• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.111-119
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• 2018

We report the post-annealing effect of Sn doped ZnO (ZnO:Sn) thin film grown on sapphire (001) substrate using radio-frequency powder sputtering method. During thermal annealing in a vacuum atmosphere, the ZnO:Sn thin film is transformed into a porous thin film. Based on X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray analyses, a possible mechanism for the production of pores is presented. Sn atoms segregate to form clusters that act as catalysts to dissociate Zn-O bonds. The Zn and O atoms subsequently vaporize, leading to the formation of pores in the ZnO:Sn thin film. We also found that Sn clusters were oxidized to form SnO or $SnO_2$ phases.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.304-308
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• 2012

Transparent thin film transistors (TTFT) were fabricated using the rf magnetron sputtered ZnO-$SnO_2$ films as active layers. A ceramic target whose Zn atomic ratio to Sn is 2:1 was employed for the deposition of ZnO-$SnO_2$ films. To study the post-annealing effects on the properties of TTFT, ZnO-$SnO_2$ films were annealed at $200^{\circ}C$ or $400^{\circ}C$ for 5 min before In deposition for source and drain electrodes. Oxygen was added into chamber during sputtering to raise the resistivity of ZnO-$SnO_2$ films. The effects of oxygen addition on the properties of TTFT were also investigated. 100 nm $Si_3N_4$ film grown on 100 nm $SiO_2$ film was used as gate dielectrics. The mobility, $I_{on}/I_{off}$, interface state density etc. were obtained from the transfer characteristics of ZnO-$SnO_2$ TTFTs.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.375-379
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• 2019

$ZnO-SnO_2(ZTO)$ was deposited by RF magnetron sputtering using a ceramic target whose Zn atomic ratio to Sn is 2:1 as a target, and the crystal structure variation with thermal treats was investigated. Transparent thin film transistors (TTFT) were fabricated using the ZTO films as active layers. About 100 nm-thick $Si_3N_4$ film grown on 100 nm-thick $SiO_2$ film was adopted as gate dielectrics. The mobility, threshold voltage, $I_{on}/I_{off}$, and interface trap density were obtained from the transfer characteristics of ZTO TTFTs. The effects of substrate temperature, and post-annealing on the property variation of ZTO TTFT were analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.688-688
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• 2013

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films have attracted a lot of attention as a cheap transparent conducting oxide (TCO) material that can replace the expensive Sn-doped In2O3. In particular, AZO thin films are widely used as a window layer of chalcogenide-based thin film solar cells such as Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS). Mostly important requirements for the window layer material of the thin film solar cells are the high transparency and the low sheet resistance, because they influence the light absorption by the activelayer and the electron collection from the active layer, respectively. In this study, we prepared the AZO thin films by RF magnetron sputtering using a ZnO/Al2O3 (98：2wt%) ceramic target, and the effect of the sputtering condition such as the working pressure, RF power, and the working distance on the optical, electrical, and crystallographic properties of the AZO thin films was investigated. The AZO thin films with optimized properties were used as a window layer of CZTS thin film solar cells. The CZTS active layers were prepared by the electrochemical deposition and the subsequent sulfurization process, which is also one of the cost-effective synthetic approaches. In addition, the solar cell properties of the CZTS thin film solar cells, such as the photocurrent density-voltage (J-V) characteristics and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) were investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.367-373
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• 2007

[ $In_2O_3-ZnO(IZO)$ ] and $In_2O_3-ZnO-SnO_2(IZTO)$ thin films were prepared on EAGLE 2000 glass webs in a Ar gas by RF-Magnetron sputtering. Electrical resistivity and optical transmittance of the films were investigated. IZO, IZTO film showed excellent optical transmittance of 85 % at the visible $400{\sim}$780 nm wavelength. Electrical properties of IZO film have $6.50{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ (95 $In_2O_3$ : 5 ZnO wt.%) and $5.20{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ (90 : 10 wt.%), IZTO film have $8.00{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ (90 $In_2O_3$ : 3 ZnO : 7 $SnO_2$ wt.%) and $6.50{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ (90 : 7 : 3 wt.%). Substitution of SnO to ZnO in ITO films showed slightly lower electrical conductivity than ITO film but showed similar optical transmittance.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.74-78
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• 2019

$Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films were deposited on quartzs substrates by using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering system. Thermal treatments at various temperatures were performed to evaluate the effect of annealing temperatures on the properties of $Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films. Surface morphologies were examined by using field emission-scanning electron microscopy and showed that sizes of grains were slightly increased and grain boundaries were clear with increasing annealing temperatures. The deposited $Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films on quartzs substrates were amorphous structures and no distinguishable crystallographic changes were observed with variations of annealing temperatures. The optical transmittance was improved with increasing annealing temperatures and was over 90% in the wavelength region between 350 and 1100 nm at the annealing temperature of $600^{\circ}C$. The optical energy bandgaps, which derived from the absorbance of $Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films, were increased from 3.34 eV to 3.43 eV at the annealing temperatures of $450^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$, respectively. As the annealing temperature was increased, the electron concentrations were decreased. The electron mobility was decreased and resistivity was increased with increasing annealing temperatures with exception of $450^{\circ}C$. These results indicate that heat treatments at higher annealing temperatures improve the optical and electrical properties of rf-sputtered $Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.76-79
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• 2011

In order to improve efficiency and make a new material thin film, we prepared the Al-In-Sn-ZnO thin film on a glass substrate at room temperature using a Facing Target Sputtering (FTS) system. The FTS system was designed to array two targets that face each other. Two different kinds of targets were installed on the FTS system. We used an ITO ($In_2O_3$ 90wt%, $SnO_2$ 10wt%) target and an AZO (ZnO 98wt%, $Al_2O_3$ 2wt%) target. The AIZTO films were deposited using different applied powers to the targets. The as-deposited AIZTO thin films were investigated using a UV/VIS spectrometer, an X-ray diffratometer (XRD), and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.297-302
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• 2014

$La_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}CoO_3$ (LSCO) electrode thin films with a resistivity of ~ 1,600 ${\mu}{\Omega}cm$ were grown on c-$Al_2O_3$ (0001) substrate. $ZnSnO_3$ (ZTO) thin films with different thicknesses were directly grown on LSCO/c-$Al_2O_3$ (0001) substrates at a substrate temperature that ranged from 550 to $750^{\circ}C$ using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The secondary phase $Zn_2SnO_4$ occurred during the growth of ZTO films and it became more significant with further increasing substrate temperature. Polarization-electric-field (P-E) hysteresis characteristics, with a remnant polarization and coercive field of 0.05 ${\mu}C/cm^2$ and 48 kV/cm, respectively, were obtained in the ZTO film grown at $700^{\circ}C$ in 200 mTorr.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.31-36
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• 2006

Superstrate pin amorphous silicon thin-film(a-Si:H) solar cells are prepared on $SnO_2:F$ and ZnO:Al transparent conducting oxides(TCO) in order to see the effect of TCO/p-layers on a-Si:H solar cell operation. The solar cells prepared on textured ZnO:Al have higher open circuit voltage VOC than cells prepared on $SnO_2:F$. Presence of thin microcrystalline p-type silicon layer(${\mu}c-Si:H$) between ZnO:Al and p a-SiC:H plays a major role by causing improvement in fill factor as well as $V_{OC}$ of a-Si:H solar cells prepared on ZnO:Al TCO. Without any treatment of pi interface, we could obtain high $V_{OC}$ of 994mV while keeping fill factor(72.7%) and short circuit current density $J_{SC}$ at the same level as for the cells on $SnO_2:F$ TCO. This high $V_{OC}$ value can be attributed to modification in the current transport in this region due to creation of a potential barrier.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1993.07b
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• pp.1147-1149
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• 1993

ZnO/$SnO_2$:F bilayer films have been prepared by pyrosol deposition method to develop optimum transparent electrode for use in amorphous silicon solar cells. The solution for $SnO_2:F$ film was composed of $SnCl_4{\cdot}5H_2O,\;NH_4F,\;CH_3OH$ and HCl, and ZnO films have been deposited on the $SnO_2:F$ films by using the solution of $ZnO(CH_3COO){_2}{\cdot}2H_2O,\;H_2O\;and\;CH_3OH$. These films have been investigated the variation of electrical and optical properties under the hydrogen plasma exposure. The sheet resistance of the $SnO_2:F$ film was sharply increased and its transmittance was decreased with the blackish effect after plasma treatment. However, the ZnO/$SnO_2:F$ bilayer film was shown hydrogen plasma durability because the electrical and optical properties was almost unchanged more then 60 seconds exposure time.