• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.61-65
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• 2024

HVPE (Hydride vapor phase epitaxy) is a method of manufacturing thin films or single crystals using gaseous raw materials. This is a method that applies the principles of chemical vapor deposition to grow a single crystal of a material with low meltability or high melting point, and is one of the methods that can obtain a gallium nitride (GaN) single crystal. Recently, much research has been conducted to grow aluminum nitride (AlN) single crystals using this method, but good results have not yet been obtained. In this study, we attempted to grow AlN single crystals using the HVPE method. Nitrogen was used as a carrier gas in the growth process, and the growth results according to changes in the amount of nitrogen (N₂) were examined. Changes in growth crystals as the amount of nitrogen increased were confirmed. The shape of the grown AlN single crystal was observed using an optical microscope, and the rocking curve was measured using double crystal X-ray diffractometry (DCXRD) to confirm the creation of the AlN crystal. The crystallinity of single crystals was also investigated.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.406-413
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• 2020

Ti_0.5Al_0.5N/CrN nano-multilayers, which are known to exhibit excellent wear resistances, were prepared using the unbalanced magnetron sputter for various periods of 2-7 nm. Ti_0.5Al_0.5N and CrN comprised a cubic structure in a single layer with different lattice parameters; however, Ti_0.5Al_0.5N/CrN exhibited a cubic structure with the same lattice parameters that formed the superlattice in the nano-multilayers. The Ti_0.5Al_0.5/CrN multilayer with a period of 5.0 nm exceeded the hardness of the Ti_0.5Al_0.5N/CrN single layer, attaining a value of 36 GPa. According to the low-angle X-ray diffraction, the Ti_0.5Al_0.5N/CrN multilayer maintained its as-coated structure up to 700℃ and exhibited a hardness of 32 GPa. The thickness of the oxidation layer of the Ti_0.5Al_0.5N/CrN multilayered coating was less than 25% of that of the single layers. Thus, the Ti_0.5Al_0.5N/CrN multilayered coating was superior in terms of hardness and oxidation resistance as compared to its constituent single layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.130-130
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• 2018

산업 발전으로 특수합금들이 발달함에 따라 가공할 수 있는 새로운 절삭공구소재들이 개발되어지고 있다. 또한 공구소재보다 코팅개발이 상대적으로 더욱 효과적이기 때문에 코팅 기술 개발이 활발히 진행되고 있다. 일본에서는 새로운 코팅층 물질 개발보다는 기존의 코팅물질을 조합하거나 개량하여 성능을 향상시키는 추세이다. TiAlSiN 박막은 스퍼터링과 음극 아크 소스를 이용한 hybrid 공정을 이용하여 코팅 후 특성을 평가하였다. Ti-50at.%Al의 조성을 갖는 TiAl 합금 타겟은 음극 아크 소스를 이용하여 코팅하였다. 공정 가스는 Ar과 N2의 혼합 가스를 사용하였으며 공정 압력은 $1.0{\times}10^{-2}Torr$이었다. 음극 아크 소스에 인가된 전류는 70 A이었다. TiAlSiN 박막의 Si 함량을 조절하기 위해서 Si은 스퍼터링으로 코팅하였으며 스퍼터링 소스에 인가되는 전력의 세기를 0.29 kW ~ 1.05 kW까지 변화시켰다. 코팅 공정에 사용된 Si 타겟의 순도는 4N이다. TiAlSiN 박막의 Si 함량은 스퍼터링 전력에 따라 3.4 ~ 14.4at%까지 변화하는 것을 확인하였다. TiAlSiN 코팅층의 경도는 초미소 경도계를 이용하여 측정하였으며, Si 함량이 증가하면 TiAlSiN 박막의 경도도 증가하는 것을 확인할 수 있다. TiAlSiN 박막의 Si 함량이 9.2at.%일 때 3000 Hv 이상의 경도를 보였다. TiAlSiN 코팅층의 Si 함량이 14.4at%로 높아지면 경도가 낮아지는 현상을 보였다. TiAlSiN 박막의 Si 함량이 증가하면 내산화성이 향상되는 현상을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.22-26
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• 2001

Microstructures of AlN thin films on Si substrates grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy were analyzed with various growth temperatures and substrate orientations. Reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns were checked for the in-situ monitoring of the growth condition. X-ray diffraction(XRD), double crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXD), and transmission electron microscopy/diffraction (TEM/TED) techniques were employed to characterize the microstructure of the films after growth. On Si(100) sub-strates, AlN thin films were grown mostly along the hexagonal c-axis orientation at temperature higher than $850^{\circ}C$. On the other hand the AlN films on Si(111) were epitaxially grown with directional coherencies in AlN(0001)/Si(111), AlN(1100)/Si(110), and AlN(1120)/Si(112). The microstructure of AlN thin films on Si(111) substrates, with a full width at half maximum of almost 3000 arcsec at 2$\theta$=$36.2^{\circ}$, showed that the single crystal films were grown, even if they includ a lot of crystal defects such as dislocations and stacking faults.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.321-324
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• 2020

In this work, we developed a selective etching process for GaN that is a key process in p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN enhancement-mode (E-mode) power switching field-effect transistor (FET) fabrication. In order to achieve a high current density of p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN E-mode FET, the p-GaN layer beside the gate region must be selectively etched whereas the underneath AlGaN layer should be maintained. A selective etching process was implemented by oxidizing the surface of the AlGaN layer and the GaN layer by adding O2 gas to Cl2/N2 gas which is generally used for GaN etching. A selective etching process was optimized using Cl2/N2/O2 gas mixture and a high selectivity of 53:1 (= GaN/AlGaN) was achieved.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.28-33
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• 2011

This paper describes the fabrication of AlN thin films containing iron and iron nitride particles, and the magnetic and electrical properties of such films. Fe-N-Al alloy films were deposited in Ar and $N_2$ mixtures at ambient temperature using Fe/Al composite targets in a two-facing-target DC sputtering system. X-ray diffraction results showed that the Fe-N-Al films were amorphous, and after annealing for 5 h both AlN and bcc-Fe/bct-$FeN_x$ phases appeared. Structure changes in the $FeN_x$ phases were explained in terms of occupied nitrogen atoms. Electron diffraction and transmission electron microscopy observations revealed that iron and iron nitride particles were randomly dispersed in annealed AlN films. The grain size of magnetic particles ranged from 5 to 20 nm in diameter depending on annealing conditions. The saturation magnetization as a function of the annealing time for the $Fe_{55}N_{20}Al_{25}$ films when annealed at 573, 773 and 873 K. At these temperatures, the amount of iron/iron nitride particles increased with increasing annealing time. An increase in the saturation magnetization is explained qualitatively in terms of the amount of such magnetic particles in the film. The resistivity increased monotonously with decreasing Fe content, being consistent with randomly dispersed iron/iron nitride particles in the AlN film. The coercive force was evaluated to be larger than $6.4{\times}10^3Am^{-1}$ (80 Oe). This large value is ascribed to a residual stress restrained in the ferromagnetic particles, which is considered to be related to the present preparation process.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.279-282
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• 2013

Recently, it has been interested much that AlN (Aluminum Nitride) crystals can be applied to UV LEDs and high power devices as like GaN and SiC crystals. The reports about commercial grade of AlN wafers in the world have been absent, however several results for growth of large size of AlN single crystals have been reported from abroad. In this report, the result of AlN single crystals of a diameter of about 8 mm grown are reported. Optical microscopic characterization was applied to observe the form of the crystals and the crystal quality was evaluated by FWHM measurement by DCXRD rocking curve analysis.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.462-466
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• 2007

Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films were deposited on Si substrates by using polycrystalline (poly) 3C-SiC buffer layers, in which the AlN film was grown by pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering. Characteristics of grown AlN films were investigated experimentally by means of FE-SEM, X-ray diffraction, and FT-IR, respectively. The columnar structure of AlN thin films was observed by FE-SEM. X-ray diffraction pattern proved that the grown AlN film on 3C-SiC layers had highly (002) orientation with low value of FWHM (${\Theta}=1.3^{\circ}$) in the rocking curve around (002) reflections. These results were shown that almost free residual stress existed in the grown AlN film on 3C-SiC buffer layers from the infrared absorbance spectrum. Therefore, the presented results showed that AlN thin films grown on 3C-SiC buffer layers can be used for various piezoelectric fields and M/NEMS applications.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.265-268
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• 2012

The growth of AlN single crystals of large size and good quality is of prime importance for UV LEDs and power devices applications. However, the crystals having the size of more than 1 inch and high quality have not been reported in the world. In the PVT growth of AlN, the crystal morphology of as grown were important because the preferred orientation of growth of it was evaluated for growth rate increase. In the present study, the AlN single crystals grown by PVT process were evaluated by the side of the growth morphology. Optical microscopic characterization was carried out to observe the shape of the crystals and the growth facets. Furthermore the growth habit of it were discussed by observation of the surface of AlN crystals.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.205-208
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• 2018

In this work, we performed reverse- and forward-gate bias stress tests on normally-off AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) with p-AlGaN-gate for reliability assessment. Inverse piezoelectric effect, commonly observed in Schottky-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs during reverse bias stress, was not observed in p-AlGaN-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Forward gate bias stress tests revealed distinct degradation of p-AlGaN-gate devices exhibiting sudden increase of gate leakage current. We suggest that forward gate bias stress tests should be performed to define the failure criteria and assess the reliability of normally off p-AlGaN-gate GaN HEMTs.