• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.103-109
• /
• 2014

Highly efficient hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) thin-film solar cells were prepared on flexible stainless steel substrates using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. To enhance the performance of solar cells, material properties of back reflectors, n-doped seed layers and wide bandgap nc-SiC:H window layers were optimized. The light scattering efficiency of Ag back reflectors was improved by increasing the surface roughness of the films deposited at elevated substrate temperatures. Using the n-doped seed layers with high crystallinity, the initial crystal growth of intrinsic nc-Si:H absorber layers was improved, resulting in the elimination of the defect-dense amorphous regions at the n/i interfaces. The nc-SiC:H window layers with high bandgap over 2.2 eV were deposited under high hydrogen dilution conditions. The vertical current flow of the films was enhanced by the formation of Si nanocrystallites in the amorphous SiC:H matrix. Under optimized conditions, a high conversion efficiency of 9.13% ($V_{oc}=0.52$, $J_{sc}=25.45mA/cm^2$, FF = 0.69) was achieved for the flexible nc-Si:H thin-film solar cells.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.08a
• /
• pp.251-254
• /
• 2007

Principal challenges to $\underline{direct\;fabrication}$ of high performance a-Si:H transistor arrays on flexible substrates include automated handling through bonding-debonding processes, substrate-compatible low temperature fabrication processes, management of dimensional instability of plastic substrates, and planarization and management of CTE mismatch for stainless steel foils. Viable solutions to address these challenges are described.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.30 no.8
• /
• pp.501-507
• /
• 2017

A unimorph piezoelectric cantilever generator with an interdigitated electrode (IDE) was developed for vibration energy harvester applications driven in the longitudinal mode. Hard lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic with a high $Q_m$ of 1,280 was used as the piezoelectric active material. Ten PZT sheets produced by tape casting were laminated and co-fired with an Ag/Pd IDE at $1,050^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. The approximately $280{\mu}m$-thick co-fired PZT laminate with the IDE was attached to a stainless steel substrate with an adhesive epoxy for the fabrication of an IDE unimorph cantilever. Its energy harvesting characteristics were evaluated: an output power of $1.1{\mu}W$ at 120 Hz across the resistive load of $700k{\Omega}$ was obtained, corresponding to a normalized power factor of $4.1{\mu}W/(G^2{\cdot}cm^3)$.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.167-173
• /
• 2021

There is an increasing interest in manufacturing various electronic devices on a bendable substrate. In this paper, we observed a surface morphology by annealing for 20 minutes at temperatures of 150 ℃, 350 ℃, and 550 ℃, respectively, with samples coated by chromium and aluminum. Data on surfaces are investigated using high-resolution SEM and AFM that can measure roughness up to nm. There is no difference from the sample without heat treatment up to 350 ℃, but the change of crystal grains can be observed at 550 ℃. In the future, for application to the flexible optoelectronic field, additional characteristics such as electrical conductivity and reflectivity will be analyzed and optical devices will be manufactured. In conclusion, we will explore the possibility of applying metal materials to flexible electronic devices.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.71-75
• /
• 2022

In this research, Fe-Ni alloy films were electrodeposited on stainless steel (SS304 and SS430) and Ti plates to investigate the effects of surface conditions of cathode on deposits. The Ti plates were electropolished in 3 M H₂SO₄-methanol electrolytes at various conditions before electrodeposition, and unpolished Ti and the optimized specimen, polished at 10 V for 8 min, were used as cathode. The anomalous codeposition, the phenomenon which more active Fe is reduced preferentially, occurred on all substrate, however, there were differences in composition of all deposits. As the results of potential monitoring during electrodeposition, it was confirmed that the larger overpotential was applied to the deposition cell when using Ti cathode, leading to high Fe content of deposits from unpolished Ti due to increase in nucleation of Fe. Also, it was founded that the polished Ti can reduced deposition overpotential.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2000.11a
• /
• pp.3-4
• /
• 2000

Many researchers are interested in the synthesis and characterization of carbon nitride and diamond-like carbon (DLq because they show excellent mechanical properties such as low friction and high wear resistance and excellent electrical properties such as controllable electical resistivity and good field electron emission. We have deposited amorphous carbon nitride (a-C:N) thin films and DLC thin films by shielded arc ion plating (SAIP) and evaluated the structural and tribological properties. The application of appropriate negative bias on substrates is effective to increase the film hardness and wear resistance. This paper reports on the deposition and tribological OLC films in relation to the substrate bias voltage (Vs). films are compared with those of the OLC films. A high purity sintered graphite target was mounted on a cathode as a carbon source. Nitrogen or argon was introduced into a deposition chamber through each mass flow controller. After the initiation of an arc plasma at 60 A and 1 Pa, the target surface was heated and evaporated by the plasma. Carbon atoms and clusters evaporated from the target were ionized partially and reacted with activated nitrogen species, and a carbon nitride film was deposited onto a Si (100) substrate when we used nitrogen as a reactant gas. The surface of the growing film also reacted with activated nitrogen species. Carbon macropartic1es (0.1 -100 maicro-m) evaporated from the target at the same time were not ionized and did not react fully with nitrogen species. These macroparticles interfered with the formation of the carbon nitride film. Therefore we set a shielding plate made of stainless steel between the target and the substrate to trap the macropartic1es. This shielding method is very effective to prepare smooth a-CN films. We, therefore, call this method "shielded arc ion plating (SAIP)". For the deposition of DLC films we used argon instead of nitrogen. Films of about 150 nm in thickness were deposited onto Si substrates. Their structures, chemical compositions and chemical bonding states were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy. Hardness of the films was measured with a nanointender interfaced with an atomic force microscope (AFM). A Berkovich-type diamond tip whose radius was less than 100 nm was used for the measurement. A force-displacement curve of each film was measured at a peak load force of 250 maicro-N. Load, hold and unload times for each indentation were 2.5, 0 and 2.5 s, respectively. Hardness of each film was determined from five force-displacement curves. Wear resistance of the films was analyzed as follows. First, each film surface was scanned with the diamond tip at a constant load force of 20 maicro-N. The tip scanning was repeated 30 times in a 1 urn-square region with 512 lines at a scanning rate of 2 um/ s. After this tip-scanning, the film surface was observed in the AFM mode at a constant force of 5 maicro-N with the same Berkovich-type tip. The hardness of a-CN films was less dependent on Vs. The hardness of the film deposited at Vs=O V in a nitrogen plasma was about 10 GPa and almost similar to that of Si. It slightly increased to 12 - 15 GPa when a bias voltage of -100 - -500 V was applied to the substrate with showing its maximum at Vs=-300 V. The film deposited at Vs=O V was least wear resistant which was consistent with its lowest hardness. The biased films became more wear resistant. Particularly the film deposited at Vs=-300 V showed remarkable wear resistance. Its wear depth was too shallow to be measured with AFM. On the other hand, the DLC film, deposited at Vs=-l00 V in an argon plasma, whose hardness was 35 GPa was obviously worn under the same wear test conditions. The a-C:N films show higher wear resistance than DLC films and are useful for wear resistant coatings on various mechanical and electronic parts.nic parts.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.395-402
• /
• 2011

The nanomechanical properties of fully lithiated and unlithiated silicon nanowire deposited on silicon substrate have been studied with atomic force microscopy. Silicon nanowires were synthesized using the vapor-liquid-solid process on stainless steel substrates using Au catalyst. Fully lithiated silicon nanowires were obtained by using the electrochemical method, followed by drop-casting on the silicon substrate. The roughness, derived from a line profile of the surface measured in contact mode atomic force microscopy, has a smaller value ($0.65{\pm}0.05$ nm) for lithiated silicon nanowire and a higher value ($1.72{\pm}0.16$ nm) for unlithiated silicon nanowire. Force spectroscopy was utilitzed to study the influence of lithiation on the tip-surface adhesion force. Lithiated silicon nanowire revealed a smaller value (~15 nN) than that of the Si nanowire substrate (~60 nN) by a factor of two, while the adhesion force of the silicon nanowire is similar to that of the silicon substrate. The elastic local spring constants obtained from the force-distance curve, also shows that the unlithiated silicon nanowire has a relatively smaller value (16.98 N/m) than lithiated silicon nanowire (66.30 N/m) due to the elastically soft amorphous structures. The frictional forces of lithiated and unlithiated silicon nanowire were obtained within the range of 0.5-4.0 Hz and 0.01-200 nN for velocity and load dependency, respectively. We explain the trend of adhesion and modulus in light of the materials properties of silicon and lithiated silicon. The results suggest a useful method for chemical identification of the lithiated region during the charging and discharging process.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.209-231
• /
• 1999

Even though titanium(Ti) and its alloys are the most used dental implant materials, there are some problems that Ti wears easily and interferes normal osteogenesis due to the metal ions. Ti coated with bioactive ceramics such as hydroxyapatite has also such problems as the exfoliation or resorption of the coated layer, Recent studies on implant materials have been proceeding to improve physical properties of the implant substrate and biocompatibility of the implant surfaces. The purpose of the present study was to examine the physical property and bone tissue compatibility of bioinert nitrides ion plated Ti, Button type specimens(14mm in diameter, 2.32rrun in height) for the abrasion test and cytotoxicity test and thread type implants(3.75mm in diameter, 6mm in length) for the animal experiments were made from Ti(grade 2) and 316LVM stainless steel. Ti specimens were ion plated with TiN, ZrN by the low temperature arc vapor deposition, and the depth profile of the TiN/Ti, ZrN/Ti ion plated surface was examined by Auger Electron Spectroscopy. Three kind of button type specimens .of TiN/Ti, ZrN/Ti and Ti were used for abrasion test, and HEPAlClC7 cells and CCD cells were cultivated for 4 days with the specimens for cytotoxicity test. Thread type implants of TiN/Ti, ZrN/Ti, Ti, 316LVM were implanted on the femur of 6 adult dogs weighing 10kg-13kg. Two dogs were sacrified for histological examination after 45 days and 90 days, and four dogs were sacrified for the removal torque test of the implant') after 90 days. The removal torque force was measured by Autograph (Shimadzu Co., AGS-1000D series, Japan). Abrasion resistance of TiN/Ti was the highest, and that of ZrN/Ti and Ti were followed. The bioinert nitride ion plated Ti had much better abrasion resistance, compared with Ti, In the cytotoxicity test, the number of both cells were increased in all specimens, and there were no significant difference in cytotoxic reaction among all groups (p>0.1), In histological examination, 316LVM showed the soft tissue engagement in interface between the implant and bone, but the other materials after 45 days noted immature new bone formation in the medullary portion along the implant surface, and those after 90 days showed implant support by new bone formation in both the cortical and the medullary portion, The removal torque force of Tilv/Ti showed significantly higher than that of Ti(p(O,05). The difference in removal torque force between TiN/Ti and ZrN/Ti was not significant(p>0.05), and that of 316LVM was lowest among all groups(p<0.05). These results suggest that bioinert nitrides ion plated Ti can resolve the existing problems of Ti and bioactive ceramics, and it may be clinically applicable to human.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2012.05a
• /
• pp.81.2-81.2
• /
• 2012

To fabricate a metal mold for injection molding, hot-embossing and imprinting process, mechanical machining, electro discharge machining (EDM), electrochemical machining (ECM), laser process and wet etching ($FeCl_3$ process) have been widely used. However it is hard to get precise structure with these processes. Electrochemical etching has been also employed to fabricate a micro structure in metal mold. A through mask electrochemical micro machining (TMEMM) is one of the electrochemical etching processes which can obtain finely precise structure. In this process, many parameters such as current density, process time, temperature of electrolyte and distance between electrodes should be controlled. Therefore, it is difficult to predict the result because it has low reliability and reproducibility. To improve it, we investigated this process numerically and experimentally. To search the relation between processing parameters and the results, we used finite element simulation and the commercial finite element method (FEM) software ANSYS was used to analyze the electric field. In this study, it was supposed that the anodic dissolution process is predicted depending on the current density which is one of major parameters with finite element method. In experiment, we used stainless steel (SS304) substrate with various sized square and circular array patterns as an anode and copper (Cu) plate as a cathode. A mixture of $H_2SO_4$, $H_3PO_4$ and DIW was used as an electrolyte. After electrochemical etching process, we compared the results of experiment and simulation. As a result, we got the current distribution in the electrolyte and line profile of current density of the patterns from simulation. And etching profile and surface morphologies were characterized by 3D-profiler(${\mu}$-surf, Nanofocus, Germany) and FE-SEM(S-4800, Hitachi, Japan) measurement. From comparison of these data, it was confirmed that current distribution and line profile of the patterns from simulation are similar to surface morphology and etching profile of the sample from the process, respectively. Then we concluded that current density is more concentrated at the edge of pattern and the depth of etched area is proportional to current density.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.175-180
• /
• 2015

A facile soft chemical synthesis route is used to grow nano-buds of copper hydroxide [$Cu(OH)_2$] thin films on stainless steel substrate[SS]. Besides different chemical methods for synthesis of $Cu(OH)_2$ nanostructure, the chemical bath deposition (CBD) is attractive for its simplicity and environment friendly condition. The structural, morphological, and electro-chemical properties of $Cu(OH)_2$ thin films are studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) measurement techniques. The results showed that, facile chemical synthesis route allows to form the polycrystalline, granular nano-buds of $Cu(OH)_2$ thin films. The electrochemical properties of $Cu(OH)_2$ thin films are studied in an aqueous 1 M KOH electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry. The sample exhibited supercapacitive behavior with $340Fg^{-1}$ specific capacitance. Moreover, electrochemical capacitive measurements of $Cu(OH)_2/SS$ electrode exhibit a high specific energy and power density about ${\sim}83Wh\;kg^{-1}$ and ${\sim}3.1kW\;kg^{-1}$, respectively, at $1mA\;cm^{-2}$ current density. The superior electrochemical properties of copper hydroxide ($Cu(OH)_2/SS$) electrode with nano-buds like structure mutually improves pseudocapacitive performance. This work evokes scalable chemical synthesis with the enhanced supercapacitive performance of $Cu(OH)_2/SS$ electrode in energy storage devices.