• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.235-235
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• 2009

This paper describes the influence of a polycrystalline (poly) 3C-SiC buffer layer on the surface acoustic wave (SAW) properties of poly aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films by comparing the center frequency, insertion loss, the electromechanical coupling coefficient ($k^2$), andthetemperaturecoefficientoffrequency(TCF) of an IDT/AlN/3C-SiC structure with those of an IDT/AlN/Si structure, The poly-AlN thin films with an (0002)-preferred orientation were deposited on a silicon (Si) substrate using a pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering system. Results show that the insertion loss (21.92 dB) and TCF (-18 ppm/$^{\circ}C$) of the IDT/AlN/3C-SiC structure were improved by a closely matched coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and small lattice mismatch (1 %) between the AlN and 3C-SiC. However, a drawback is that the $k^2(0.79%)$ and SAW velocity(5020m/s) of the AlN/3C-SiC SAW device were reduced by appearing in some non-(0002)AlN planes such as the (10 $\bar{1}$ 2) and (10 $\bar{1}$ 3) AlN planes in the AlN/SiC film. Although disadvantages were shown to exist, the use of the AlN/3C-SiC structure for SAW applications at high temperatures is possible. The characteristics of the AlN thin films were also evaluated using FT-IR spectra, XRD, and AFM images.

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

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.645-651
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• 2014

GaN is most commonly used to make LED elements. But, due to differences of the thermal expansion coefficient and lattice mismatch with sapphire, dislocations have occurred at about $109{\sim}1010/cm^2$. Generally, a low temperature GaN buffer layer is used between the GaN layer and the sapphire substrate in order to reduce the dislocation density and improve the characteristics of the thin film, and thus to increase the efficiency of the LED. Further, patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) are applied to improve the light extraction efficiency. In this experiment, using an AlN buffer layer on PSS in place of the GaN buffer layer that is used mainly to improve the properties of the GaN film, light extraction efficiency and overall properties of the thin film are improved at the same time. The AlN buffer layer was deposited by using a sputter and the AlN buffer layer thickness was determined to be 25 nm through XRD analysis after growing the GaN film at $1070^{\circ}C$ on the AlN buffer CPSS (C-plane Patterned Sapphire Substrate, AlN buffer 25 nm, 100 nm, 200 nm, 300 nm). The GaN film layer formed by applying a 2 step epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELOG) process, and by changing temperatures ($1020{\sim}1070^{\circ}C$) and pressures (85~300 Torr). To confirm the surface morphology, we used SEM, AFM, and optical microscopy. To analyze the properties (dislocation density and crystallinity) of a thin film, we used HR-XRD and Cathodoluminescence.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.106.1-106.1
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• 2011

The Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells have been achieved until almost 20% efficiency by NREL. These solar cells include chemically deposited CdS as buffer layer between CIGS absorber layer and ZnO window layer. Although CIGS solar cells with CdS buffer layer show excellent performance, the short wavelength response of CIGS solar cell is limited by narrow CdS band gap of about 2.42 eV. Taking into consideration the environmental aspect, the toxic Cd element should be replaced by a different material. Among Cd-free candidate materials, the CIGS thin film solar cells with ZnS buffer layer seem to be promising with 17.2%(module by showa shell K.K.), 18.6%(small area by NREL). However, ZnS/CIGS solar cells still show lower performance than CdS/CIGS solar cells. There are several reported reasons to reduce the efficiency of ZnS/CIGS solar cells. Nakada reported ZnS thin film had many defects such as stacking faults, pin-holes, so that crytallinity of ZnS thin film is poor, compared to CdS thin film. Additionally, it was known that the hetero-interface between ZnS and CIGS layer made unfavorable band alignment. The unfavorable band alignment hinders electron transport at the heteo-interface. In this study, we focused on growing defect-free ZnS thin film and for favorable band alignment of ZnS/CIGS, bandgap of ZnS and CIGS, valece band structure of ZnS/CIGS were modified. Finally, we verified the photovoltaic properties of ZnS/CIGS solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.1070-1073
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• 2003

We have studied the characteristics of organic light-emitting diodes(OLEDs) with the PTFE buffer layer. The OLEDs have been based on the molecular compounds, N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis (3-methylphenyl)-1, 1'- biphenyl-4, 4'-diamine (TPD) as a hole transport, tris(8-hydroxyquinolinoline) aluminum (III) ($Alq_3$) as an electron transport and the Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as a buffer layer. The devices of structure were fabricated ITO/PTFE/TPD(40nm)/$Alq_3$(60nm)/Al( 150nm) to see the effects of the PTFE buffer layer in organic EL devices. The thickness of the PTFE layer varied from 0.5 to 10[nm]. We were measured Current-Voltage-Luminance Characteristics and Luminance efficiency due to the variation of PTFE thickness. the PTFE layer was reported that helped to enhance the hole tunneling injection and effectively impede induim diffusion from the ITO electrode. We have obtained an improvement of luminance efficiency when the PTFE thickness is 0.5[nm] is used. The improvement of efficiency of is expected due to a function of hole-blocking of PTFE in OLEDs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.316-316
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• 2008

Using an evaporation method, $SiO_2$ was deposited as a buffer layer between a flexible PET substrate and a ITO film deposited by DC magnetron sputtering and electro-optical properties were investigated with thickness variance of $SiO_2$ layers. After coating a $SiO_2$ layer and a ITO film, the ITO/$SiO_2$/PET was heated up to $200^{\circ}C$ and the resistivity and the transmittance were measured by hall effect measurement system and UV/VIS/NIR spectroscopy. As a result of depositing a $SiO_2$ buffer layer, the resistivity increased and the transmittance and adhesion property were enhanced than ITO films with no buffer layers and the resistivity was lowered as $SiO_2$ thickness increased from 50 $\AA$ to 100 $\AA$. It was found that the transmittance was independent of annealing temperature variance in $150^{\circ}C{\sim}200^{\circ}C$ and the resistivity decreased as the temperature increased and especially decreasing rate of the resistivity was higher as the buffer layer thickness was thinner. So under optimized depositing of $SiO_2$ buffer layers and post-annealing of ITO/$SiO_2$/PET, ITO films with enhanced adhesion, electro-optical properties can obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.625-630
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• 2017

ZnS was chemically deposited as a buffer layer alternative to CdS, for use as a Cd-free buffer layer in $Cu(In_{1-x}Ga_x)Se_2$ (CIGS) solar cells. The deposition of a thin film of ZnS was carried out by chemical bath deposition, following which the structural and optical properties of the ZnS layer were studied. For the experiments, zinc sulfate hepta-hydrate ($ZnSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$), thiourea ($SC(NH_2)_2$), and ammonia ($NH_4OH$) were used as the reacting agents. The mole concentrations of $ZnSO_4$ and $SC(NH_2)_2$ were fixed at 0.03 M and 0.8 M, respectively, while that of ammonia, which acts as a complexing agent, was varied from 0.3 M to 3.5 M. By varying the mole concentration of ammonia, optimal values for parameters like optical transmission, deposition rate, and surface morphology were determined. For the fixed mole concentrations of $0.03M\;ZnSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ and $0.8M\;SC(NH_2)_2$, it was established that 3.0 M of ammonia could provide optimal values of the deposition rate (5.5 nm/min), average optical transmittance (81%), and energy band gap (3.81 eV), rendering the chemically deposited ZnS suitable for use as a Cd-free buffer layer in CIGS solar cells.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.400-403
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• 2012

$Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$(CZTSe) is emerged as a promising material for thin-film solar cells because of non-toxic, inexpensive and earth abundant more than $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ materials. For fabricating compound semiconductor thin-film solar cells, CdS is widely used for a buffer layer which fabricated by a chemical bath deposition method (CBD). Through the experiment, we controlled deposition temperature and mol ratio of solution conditions to find the proper grain 크기 and exact composition. The optimum CdS layers were characterized in terms of surface morphology by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The optimized CdS layer process was applied on CZTSe thin-films. The thickness of buffer layer related with device performance of solar cells which controlled by deposition time. Local surface potential of CdS/CZTSe thin-films was investigated by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). From these results, we can deduce local electric properties with different thickness of buffer layer on CZTSe thin-films. Therefore, we investigated the effect of CdS buffer layer thickness on the CZTSe thin-films for decreasing device losses. From this study, we can suggest buffer layer thickness which contributes to efficiencies and device performance of CZTSe thin-film solar cells.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.123-127
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• 2010

The properties of buffer layer for thermal and chemical stability in coated conductor is a very important issue. $CeO_2$ has desirable thermal and chemical stability as well as good lattice match. In this study, $CeO_2$ was deposited by electron beam deposition. The MgO(001) single crystal and LMO buffered IBAD substrate(LMO/IBAD-MgO/$Y_2O_3/Al_2O_3$/Hastelloy) were used as substrates, which have $\Delta\phi$ values of ${\sim}8.9^{\circ}$. The epitaxial $CeO_2$ films was deposited with high deposition rate of $12{\sim}16\;{\AA}/sec$. During deposition, the change of oxygen partial pressure(${\rho}O_2$) does not cause change in c-axis texture. In case of $CeO_2$ on MgO single crystal, the substrate temperature was optimized at $750^{\circ}C$ with superior $\Delta\phi$ and $\Delta\omega$ value. Otherwise, In case of LMO buffered IBAD substrate, It was optimized at $650^{\circ}C$ with increasing its deposition thickness of $CeO_2$, which was finally obtained with best $\Delta\phi$ value of $5.5^{\circ}$, $\Delta\omega$ value of $2^{\circ}$ and Ra value of 2.2 nm.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.44-47
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• 2012

The $TiO_2/Si_3N_4/Ag/Si_3N_4/TiO_2$ multi layered structure was designed for the possible application of transparent electrodes in PDP (Plasma Display Panel). Multi layered film was deposited on a glass substrate at room temperature by DC/RF magnetron sputtering system and EMP (Essential Macleod Program) was adopted to optimize the optical characteristics of film. During the deposition process, the Ag layer in $TiO_2/Ag/TiO_2$ became heavily oxidized and the filter characteristic was degraded easily. In thus study, Si3N4 layer was used as a diffusion buffer layer between $TiO_2$ and Ag. in order to prevent the oxidation of Ag layer in $TiO_2/Si_3N_4/Ag/Si_3N_4/TiO_2$ structure. It was confirmed that $Si_3N_4$ layer is one of candidate materials acting as diffusin barrier between $TiO_2/Ag/TiO_2$.