• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2015

This review article summarizes the recent progress of quantum dot (QD)-sensitized solar cells based on mesoporous $TiO_2$ thin films. From the intrinsic characteristics of nanoscale inorganic QDs with various compositions, it was possible to construct a variety of 3rd-generation thin film solar cells by solution process. Depending on preparation methods, colloidal QD sensitizers are pre-prepared for later deposition onto the surface of $TiO_2$ or in-situ deposition of QDs from chemical bath is done for direct growth of QD sensitizers over substrates. Recently, colloidal QD sensitizers have shown an overall power conversion efficiency of ~7% by a very precise control of composition while a representative CdS/CdSe from chemical bath deposition have done ~5% with polysulfide electrolytes. In the near future, it is necessary to carry out systematic investigations for developing new hole-conducting materials and controlling interfaces within the cell, thus leading to an enhancement of both open-circuit voltage and fill factor while keeping the current high value of photocurrents from QDs towards more efficient and stable QD-sensitized solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.300-305
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• 2015

$WO_3$, $SiO_2$, and $TiO_2$ films with hydrophilic property are deposited by rf-magnetron sputtering. Their wettability is strongly depends on the presence or absence of the oxygen plasma etching on the glass substrates. The $TiO_2$ film of 50 nm-thick on the plasma etched glass shows a water contact angle (WCA) below $5^{\circ}$ which means a super-hydrophilic surface. However, WCA values are gradually degraded when the films are exposed under atmosphere, especially $WO_3$. In order to improve hydrophilic property, the degraded films can be again recovered by UV illumination for 10 sec using UV-light and the $TiO_2$ film shows a super-hydrophilic surface about $3^{\circ}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.168-168
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• 2008

Dimension of a transistor has rapidly shrunk to increase the speed of device and to reduce the power consumption. However, it is accompanied with several problems like direct tunneling through the gate dioxide layer and low conductivity characteristic of poly-Si gate in nano-region. To cover these faults, study of new materials is urgently needed. Recently, high dielectric materials like $Al_2O_3$, $ZrO_2$, and $HfO_2$ are being studied for equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). However, poly-Si gate is not compatible with high-k materials for gate-insulator. Poly Si gate with high-k material has some problems such as gate depletion and dopant penetration problems. Therefore, new gate structure or materials that are compatible with high-k materials are also needed. TiN for metal/high-k gate stack is conductive enough to allow a good electrical connection and compatible with high-k materials. According to this trend, the study on dry etching of TiN for metal/high-k gate stack is needed. In this study, the investigations of the TiN etching characteristics were carried out using the inductively coupled $BCl_3$-based plasma system and adding $Cl_2$ gas. Dry etching of the TiN was studied by varying the etching parameters including $BCl_3$/Ar gas mixing ratio, RF power, DC-bias voltage to substrate, and $Cl_2$ gas addition. The plasmas were characterized by optical emission spectroscopy analysis. Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the etching profile.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.34-34
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• 2003

Piezoelectric or magnetostrictive materials, known as smart materials, have been researched widely for sensors or actuators in micro system technology. In our research, thick sol-gel lead zirconate titanate(Pb(Zr$\sub$1-x/Ti$\sub$x/)O$_3$) films were fabricated and their characteristics were investigated f3r angular rate sensor applications. The thickness of the PZT films is 1.5${\mu}$m, which is required by a vibration angular rate sensor for a good actuation and sensing. The remnant polarization of the PZT flms is 12.0 ${\mu}$C/$\textrm{cm}^2$. The electromechanical constants of PZT thin film showed the value of susceptance(B) of 4800${\mu}$ s at capacitance of 790pF. The PZT films were applied to the vibration angular rate sensor structure and the vibration of 1.78 ${\mu}$m in amplitude at the resonant frequency of 35.8㎑ was obtained by driving voltage of 5V$\sub$p-p/ of bulk piezoelectric materials with out of phase signal through voltage and inverting amplifier.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.61-64
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• 2008

We studied the effect of the variation of the lattice constant on the electrical properties of $SrRuO_3$ thin films. In order to obtain films with different volumes, we varied the substrate temperature and oxygen pressure during the growth of the films on $SrTiO_3$ (001) substrates. The films were grown using a pulsed laser deposition method. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the grown films at low temperature and low oxygen pressure indicated the elongation of the c-axis lattice constant compared to that of the films grown at a higher temperature and higher oxygen pressure. The in-plane strain states are maintained for all of the films, implying the expansion of the unit-cell volume by the oxygen vacancies. The variation of the electrical resistance reflects the temperature dependence of the resistivity of the metal, with a ferromagnetic transition temperature inferred form the cusp of the curve being observed in the range from 110 K to 150 K. As the c-axis lattice constant decreases, the transition temperature linearly increases.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.2 s.273
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• pp.104-109
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• 2005

To study the role of PbO as the buffer layer, Pt/PZT/PbO/Si with the MFIS structure was deposited on the p-type (100) Si substrate by the r.f. magnetron sputtering with $Pb_{1.1}Zr_{0.53}Ti_{0.47}O_3$ and PbO targets. When PbO buffer layer was inserted between the PZT thin film and the Si substrate, the crystallization of the PZT thin films was considerably improved and the processing temperature was lowered. From the result of an X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) depth profile result, we could confirm that the substrate temperature for the layer of PbO affects the chemical states of the interface between the PbO buffer layer and the Si substrate, which results in the inter-diffusion of Pb. The MFIS with the PbO buffer layer show the improved electric properties including the high memory window and low leakage current density. In particular, the maximum value of the memory window is 2.0V under the applied voltage of 9V for the Pt/PZT(200 nm, $400^{\circ}C)/PbO(80 nm)/Si$ structures with the PbO buffer layer deposited at the substrate temperature of $300^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.361-366
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• 2010

Purpose: HCD ion plating apparatus by hollow cathod discharge method was fabricated and TiN films were deposited on stainless steel by this apparatus with increasing in $N_2$ gas flow and the fine color changes of TiN films were analyzed. Methods: The spectroradiometer and spectrophotometer were used to observe optically the fine color changes of TiN thin films, and XPS was used to analyze the compositions of TiN thin films with increasing in $N_2$ gas flow. Results: The color coordinate of TiN thin film with $N_2$ 120 sccm gas flow showed (0.382, 0.372) which had the mixed colors of gold and silver, and the color coordinate changed to the increasing value of (x,y) with increasing in $N_2$ gas flow which indicated the deep gold color. It was found that the slopes of the reflectances at 550nm were increased with increasing in $N_2$ gas flow. And from the Ti scans using XPS, it was found that the peak heights of 455 eV derived from TiN composition were increased with increasing in $N_2$ gas flow, while the peak heights of 459 eV from $TiO_2$ composition were decreased. Conclusions: The results obtained above were that the color of TiN film with 120 sccm $N_2$ gas flow had been observed from the mixed color of silver and gold due to TiC, $N_2$, TiN on the surface and TiN, $N_2$ inside film, and the color of TiN films changed a deep gold color with increasing in $N_2$ gas flow due to increasing TiN composition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.408-408
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• 2012

It is well known that magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is nonvolatile memory devices using ferromagnetic materials. MRAM has the merits such as fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance and nonvolatility. Although DRAM has many advantages containing high storage density, fast access time and low power consumption, it becomes volatile when the power is turned off. Owing to the attractive advantages of MRAM, MRAM is being spotlighted as an alternative device in the future. MRAM consists of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal- oxide semiconductor (CMOS). MTJ stacks are composed of various magnetic materials. FePt thin films are used as a pinned layer of MTJ stack. Up to date, an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE) method of MTJ stacks showed better results in terms of etch rate and etch profile than any other methods such as ion milling, chemical assisted ion etching (CAIE), reactive ion etching (RIE). In order to improve etch profiles without redepositon, a better etching process of MTJ stack needs to be developed by using different etch gases and etch parameters. In this research, influences of $O_2$ gas on the etching characteristics of FePt thin films were investigated. FePt thin films were etched using ICPRIE in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mix. The etch rate and the etch selectivity were investigated in various $O_2$ concentrations. The etch profiles were studied in varying etch parameters such as coil rf power, dc-bias voltage, and gas pressure. TiN was employed as a hard mask. For observation etch profiles, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.211.2-211.2
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• 2014

Epitaxial complex oxide thin film heterostructures have attracted a great attention for their multifunctional properties, such as ferroelectricity, and ferromagnetism. Two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) confined at the interface between two insulating perovskite oxides such as LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, provides opportunities to expand various electronic and memory devices in nano-scale. Recently, it was reported that the conductivity of 2DEG could be controlled by external electric field. However, the switched conductivity of 2DEG was not stable with time, resulting in relaxation due to the reaction between charged surface on LaAlO3 layer and atmospheric conditions. In this report, we demonstrated a way to control the conductivity of 2DEG in non-volatile way integrating ferroelectric materials into LAO/STO heterostructure. We fabricated epitaxial Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 films on LAO/STO heterostructure by pulsed laser deposition. The conductivity of 2DEG was reproducibly controlled with 3-order magnitude by switching the spontaneous polarization of PZT layer. The controlled conductivity was stable with time without relaxation over 60 hours. This is also consistent with robust polarization state of PZT layer confirmed by piezoresponse force microscopy. This work demonstrates a model system to combine ferroelectric material and 2DEG, which guides a way to realize novel multifunctional electronic devices.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.253-261
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• 2005

Catalytic wet oxidation of ppm levels of trichloroethylene (TCE) in water has been conducted using $TiO_2$-supported cobalt oxides at a given temperature and weight hourly space velocity. 5% $CoO_x/TiO_2$ might be the most promising catalyst for the wet oxidation at $36^{\circ}C$ although it exhibited a transient behavior in time on-stream activity. Not only could the bare support be inactive for the wet decomposition reaction, but no TCE removal also occurred by the process of adsorption on $TiO_2$ surface. The catalytic activity was independent of all particle sizes used, thereby representing no mass transfer limitation in intraparticle diffusion. Characterization of the $CoO_x$ catalyst by acquiring XPS spectra of both fresh and used Co surfaces gave different surface spectral features of each $CoO_x$. Co $2p_{3/2}$ binding energy of Co species exposed predominantly onto the outermost surface of the fresh catalyst appeared at 781.3 eV, which is very similar to the chemical states of $CoTiO_x$ such as $Co_2TiO_4$ and $CoTiO_3$. The spent catalyst possessed a 780.3 eV main peak with a satellite structure at 795.8 eV. Based on XPS spectra of reference Co compound, the TCE-exposed Co surfaces could be assigned to be in the form of mainly $Co_3O_4$. XRD measurements indicated that the phase structure of Co species in 5% $CoO_x/TiO_2$ catalyst even before reaction is quite comparable to the diffraction lines of external $Co_3O_4$ standard. A model structure of $CoO_x$ present on titania surfaces would be $Co_3O_4$, encapsulated in thin-film $CoTiO_x$ species consisting of $Co_2TiO_4$ and $CoTiO_3$, which may be active for the decomposition of TCE in a flow of water.