• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.512-518
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• 1997

The high temperature oxidation behaviors of titanium nitride films prepared by PACVD technique were studied in the temperature range of from 50$0^{\circ}C$ to 80$0^{\circ}C$ under air atmosphere. Ti0.88Al0.12N film, which showed the excellent microhardness from the previous work, was investigated on its oxidation resistance compared with pure TiN film. Ti-Al-N film showed superior oxidation resistance up to $700^{\circ}C$, whereas TiN film was fast oxidized into rutile TiO2 crystallites from at 50$0^{\circ}C$. It was found that an amorphous layer having AlxTiyOz formula was formed on the surface region due to outward diffusion of Al ions at the initial stage of oxidation. The amorphous oxide layer played a role as a barrier against oxygen diffusion, protected the remained nitride layer from further oxidation, and thus, resulted in the high oxidation resistive characteristics of Ti-Al-N film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.132-132
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• 2011

The sheet resistance (Rs) of undoped GaN films on AlN/c-plane sapphire substrate was investigated in which the AlN films were grown by R. F. magetron sputtering method. The Rs was strongly dependent on the AlN layer thickness and semi-insulating behavior was observed. To clarify the effect of crystalline property on Rs, the crystal structure of the GaN films has been studied using x-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy. A compressive strain was introduced by the presence of AlN nucleation layer (NL) and was gradually relaxed as increasing AlN NL thickness. This relaxation produced more threading dislocations (TD) of edge-type. Moreover, the surface morphology of the GaN film was changed at thicker AlN layer condition, which was originated by the crossover from planar to island grains of AlN. Thus, rough surface might produce more dislocations. The edge and mixed dislocations propagating from the interface between the GaN film and the AlN buffer layer affected the electric resistance of GaN film.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2020

In this research, 50 nm thick AlN thin films were deposited on the patterned sapphire (0001) substrate by using HVPE (Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy) system and then epitaxial layer structure was grown by MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition). The surface morphology of the AlN buffer layer film was observed by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and AFM (atomic force microscope), and then the crystal structure of GaN films of the epitaxial layer structure was investigated by HR-XRC (high resolution X-ray rocking curve). The XRD peak intensity of GaN thin film of epitaxial layer structure deposited on AlN buffer layer film and sapphire substrate was rather higher in case of that on PSS than normal sapphire substrate. In AFM surface image, the epitaxial layer structure formed on AlN buffer layer showed rather low pit density and less defect density. In the optical output power, the epitaxial layer structure formed on AlN buffer layer showed very high intensity compared to that of the epitaxial layer structure without AlN thin film.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2003

Quaternary Ti-Al-Si-N films were deposited on WC-Co substrates by a hybrid deposition system of arc ion plating (AIP) method for Ti-Al source and DC magnetron sputtering technique for Si incorporation. The synthesized Ti-Al-Si-N films were revealed to be composites of solid-solution (Ti, Al, Si)N crystallites and amorphous Si3N4 by instrumental analyses. The Si addition in Ti-Al-N films affected the refinement and uniform distribution of crystallites by percolation phenomenon of amorphous silicon nitride, similarly to Si effect in TiN film. As the Si content increased up to about 9 at.%, the hardness of Ti-Al-N film steeply increased from 30 GPa to about 50 GPa. The highest microhardness value (~50 GPa) was obtained from the Ti-Al-Si-N film haying the Si content of 9 at.%, the microstructure of which was characterized by a nanocomposite of nc-(Ti,Al,Si) N/a$-Si_3$$N_4$.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.380-386
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• 2010

We have investigated the growth kinetics of Al oxide film by anodization in sulfuric acid solution and the electronic properties of this film using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Al oxide film consisted $Al_2O_3$ was grown based on the point defect model and shown the eclctronic properties of n-type semiconductor.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.420-424
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• 2014

Aluminum-scandium nitride ($Al_{1-x}Sc_xN$) thin films with a TiN buffer layer have been fabricated on SUS430 substrate by RF reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature under 50% $N_2$/Ar. The effect of Sc-doping on the structure and piezoelectric properties of AlN films has been investigated using SEM, XRD, surface profiler and pressure-voltage measurements. The as-deposited AlN films showed polycrystalline phase, and the Sc-doped AlN film, the peak of AlN (002) plane and the crystallinity became very strong. With Sc-doping, the crystal size of AlN film was grown from ~20 nm to ~100 nm. The output signal voltage of AlN sensor showed a linear behavior between 15~65 mV, and output signal voltage of Sc-doped AlN sensor was increased over 7 times. The pressure-sensing sensitivity of AlN film was calculated about 10.6mV/MPa, and $Al_{0.88}Sc_{0.12}N$ film was calculated about 76 mV/MPa.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.17-21
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• 2004

Aluminum nitride(AlN) thin films were deposited on silicon substrate by reactive RF magnetron sputtering without substrate heating. We investigated the dependence of some properties for AlN thin film on sputtering conditions such as working pressure, $N_2$ concentration and RF power. XRD, Ellipsometer and AES has been measured to find out structural properties and preferred orientation of AlN thin films. Deposition rate of AlN thin film was increased with an increase of RF power and decreased with an increase of $N_2$ concentration. AES in-depth measurements showed that stoichiometry of Aluminium and Nitrogen elements were not affected by $N_2$ concentration. It has shown that low working pressure, low $N_2$ concentration and high RF power should be maintained to deposit AlN thin film with a high degree of (0002) preferred orientation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.252-252
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• 2009

In this work, the nanocrystalline ZnO/polycrystalline (poly) aluminum nitride (AlN)/Si structure was fabricated for humidity sensor applications based on surface acoustic wave (SAW). In this structure, the ZnO film was used as sensing material layer. These ZnO and AlN(0002) were deposited by so-gel process and a pulse reactive magnetron sputtering, respectively. These experimental results showed that the obtained SAW velocity on AlN film was about 5128 m/s at $h/\lambda$=0.0125 (h and $\lambda$ is thickness and wavelength, respectively). For ZnO sensing layers coated on AlN, films have hexagonal wurtzite structure and nanometer particle size. The crystalline size of ZnO films annealed at 400, 500, and 600 $^{\circ}C$ is 10.2, 29.1, and 38 nm, respectively. Surface of the film exhibits spongy which can adsorb steam in the air. The best quality of the ZnO film was obtained with annealing temperature at 500 $^{\circ}Cis$. The change in frequency response (127.9~127.85 MHz) of the SAW humidity sensor based on ZnO/AlN structure was measured along the change in humidity (41~69%). The structural properties of thin films wereinvestigated by XRD and SEM.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.281-287
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• 2005

Titanium aluminium nitride((TiAl)N) film is anticipated as an advanced coating film with wear resistance used for drills, bites etc. and with corrosion resistance at a high temperature. In this study, (TiAl)N thin films were deposited both at room temperature and at elevated substrate temperatures of 573 to 773 K by using a two-facing-targets type DC sputtering system in a mixture Ar and $N_2$ gases. Atomic compositions of the binary Ti-Al alloy target is Al-rich (25Ti-75Al (atm%)). Process parameters such as precursor volume %, substrate temperature and Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio were optimized. The crystallization processes and phase transformations of (TiAl)N thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The microhardness of (TiAl)N thin films were measured by a dynamic hardness tester. The films obtained with Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:3 and at 673 K substrate temperature showed the highest microhardness of $H_v$ 810. The crystallized and phase transformations of (TiAl)N thin films were $Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:3, $Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:1 and $TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 3:1. The above results are discussed in terms of crystallized phases and microhardness.

• 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.