• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2013

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering at room temperature and the effect of heat treatment on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the films were examined. As the annealing temperature and time increased, the resistivity decreased and the transmittance improved. All AZO films had c-axis oriented (002) plane of ZnO, regardless of the annealing process employed. As the annealing temperature and time increased, the crystallinity of AZO thin films increased due to the formation of a new ZnO phase in which Al was substituted for Zn. However, at the high annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, the resistivity of the films increased via separation of Zn and Al from ZnO phase due to their low melting points. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron micrograph and Hall effect measurement confirmed the formation of uniformly distributed new grains of ZnO substituted with Al. The variation of Al contents in AZO films was shown to be the primary factor for the changes in resistivity and carrier concentration of the films.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.251-261
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• 2011

The changes in microstructure and texture during annealing were examined in a series of 0.015% C-1.5% Mn cold-rolled sheet steels with 0~0.5% Mo. Orientation distribution function data were calculated from the (110), (200), (211) pole figures determined on the rolled plane of cold-rolled and annealed steel sheets. Regardless of Mo content and annealing conditions, martensite volume fraction was less than 1.0%, not affecting the texture evolution. Textural change at the cooling stage after heating at $820^{\circ}C$ for 67 sec was not observed. Increasing the Mo content and annealing temperature markedly strengthened the intensities of ${\gamma}$-fiber texture, resulting in the increase in $r_m$ value. The desirable texture evolution for deep drawability in the 0.5% Mo steel may be mainly caused by the grain refining effect of Mo carbide in the hot-rolled steel sheet.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.258-261
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• 2007

Relationships between the electrical resistivity and the growth characteristic of $SnO_2$ thin films were investigated. $SnO_2$ thin films with thickness from 64 nm to 91 nm were made by controlling the RF deposition energy from 80 to 150 W. These $SnO_2$ thin films were annealed at $200^{\circ}C{\sim}700^{\circ}C$ temperature range of $100^{\circ}C$ interval in the $O_2$ gas condition. After annealing treatments, the microstructures of the $SnO_2$ thin films were changed mixed structure(amorphous & crystalline) to lamina columnar crystalline structure. Both the film thickness and the grain size were increased with increasing the local crystallization of $SnO_2$ microstructure of thin films by annealing treatment. Their electrical resistivity increased up to the annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, and then slowly decreased.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.22-26
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• 2001

ITO (Indium-tin-oxide) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by a dc magnetron sputtering system using ITO powder target. The methods of heat treatment are important factor to obtain high quality ITO films with low electrical resistivity and good optical transmittance. Therefore, both methods of the substrate temperature and post-deposition annealing temperature have been compared on the film structural, electrical and optical properties. A preferred orientations shifts from (411) to (222) peak at annealing temperature of 200$\^{C}$. Minimum resistivity of ITO film is approximately 8.7$\times$10$\^$-4/ Ωcm at substrate temperature of 450$\^{C}$. Optical transmittances at post annealing temperature above 200$\^{C}$ are 90%. As a result, the minimum value of annealing temperature that is required for the recrystallization of as-deposited ITo thin films is 200$\^{C}$.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2018

We investigated the corrosion behavior of commercially pure cold working processed (CP)-Ti with coarse-grained (CG) microstructure heat-treated at $400^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$, respectively. It is observed that corrosion resistance of as-received CP-Ti heat-treated at $400^{\circ}C$, at which recrystallization proceeds, is largely improved. Interestingly, the mechanical property of CP-Ti sample at $400^{\circ}C$ was scarcely deteriorated. It is attributed to the decrease of the defects such as strain variance and dislocation density. On the other hand, the annealing treatment at $600^{\circ}C$ of CP-Ti plate causes to grain growth with the noticeable reduction of mechanical property. Hence, it is considered that defect density such as strain and dislocation density is important microstructural parameter for the improvement of corrosion resistance. The introduction of proper annealing treatment can help to improve corrosion resistance without scarifying mechanical property of CP-Ti.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2024

Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets have been utilized on various industrial fields such as electric vehicles, generator, robots with actuator, etc, due to their outstanding magnetic properties even 10 times better than conventional magnets. Recently, there are many researches that report magnetic properties improved by controlling microstructure through adjusting alloying elements or conducting various processing. Especially, post-sintering annealing (PSA) can significantly improve the coercivity by modifying the distribution and morphology of Nd-rich phase which formed at grain boundaries. In this study, Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets were subjected to primary heat treatment followed by secondary heat treatment at 460℃, 500℃, and 540℃ to investigate the changes in microstructure and magnetic properties with the secondary heat treatment temperature. EBSD analysis was conducted to compare anisotropic characteristics. Through the SEM and TEM observation for analyzing the morphology and distribution of Nd-rich phase, we investigated the relationship between microstructure and magnetic properties of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.43 no.3 s.286
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• pp.185-192
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• 2006

The effects of annealing on structural and electrical properties of ITO/PES (Indium Tin Oxide/Polyethersulfone) films was investigated. Amorphous ITO thin films were grown on plastic substrates, PES using low temperature DC magnetron sputtering. Various post annealing techniques were attempted to research variations of microstructure and electrical properties: i) conventional thermal annealing, ii) excimer laser annealing, iii) UV irradiation. The electrical properties were obtained using Hall effect measurements and DC 4-point resistance measurement. The microstructural features were characterized by FESEM, XRD, Raman spectroscopy in terms of morphology and crystallinity. Optimized UV treatment exhibits the enhanced conductivity and crystallinity, compared to those of conventional thermal annealing.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.677-680
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• 2012

The dependency of annealing temperature on the electrical performances in amorphous silicon-zinc-tin-oxide thin film transistors (SZTO-TFT) has been investigated. The SZTO channel layers were prepared by using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method with different annealing treatment. The field effect mobility (${\mu}_{FE}$) increased and threshold voltage ($V_{th}$) shifted to negative direction with increasing annealing temperature. As a result, oxygen vacancies generated in SZTO channel layer with increasing annealing temperature resulted in negative shift in $V_{th}$ and increase in on-current.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.311-315
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• 2005

In this paper, we emphasize the advantage of thermal annealing treatments for improvement characteristics of film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) devices. The FBAR devices were fabricated on multi-layer thin films, namely, Bragg reflectors. Sintering and/or annealing processes were applied in our experiments. The measurements confirm once again a considerable improvement of return loss $(S_{11})$ and quality factor $(Q_{s/p})$. these thermal treatment techniques are really promising for enhancing performance of FBAR resonators in industry fabrication of RF devices.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.129-138
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• 2001

This study examined the effects of the annealing heat treatments on the mechanical properties of the Invar(Fe-36%Ni Alloy) materials. Invar materials were annealed at various temperatures range 900~120$0^{\circ}C$ in vacuum(10-4Torr) and hydrogen atmospheres. And annealing conditions were changed by cooling rate and holding time at 110$0^{\circ}C$. The grain size of rolled Invar materials was very fine but those of annealed Invar materials at 900~120$0^{\circ}C$ in vacuum and hydrogen atmosphere increased with increasing annealing temperature. The micro-vickers hardness values of annealed Invar materials were decreased about 15% that of the rolled Invar materials, regardless of the various of annealing temperatures, atmosphere(vacuum, hydrogen) and annealing conditions. The tensile strength and yield strength of annealed Invar materials at 900~120$0^{\circ}C$ in vacuum and hydrogen atmosphere were decreased 10.0~14.4% and 34.6~39.1% those of the rolled Invar materials, respectively. The strength ratio(tensile strength/ yield strength) of annealed Invar materials was improved to 1.7~1.8 from the value of 1.2~1.3 of rolled Invar materials. The degree of spring back of annealed Invar materials was about 50% of the rolled Invar materials, regardless of the various of annealing temperatures, atmosphere(vacuum, hydrogen) and annealing conditions.