• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2000

Top spin valve samples with a structure Ta/NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/FeMn/Ta were deposited on a Si(100) substrate by changing d.c. magnetron sputtering conditions and the exchange-bias and magnetic properties of samples were investigated. The Exchange field, H$\_$ex/ increased with increase of sputtering power of FeMn from 30 to 150 W and CoFe from 30 to 100 W deposited on the Cu, the increase of H$\_$ex/ was found due to the improvement of preferred orientation of (111) FeMn phase from XRD results. In the case of Cu, H$\_$ex/ decreased with the increase of sputtering pressure ranging from 1 to 5 mTorr. The relationship between exchange field and resistance was investigated, spin valve samples with a large exchange field showed the lower resistance, which was strongly dependent on the good crystallinity and grain size increase as well as lower scattering effects. The Cu thickness was changed from 22 to 38 $\AA$ for Si/Ta/NiFe/CoFe/Cu(t), 30 W/CoFe, 100 W/FeMn, 100 W/Ta spin valve structures, MR ratio of 6.5 % and exchange field of about 190 Oe were obtained for the sample with Cu of 22 $\AA$ thickness. The increase of exchange field with decrease of Cu thickness was explained by FM/AFM spin-spin interaction.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.262-266
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• 2007

The effect of the presence of magnesium ions in the preparation of calcium phosphate (CP) thin films on the physicochemical and biological properties of the films has been investigated in this study. Five different surfaces were used and the culture plate (CTL) and CP film prepared in the absence of magnesium (CaP) were used for the comparison. Three different films were prepared at different magnesium concentrations. CP films prepared at the Mg concentrations of 0.1, 1, and 10 mM were designated as CaPL, CaPM, and CaPH, respectively. The observation of surface morphology of the CP films using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) displayed that the presence of magnesium affected considerably the morphology of the films including a decrease of surface porosity. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis for the determination of the crystallinity of the CP films showed that the structure of the films was amorphous. Examination using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the prepared films consisted of calcium, phophorus, and magnesium. Cell adhesion assays elucidated that cell adhered less as the magnesium concentration increased. However, cell proliferation assays demonstrated that the cells proliferated more actively on the films prepared at the higher magnesium concentration. These results suggest that the presence of magnesium may promote the biocompatibility of CP films.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2009

PLZT ferroelectric thin films were deposited on Pt/Ti/$SiO_2$/Si substrate with $TiO_2$ buffer layer in between by rf magnetron sputtering method. In order to investigate the effect of Ar/$O_2$ partial pressure ratio on the ferroelectric properties of PLZT thin films, PLZT thin films were deposited at various Ar/$O_2$ partial pressure ratio ; 27/1.5 seem, 23/5.5 seem, 21/7.5 seem and 19/9.5 seem. The crystallinities of PLZT thin films were analyzed by XRD. The surface morphology was observed using FE-SEM. The P-E hysteresis loops, the remanent polarization characteristics and the leakage current characteristics were obtained using a Precision LC. The crystallinity and elaborateness of PLZT thin films were decreased as increasing the oxygen partial pressure ratio. And preferred orientation of PLZT thin films changed from (110) plane to (111) plane. The oxygen partial pressure ratio affects the thin film surface morphology and the ferroelectric properties.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.175-180
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• 2010

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films are widely used for optoelectronic applications. Among TCO materials, zinc oxide (ZnO) has been studied extensively for its high optical transmission and electrical conduction. In this study, the effects of $O_2$ plasma pretreatment on the properties of Ga-doped ZnO films (GZO) on polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate were studied. The $O_2$ plasma pretreatment process was used instead of conventional oxide buffer layers. The $O_2$ plasma treatment process has several merits compared with the oxide buffer layer treatment, especially on a mass production scale. In this process, an additional sputtering system for oxide composition is not needed and the plasma treatment process is easily adopted as an in-line process. GZO films were fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering process. To improve surface energy and adhesion between the PEN substrate and the GZO film, the $O_2$ plasma pre-treatment process was used prior to GZO sputtering. As the RF power and the treatment time increased, the contact angle decreased and the RMS surface roughness increased significantly. It is believed that the surface energy and adhesive force of the polymer surfaces increased with the $O_2$ plasma treatment and that the crystallinity and grain size of the GZO films increased. When the RF power was 100W and the treatment time was 120 sec in the $O_2$ plasma pretreatment process, the resistivity of the GZO films on the PEN substrate was $1.05\;{\times}\;10^{-3}{\Omega}-cm$, which is an appropriate range for most optoelectronic applications.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.1127-1134
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• 2000

$RuO_2$ thin films are prepared by RP magnetron reactive sputtering and their characteristics of crystalliBation,microstructure, surface roughness and resistivity are studied with various O2/(Ar+O2)ratios and substrate temperatures. As O2/(Ar+O2) ratio decreases and substrate temperature increases, the preferred growing plane of$RuO_2$ thin films are changed from (110) to (101) plane. With increase of the 021(Ar+O2) ratio from 2075 to 50%, the surface roughness and the resistivity of $RuO_2$ thin films increase from 2.38nm to 7.81nm, and from $103.6 \mu\Omega-cm\; to \; 227 \mu\Omega-cm$, respectively, but the deposition rate decreases from 47nm/min to 17nm/min. On the other hand, as the substrate temperature increases from room temperature to$500^{\circ}C$, resistivity decreases from $210.5 \mu\Omega-cm\; to \; 93.7\mu\Omega-cm$. $RuO_2$ thin film deposited at $300^{\circ}C$ shows a excellent surface roughness of 2.38 m. As the annealing temperature increases in the range between $400^{\circ}C$ and $650^{\circ}C$, the resistivity decreases because of the improvement of crystallinity. We find that RuO$_2$ thin film deposited at 20% of 02/(Ar+O2) ratio and $300^{\circ}C$ of substrate temperature shows excellent combination of surface smoothness and low resistivity so that it is well qualified for bottom electrode for ferroelectric thin films.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.8.1-8.1
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• 2011

Nanocrystalline titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) materials have been widely used as an electron collector in DSSC. This is required to have an extremely high porosity and surface area such that the dye can be sufficiently adsorbed and be electronically interconnected, resulting in the generation of a high photocurrent within cells. In particular, their geometrical structures and crystalline phase have been extensively investigated as important issues in improving its photovoltaic efficiency. In this study, we present a new strategy to fabricate a photoelectrode having a periodic structured $TiO_2$ film templated from 1D or 3D polystyrene (PS) microspheres array. Monodisperse PS spheres of various radiuses were used for colloidal array on FTO glasses and two types of photoelectrode structures with different $TiO_2$ materials were investigated respectively. One is the igloo-shaped electrode prepared by $TiO_2$ deposition by RF-sputtering onto 2D microsphere-templated substrates. At the interface between the film and substrate, there are voids formed by the decomposition of PS microspheres during the calcination step. These holes might be expected to play the predominant roles as scattering spherical voids to promote a light harvesting effect, a spacious structure for electrolytes with higher viscosity and effective paths for electron transfer. Additionally the nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ phase prepared by the RF-sputtering method was previously reported to improve the electron drift mobility within $TiO_2$ electrodes. This yields solar cells with a cell efficiency of 2.45% or more at AM 1.5 illumination, which is a very remarkable result, considering its $TiO_2$ electrode thickness (<2 ${\mu}m$). This study can be expanded to obtain higher cell efficiency by higher dye loading through the increase of surface area or multi-layered stacking. The other is the inverse opal photonic crystal electrode prepared by titania particles infusion within 3D colloidal arrays. To obtain the enlargement of ordered area and high quality of crystallinity, the synthesis of titania particles coated with a organic thin layer were applied instead of sol-gel process using the $TiO_2$ precursors. They were dispersed so well in most solvents without aggregates and infused successfully within colloidal array structures. This ordered mesoporous structure provides the large surface area leading to the enough adsorption of dye molecules and have an light harvesting effect due to the photonic band gap properties (back-and-forth reflection effects within structures). A major advantage of this colloidal array template method is that the pore size and its distribution within $TiO_2$ photoelectrodes are determined by those of latex beads, which can be controlled easily. These materials may have promising potentials for future applications of membrane, sensor and so on as well as solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.123-132
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• 2000

Cerium substituted YIG thin films were grown by rf magnetron sputter techniques. We investigated the effects of post-deposition heat-treatment as well as various deposition parameters such as substrate materials, substrate temperature. sputter power, and sputter gas types on the crystallinity, chemical composition, microstructure and magnetic characteristics of the films. Post-deposition heat treatment over 750 $\^{C}$ was applied to crystallize as-prepared amorphous films, and a strong tendency of particular crystallographic planes tying parallel to substrate surface was observed for the post-deposition heat-treated films on GGG substrate. The chemical composition of the films exhibited a wide range of chemical stoichiometry depending on the oxygen fraction of sputter gas, and in particular the composition of the film deposited in sputter gas with an oxygen fraction of R = 10% was Ce$\_$0.23/Y$\_$1.30/Fe$\_$3.50/O$\_$12/. With raising the temperature of post-deposition heat-treatment from 900 $\^{C}$ to 1100 $\^{C}$, the surface roughness of the film on GGG substrates increased from about 3 nm to 40 nm, but their coercive force and ferromagnetic resonance line width decreased from 0.477 kA/m to 0.369 kA/m and from 12.5 kA/m to 8.36 kA/m, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.170-175
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• 2004

The ferroelectric (Y $b_{x}$ $Y_{1-x}$)Mn $O_3$ thin films were fabricated by sol-gel method using Y-acetate, Yb-acetate, and Mn-acetate as raw materials. The stable (Y $b_{x}$ $Y_{1-x}$)Mn $O_3$ precursor solution (sol) was prepared through the reflux process with acetylaceton as a catalyst and coated on Si(100) substrate by spin coating. The heat treatment temperature and, Rw ($H_2O$/alkoxide moi ratio) dependence on crystallinity of thin films were studied. The lowest temperature for obtaining YbMn $O_3$phase and the optimum heat-treatment conditions were proved as at 7$50^{\circ}C$ and 80$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. The hexagonal YbMn $O_3$with c-axis preferred orientation could be obtained at Rw=1 condition. The remanent polarization for the thin films of x=0 or 1 was about 200 nC/㎤ while, for the specimens ot 0< x< 1, were 50∼100 nC/$\textrm{cm}^2$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.661-668
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• 2010

Cu(In,Ga)$Se_2$(CIGS) photovoltaic thin films were electrodeposited on Mo/glass substrates with an aqueous solution containing 2 mM $CuCl_2$, 8 mM $InCl_3$, 20 mM $GaCl_3$ and 8mM $H_2SeO_3$ at the electrodeposition potential of -0.6 to -1.0 V(SCE) and pH of 1.8. The best chemical composition of $Cu_{1.05}In_{0.8}Ga_{0.13}Se_2$ was found to be achieved at -0.7 V(SCE). The precursor Cu-In-Ga-Se films were annealed for crystallization to chalcopyrite structure at temperatures of 100-$500^{\circ}C$ under Ar gas atmosphere. The chemical compositions, microstructures, surface morphologies, and crystallographic structures of the annealed films were analyzed by EPMA, FE-SEM, AFM, and XRD, respectively. The precursor Cu-In-Ga-Se grains were grown sparsely on the Mo-back contact and also had very rough surfaces. However, after annealing treatment beginning at $200^{\circ}C$, the empty spaces between grains were removed and the grains showed well developed columnar shapes with smooth surfaces. The precursor Cu-In-Ga-Se films were also annealed at the temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ for 60 min under Se gas atmosphere to suppress the Se volatilization. The Se amount on the CIGS film after selenization annealing increased above the Se amount of the electrodeposited state and the $MoSe_2$ phase occurred, resulting from the diffusion of Se through the CIGS film and interaction with Mo back electrode. However, the selenization-annealed films showed higher crystallinity values than did the films annealed under Ar atmosphere with a chemical composition closer to that of the electrodeposited state.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.837-842
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• 1999

The Ta/TaN multilayer structure with repeating layers of a poly-crystalline Ta layer of high ductility and a TaN layer of high hardness is expected to exhibit toughness. This paper reports the results on the hardness and the adhesion strength of Ta/TaN multilayers and compositional gradient Ta/TaN layers deposited on the high speed steel substrate by reactive sputtering as a function of annealing temperature. The TaN film deposited with the $N_2$/Ar ratio of 0.4 in the reactive sputtering process exhibits the highest crystallinity, and the highest hardness and the results of scratch test of the Ta/TaN multilayers. The hardness and adhesion strength of the Ta/TaN multilayers becomes deteriorated with increasing the annealing temperature in the heat treatment right after depositing the layers. Therefore, post-annealing treatments are not desirable in the case of the Ta/TaN multilayers from the standpoint of mechanical properties. Also the hardness of Ta/TaN multilayers increases with decreasing the compositional modulation wavelength, but the adhesion property of the layers is nearly independent of the wavelength. On the other hand, the compositional gradient Ta/TaN film exhibits the highest hardness and the value of scratch test for the post-annealing temperatures of 20$0^{\circ}C$ and 40$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. This tendency of the compositional gradient Ta/TaN films differs from that of the Ta/TaN multilayers.