• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.676-680
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• 2010

Most TCOs such as ITO, AZO(Al-doped ZnO), FTO(F-doped $SnO_2$) etc., which have been widely used in LCD, touch panel, solar cell, and organic LEDs etc. as transparent electrode material reveal n-type conductivity. But in order to realize transparent circuit, transparent p-n junction, and introduction of transparent p-type materials are prerequisite. Additional prerequisite condition is optical transparency in visible spectral region. Oxide based materials usually have a wide optical bandgap more than ~3.0 eV. In this study, single-phase transparent semiconductor of $SrCu_2O_2$, which shows p-type conductivity, have been synthesized by 2-step solid state reaction at $950^{\circ}C$ under $N_2$ atmosphere, and single-phase $SrCu_2O_2$ thin films of p-type TCOs have been deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on alkali-free glass substrate from single-phase target at $500^{\circ}C$, 1% $H_2$/(Ar + $H_2$) atmosphere. 3% $H_2$/(Ar + $H_2$) resulted in formation of second phases. Hall measurements confirmed the p-type nature of the fabricated $SrCu_2O_2$ thin films. The electrical conductivity, mobility of carrier and carrier density $5.27{\times}10^{-2}S/cm$, $2.2cm^2$/Vs, $1.53{\times}10^{17}/cm^3$ a room temperature, respectively. Transmittance and optical band-gap of the $SrCu_2O_2$ thin films revealed 62% at 550 nm and 3.28 eV. The electrical and optical properties of the obtained $SrCu_2O_2$ thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering were compared with those deposited by PLD and e-beam.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.418-423
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• 2009

MWCNT(multi-wall carbon nanotube)-doped PEDOT:PSS(poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)), used as a HIL(hole injection layer) material in OLEDs(organic light emitting diodes), was spin-coated on to the ITO glass to form PEDOT:PSS-MWCNT nano composite thin film. Morphology and transparency characteristics of nano composite thin films with respect to the loading percent of MWCNT have been investigated using FT-IR, UV-Vis and SEM. Furthermore, ITO/PEDOT:PSS-MWCNT/NPD/$Alq_3$/Al devices were fabricated, and then J-V and L-V characteristics were investigated. Functional group-incorporated MWCNT was prepared by acid treatment and showed good dispersion property in PEDOT:PSS solution. PEDOT:PSS-MWCNT thin films possessed good transparency property. For multi-layered devices, it was shown that as the loading percent of MWCNT increased, the current density increased but the luminance dramatically decreased. It might be conclusively suggested that the enhanced charge mobility by MWCNT could increase the current density but the hole trapping property of MWCNT could dramatically decrease the hole mobility in the current devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.151-151
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• 2012

A new plasma process, i.e., the combination of PIII&D and HIPIMS, was developed to implant non-gaseous ions into materials surface. HIPIMS is a special mode of operation of pulsed-DC magnetron sputtering, in which high pulsed DC power exceeding ~1 kW/$cm^2$ of its peak power density is applied to the magnetron sputtering target while the average power density remains manageable to the cooling capacity of the equipment by using a very small duty ratio of operation. Due to the high peak power density applied to the sputtering target, a large fraction of sputtered atoms is ionized. If the negative high voltage pulse applied to the sample stage in PIII&D system is synchronized with the pulsed plasma of sputtered target material by HIPIMS operation, the implantation of non-gaseous ions can be successfully accomplished. The new process has great advantage that thin film deposition and non-gaseous ion implantation along with in-situ film modification can be achieved in a single plasma chamber. Even broader application areas of PIII&D technology are believed to be envisaged by this newly developed process. In one application of non-gaseous plasma immersion ion implantation, Ge ions were implanted into SiO2 thin film at 60 keV to form Ge quantum dots embedded in SiO2 dielectric material. The crystalline Ge quantum dots were shown to be 5~10 nm in size and well dispersed in SiO2 matrix. In another application, Ag ions were implanted into SS-304 substrate to endow the anti-microbial property of the surface. Yet another bio-application was Mg ion implantation into Ti to improve its osteointegration property for bone implants. Catalyst is another promising application field of nongaseous plasma immersion ion implantation because ion implantation results in atomically dispersed catalytic agents with high surface to volume ratio. Pt ions were implanted into the surface of Al2O3 catalytic supporter and its H2 generation property was measured for DME reforming catalyst. In this talk, a newly developed, non-gaseous plasma immersion ion implantation technique and its applications would be shown and discussed.

• Solar Energy
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.3-11
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• 1997

Because grain boundaries in polycrystalline silicon act as potential barriers and recombination centers for the photo-generated charge carriers, these defects degrade conversion effiency of solar cell. To reduce these effects of grain boundaries, we investigated various influencing factors such as thermal treatment, various grid pattern, selective wet etching for grain boundaries, buried contact metallization along grain boundaries, grid on metallic thin film. Pretreatment above $900^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ atmosphere, gettering by $POCl_3$ and Al treatment for back surface field contributed to obtain a high quality poly-Si. To prevent carrier losses at the grain boundaries, we carried out surface treatment using Schimmel etchant. This etchant delineated grain boundaries of $10{\mu}m$ depth as well as surface texturing effect. A metal AI diffusion into grain boundaries on rear side reduced back surface recombination effects at grain boundaries. A combination of fine grid with finger spacing of 0.4mm and buried electrode along grain boundaries improved short circuit current density of solar cell. A ultra-thin Chromium layer of 20nm with transmittance of 80% reduced series resistance. This paper focused on the grain boundary effect for terrestrial applications of solar cells with low cost, large area, and high efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.348-348
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• 2011

Carbon nanotube (CNT) field effect transistors and sensors use CNT as a current channel, of which the resistance varies with the gate voltage or upon molecule adsorption. Since the performance of CNT devices depends very much on the CNT/metal contact resistance, the CNT/electrode contact must be stable and the contact resistance must be small. Depending on the geometry of CNT/electrode contact, it can be categorized into the end-contact, embedded-contact (top-contact), and side-contact (bottom-contact). Because of difficulties in the sample preparation, the end-contact CNT device is seldom practiced. The embedded-contact in which CNT is embedded inside the electrode is desirable due to its rigidness and the low contact resistance. Fabrication of this structure is complicated, however, because each CNT has to be located under a high-resolution microscope and then the electrode is patterned by electron beam lithography. The side-contact is done by depositing CNT electrophoretically or by precipitating on the patterned electrode. Although this contact is fragile and the contact resistance is relatively high, the side-contact by far has been widely practiced because of its simple fabrication process. Here we introduce a simple method to embed CNT inside the electrode while taking advantage of the bottom-contact process. The idea is to utilize a eutectic material as an electrode, which melts at low temperature so that CNT is not damaged while annealing to melt the electrode to embed CNT. The lowering of CNT/Au contact resistance upon annealing at mild temperature has been reported, but the electrode in these studies did not melt and CNT laid on the surface of electrode even after annealing. In our experiment, we used a eutectic Au/Al film that melts at 250$^{\circ}C$. After depositing CNT on the electrode made of an Au/Al thin film, we annealed the sample at 250$^{\circ}C$ in air to induce eutectic melting. As a result, Au-Al alloy grains formed, under which the CNT was embedded to produce a rigid and low resistance contact. The embedded CNT contact was as strong as to tolerate the ultrasonic agitation for 90 s and the current-voltage measurement indicated that the contact resistance was lowered by a factor of 4. By performing standard fabrication process on this CNT-deposited substrate to add another pair of electrodes bridged by CNT in perpendicular direction, we could fabricate a CNT cross junction. Finally, we could conclude that the eutectic alloy electrode is valid for CNT sensors by examine the detection of Au ion which is spontaneously reduced to CNT surface. The device sustatined strong washing process and maintained its detection ability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.169-169
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• 2008

To keep pace with scaling trends of CMOS technologies, high-k metal oxides are to be introduced. Due to their high permittivity, high-k materials can achieve the required capacitance with stacks of higher physical thickness to reduce the leakage current through the scaled gate oxide, which make it become much more promising materials to instead of $SiO_2$. As further studying on high-k, an understanding of the relation between the etch characteristics of high-k dielectric materials and plasma properties is required for the low damaged removal process to match standard processing procedure. There are some reports on the dry etching of different high-k materials in ICP and ECR plasma with various plasma parameters, such as different gas combinations ($Cl_2$, $Cl_2/BCl_3$, $Cl_2$/Ar, $SF_6$/Ar, and $CH_4/H_2$/Ar etc). Understanding of the complex behavior of particles at surfaces requires detailed knowledge of both macroscopic and microscopic processes that take place; also certain processes depend critically on temperature and gas pressure. The choice of $BCl_3$ as the chemically active gas results from the fact that it is widely used for the etching o the materials covered by the native oxides due to the effective extraction of oxygen in the form of $BCl_xO_y$ compounds. In this study, the surface reactions and the etch rate of $Al_2O_3$ films in $BCl_3/Cl_2$/Ar plasma were investigated in an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) reactor in terms of the gas mixing ratio, RF power, DC bias and chamber pressure. The variations of relative volume densities for the particles were measured with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The surface imagination was measured by AFM and SEM. The chemical states of film was investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which confirmed the existence of nonvolatile etch byproducts.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.452-460
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• 2007

Ultra-low loss ZERODUR and fused silica mirrors were manufactured and their light scattering characteristics were investigated. For this purpose, ZERODUR and fused silica substrates were super-polished by the bowl feed method. The surface roughness were 0.292 ${\AA}$ and 0.326 ${\AA}$ in rms for ZERODUR and fused silica, respectively. To obtain the high reflectivity, 22 thin film layers of $SiO_2$ and $Ta_2O_5$ were deposited by Ion Beam Sputtering. The measured light scattering of ZERODUR and fused silica mirror were 30.9 ppm and 4.6 ppm, respectively. This shows that the substrate surface roughness is not the only parameter which determines the light scattering of the mirror. In order to investigate the mechanism for additional light scattering of the ZERODUR mirror, the surface roughness of the mirror was measured by AFM and was found to be 2.3 times higher than that of the fused silica mirror. It is believed that there is some mismatch at the interface between the substrate and the first thin film layer which leads to the increased mirror surface roughness. To clarify this, the contact angle measurements were performed by SEO 300A, based on the Giriflaco-Good-Fowkes-Young method. The fused silica substrates with 0.46 ${\AA}$ in its physical surface roughness shows lower contact angle than that of the ZERODUR substrate with 0.31 ${\AA}$. This indicates that the thin film surface roughness is determined by not only its surface roughness but also the surface energy of the substrate, which depends on the chemical composition or crystalline orientation of the materials. The surface energy of each substrate was calculated from a contact angle measurement, and it shows that the higher the surface energy of the substrate, the better the surface roughness of the thin film.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.97-102
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• 2006

Anodic alumina with self-organized and ordered nano hole arrays can be a good candidate of an irradiation mask to modify the properties of nano-scale region. In order to try using porous anodic alumina as a mask for ion-beam patterning, ion beam transmittance of anodic alumina was tested. 4 Um thick self-standing AAO templates anodized from Al bulk foil with two different aspect ratio, 200:1 and 100:1, were aligned about incident ion beam with finely controllable goniometer. At the best alignment, the transmittance of the AAO with aspect ratio of 200:1 and 100:1 were $10^{-8}\;and\;10^{-4}$, respectively. However transmittance of the thin film AAO with low aspect ratio, 5:1, were remarkably improved to 0.67. The ion beam transmittance of self-standing porous alumina with a thickness larger than $4{\mu}m$ is extremely low owing to high aspect ratio of nano hole and charging effect, even at a precise beam alignment to the direction of nano hole. $SiO_2$ nano dot array was formed by ion irradiation into thin film AAO on $SiO_2$ film. This was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy that the $SiO_2$ nano dot array is similar to AAO hole array.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.78-85
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• 2001

The growth of carbon nanotubes(CNTs) in anodic aluminum oxide(AAO) template and their application to a field emitter are described. AAO templates were fabricated by anodizing bulk aluminum and sputtered thin Al film on Nb-coated Si wafers. After Co catalyst had been electrochemically deposited into the bottom of the pores in AAO template, CNTs were grown by pyrolyzing $C_2H_2$. Depending on the reaction conditions, CNTs grew up to or over the top of the pores in AAO template with different structures. The morphology and structure of CNTs were observed with a scanning electron microscope and a transmission electron microscope. The diameter of CNTs strongly depended on the size of the pores in AAO template and the growing conditions. The electron field emission measurement of the samples resulted in the turn-on field of 1.9-2.2 $V/{\mu}m$ and the field enhancement factor of 2450-5200. The observation of high field enhancement factors is explained in terms of low field screening effect.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.16-22
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• 2008

A novel class of conjugated dendritic molecules bearing N-hexyl-substituted carbazoles as peripheral groups and various conjugative aromatic cores was synthesized through Heck coupling and the Horner-Emmons reaction. A multilayered structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS (30 nm)/emitting material (50 nm)/BCP (10 nm)/$Alq_3$ (10 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) was employed to evaluate the synthesized dendritic materials. The electroluminescence spectrum of the multilayered device made of 3Cz predominantly exhibited blue emissions. Similar emissions were observed in the PL spectra of it's the device's thin film. The multilayered devices made of 3Cz, 3BCz, and 4BCz showed luminance values of 6,250 cd $m^{-2}$ at 24 V, 3,000 cd $m^{-2}$ at 25 V, and 1,970 cd $m^{-2}$ at 36 V, respectively. The smallest molecule, 3Cz, which bore three carbazole peripheral groups, exhibited a blue-like emission with CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinates of x = 0.17 and y = 0.21.