181-181
• /
• 2016

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c-Si:H$) films have attracted much attention as materials of the bottom-cells in Si thin film tandem photovoltaics due to their low bandgap and excellent stability against light soaking. However, in PECVD, the source gas $SiH_4$ must be highly diluted by $H_2$, which eventually results in low deposition rate. Moreover, it is known that high-rate ${\mu}c-Si:H$ growth is usually accompanied by a large number of dangling-bond (DB) defects in the resulting films, which act as recombination centers for photoexcited carriers, leading to a deterioration in the device performance. During film deposition, Si nanoparticles generated in $SiH_4$ discharges can be incorporated into films, and such incorporation may have effects on film properties depending on the size, structure, and volume fraction of nanoparticles incorporated into films. Here we report experimental results on the effects of nonoparticles incorporation at the different substrate temperature studied using a multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD method in which such incorporation can be significantly suppressed in upstream region by setting the gas flow velocity high enough to drive nanoparticles toward the downstream region. All experiments were performed with the multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD reactor at RT, 100, and $250^{\circ}C$, respectively. The gas flow rate ratio of $SiH_4$ to $H_2$ was 0.997. The total gas pressure P was kept at 2 Torr. The discharge frequency and power were 60 MHz, 180 W, respectively. Crystallinity Xc of resulting films was evaluated using Raman spectra. The defect densities of the films were measured with electron spin resonance (ESR). The defect density of fims deposited in the downstream region (with nonoparticles) is higher defect density than that in the upstream region (without nanoparticles) at low substrate temperature of RT and $100^{\circ}C$. This result indicates that nanoparticle incorporation can change considerably their film properties depending on the substrate temperature.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.210-214
• /
• 2010

The structural development of triacetyl cellulose (TAC) was studied as a function of solution casting processing parameters such as dope concentration, evaporation temperature, annealing temperature and the addition of plasticizer. The crystalline structure was developed by the solution casting and the level of crystallinity was increased with increasing dope concentration and evaporation temperature. The crystalline structure could be enhanced by the annealing process after formation of TAC film. Introducing plasticizer resulted in decreasing melting temperature and crytallinity of TAC film due to the increase of chain mobility. It was also found that thermal stability of TAC was improved due to the rigid structure of applied plasticizer.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.1393-1398
• /
• 2015

In this study, the electrical and optical properties of GZO (Ga-doped ZnO) thin films prepared on PES substrates by RF magnetron sputtering method with various working pressures (5 to 20 mTorr) were investigated. All GZO thin films exhibited c-axis preferential growth regardless of working pressure, the GZO thin film deposited at 5 mTorr showed the most excellent crystallinity having 0.44˚ of FWHM. In AFM observations, surface roughness exhibited the lowest value of 0.20 nm in a thin film produced by the working pressure 5 mTorr. Figure of merits of GZO thin film deposited at 5 mTorr showed the highest value of 6652, in this case resistivity and average transmittance in the visible light region were 6.93×10^-4Ω-cm and 81.4%, respectively. We could observed the Burstein-Moss effect that carrier concentration decrease with the increase of working pressure and thus the energy band gap is narrowed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.114-120
• /
• 2012

In this research, we prepared Ga doped zinc oxide(ZnO:Ga, GZO) targets each difference sintering temperature $700^{\circ}C$, $800^{\circ}C$, and doping rate 1 wt.%, 2 wt.%, 3 wt.%. The characteristics of thin film on glass substrates which deposited by facing target sputtering in pure Ar atmosphere are reported. Ga doped zinc oxide film is attracted material through low resistivity, high transmittance, etc. When prepared target powder's structure was investigated by scanning electron microscope, densification and coarsening by driving force was observed. For each ZnO:Ga films with a $Ga_2O_3$ content of 3 wt.% at input power of 45W, the lowest resistivity of $9.967{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ ($700^{\circ}C$) and $9.846{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ ($800^{\circ}C$) was obtained. the carrier concentration and mobility were $4.09{\times}10^{20}cm^{-3}$($700^{\circ}C$), $4.12{\times}10^{20}cm^{-3}$($800^{\circ}C$) and $15.31cm^2/V{\cdot}s(700^{\circ}C)$, $12.51cm^2/V{\cdot}s(800^{\circ}C)$, respectively. And except 1 wt.% Ga doped ZnO thin film, average transmittance of these samples in the range 350-800 nm was over 80%.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.372-376
• /
• 1998

We developed a pulsed laser deposition(PLD) apparatus for depositing various thin films. In this study, the formation of $NbS_2$ thin film was performed in the vacuum chamber by PLD method. $Al_2O_3$(012) and Si(111) were used as the substrates. In order to investigate the growth conditions of a high crystalline $NbS_2$ thin film, the S/Nb composition ratio was varied from 2.0 to 5.25 and the substrate temperature was varied from the room temperature to $600^{\circ}C$. From the result of X-ray diffraction studies of the prepared $NbS_2$ thin films, it was reported that the $NbS_2$, thin film showed a good crystallinity at substrate temperature $600^{\circ}C$ and with S/Nb composition ratio 4.0 on $Al_2O_3$(012) but did not on Si(111). The films exhibited c-axis orientation.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.202-206
• /
• 2011

We have investigated the structural and electrical properties of Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films deposited by an RF magnetron sputtering at various RF powers from 50 to 90W. All the GZO thin films are grown as a hexagonal wurtzite phase with highly c-axis preferred parameters. The structural and electrical properties are strongly related to the RF power. The grain size increases as the RF power increases since the columnar growth of GZO thin film is enhanced at an elevated RF power. This result means that the crystallinity of GZO is improved as the RF power increases. The resistivity of GZO rapidly decreases as the RF power increases up to 70 W and saturates to 90W. In contrast, the electron concentration of GZO increases as the RF power increases up to 70 W and saturates to 90W. GZO thin film shows the lowest resistivity of $2.2{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ and the highest electron concentration of $1.7{\times}10^{21}cm^{-3}$ at 90W. The mobility of GZO increases as the RF power increases since the grain boundary scattering decreases due to the reduced density of the grain boundary at a high RF power. The transmittance of GZO thin films in the visible range is above 90%. GZO is a feasible transparent electrode for application as a transparent electrode for thin film solar cells.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.438-444
• /
• 2017

In this paper, we focus on optimization of the in-situ phosphorous (P) doping of low-pressure chemical vapor deposited (LPCVD) poly Si resistors for obtaining near-zero temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) at temperature range from 25 to $600^{\circ}C$. The deposited poly Si films were annealed by rapid thermal anneal (RTA) process at the temperature range from 900 to $1000^{\circ}C$ for 90s in nitrogen ambient to relieve intrinsic stress and decrease the TCR in the poly Si layer and get the Ohmic contact. After the RTA process, a roughness of the thin film was slightly changed but the grain size and crystallinity of the thin film with the increase in anneal temperature. The film annealed at $1,000^{\circ}C$ showed the behavior of Schottky contact and had dislocations in the films. Ohmic contact and TCR of $334.4{\pm}8.2$ (ppm/K) within 4 inch wafer were obtained in the measuring temperature range of 25 to $600^{\circ}C$ for the optimized 200 nm thick-poly Si film with width/length of $20{\mu}m/1,800{\mu}m$. This shows the potential of in-situ P doped LPCVD poly Si as a resistor for pressure sensor in harsh environment applications.