• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.491-496
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• 2019

In this study, we prepare pure $WO_3$ inverse opal(IO) film with a thickness of approximately $3{\mu}m$ by electrodeposition, and an ultra-thin $TiO_2$ layer having a thickness of 2 nm is deposited on $WO_3$ IO film by atomic layer deposition. Both sets of photoelectrochemical properties are evaluated after developing dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs). In addition, morphological, crystalline and optical properties of the developed films are evaluated through field-emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy(HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD) and UV/visible/infrared spectrophotometry. In particular, pure $WO_3$ IO based DSSCs show low $V_{OC}$, $J_{SC}$ and fill factor of 0.25 V, $0.89mA/cm^2$ and 18.9 %, achieving an efficiency of 0.04 %, whereas the $TiO_2/WO_3$ IO based DSSCs exhibit $V_{OC}$, $J_{SC}$ and fill factor of 0.57 V, $1.18mA/cm^2$ and 50.1 %, revealing an overall conversion efficiency of 0.34 %, probably attributable to the high dye adsorption and suppressed charge recombination reaction.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.102-119
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• 2022

Gold plating is used as a coating of connecter in printed circuit boards, ceramic integrated circuit packages, semiconductor devices and so on, because the film has excellent electric conductivity, solderability and chemical properties such as durability to acid and other chemicals. As increasing the demand for miniaturization of printed circuit boards and downsizing of electronic devices, several types of electroless gold plating solutions have been developed. Most of these conventional gold plating solutions contain cyanide compounds as a complexing agent. The gold film obtained from such baths usually satisfies the requirements for electronic parts mentioned above. However, cyanide bath is highly toxic and it always has some possibility to cause serious problems in working environment or other administrative aspects. The object of this investigation was to develop a cyanide-free electroless gold plating process that assures the high stability of the solution and gives the excellent solderability of the deposited film. The investigation reported herein is intended to establish plating bath composition and plating conditions for electroless gold plating, with thiomalic acid as a complexing agent. At the same time, we have investigated the solution stability against nickel ion and pull strength of solder ball. Furthermore, by examining the characteristics of the plated Au plating film, the problems of the newly developed electroless Au plating solution were improved and the applicability to various industrial fields was examined. New type electroless gold-plating bath which containing thiomalic acid as a complexing agent showing so good solution stability and film properties as cyanide bath. And this bath shows the excellent stability even if the dissolved nickel ion was added from under coated nickel film, which can be used at the neutral pH range.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.7 no.s1
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• pp.57-77
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• 1998

Heteroepitaxial $Y_2O_3$ films were grown on a Si(111) substrate by ionized cluster beam deposition(ICBD) in ultra high vacuum, and its qualities such as crystllitnity, film stress, and morphological characteristics were investigated using the various measurement methods. The crystallinity was investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Interface crystallinity was also examined by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy(RBS) channeling, transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The stress of the films was measured by RBS channeling and XRD. Surface and interface morphological characteristics were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and x-ray scattering method. Comparing the interface with the surface characteristics, we can conclude that many defects at the interface region were generated by interface reaction between the yttrium metal and SiO2 layer and by ion beam characteristic such as shallow implantation, so that they influenced the film qualities. The film quality was dominantly depended on the characteristic temperature range. In the temperature range from $500^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$, the crystallinity was mainly improved and the surface roughness was drastically decreased. On the other hand, in the temperature range from $600^{\circ}C$ to $700^{\circ}C$, the compressive stress and film density were dominantly increased, and the island size was more decreased. Also the surface morphological shape was transformed from elliptical shape to triangular. The film stress existed dominantly at the interface region due to the defects generation.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.110-115
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• 2016

We prepared a working electrode (WE) coated with 0 ~ 50 nm-thick indium gallium zinc oxide(IGZO) by using RF sputtering to improve the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to analyze the microstructure and composition of the IGZO layer. UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy was used to determine the transparency of the WE with IGZO layers. A solar simulator and a potentiostat were used to confirm the photovoltaic properties of the DSSC with IGZO layer. From the results of the microstructural analysis, we were able to confirm the successful deposition of an amorphous IGZO layer with the expected thickness and composition. From the UV-VIS-NIR analysis, we were able to verify that the transparency decreased when the thickness of IGZO increased, while the transparency was over 90% for all thicknesses. The photovoltaic results show that the ECE became 4.30% with the IGZO layer compared to 3.93% without the IGZO layer. As the results show that electron mobility increased when an IGZO layer was coated on the $TiO_2$ layer, it is confirmed that the ECE of a DSSC can be enhanced by employing an appropriate thickness of IGZO on the $TiO_2$ layer.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.696-700
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• 2012

(Na, K) $NbO_3$ thick film was successfully achieved using a sol-gel coating process with the addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to a metal alkoxide solution. The transparent coating solution, mixed with Nb:PVP = 1:1 in a molar ration, was synthesized by evaporating the solvent to over 62.5 wt%. Additive PVP increased the viscosity of the solution so that the coating thickness could be enhanced. The thickness of the (Na, K) $NbO_3$ film assisted by PVP was ca. 320 nm at the time of deposition; this value is four times thicker than that of the sample fabricated without PVP. Also, due to PVP binding with the OH groups of the metal alkoxide, the condensation reaction in the film was suppressed. The crystalline size of the (Na, K) $NbO_3$ films assisted by PVP was ca. 15 nm smaller than that of the film fabricated without PVP. After the sintering process at $700^{\circ}C$, the (Na, K) $NbO_3$ films were mainly composed of randomly oriented (Na, K) $NbO_3$ phase of perovskite crystal structure, including a somewhat secondary phase of $K_2Nb_4O_{11}$. However, by adding PVP, the content of the secondary phase became quite smaller than that of the sample without PVP. It was thought that the addition of PVP might have the effect of restraining the loss of potassium and that PVP could hold metalloxane by strong hydrogen bonding before complete decomposition. Therefore, the film thickness of the (Na, K) $NbO_3$ films could be considerably advanced and made more crack-free by the addition of PVP.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.345-350
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• 2018

Nanomaterials have considerable potential to solve several key challenges in various electrochemical devices, such as fuel cells. However, the use of nanoparticles in high-temperature devices like solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is considered problematic because the nanostructured surface typically prepared by deposition techniques may easily coarsen and thus deactivate, especially when used in high-temperature redox conditions. Herein we report the synthesis of a self-regenerated Pd metal nanoparticle on the perovskite oxide anode surface for SOFCs that exhibit self-recovery from their degradation in redox cycle and $CH_4$ fuel running. Using Pd-doped perovskite, $La(Sr)Fe(Mn,Pd)O_3$, as an anode, fairly high maximum power densities of 0.5 and $0.2cm^{-2}$ were achieved at 1,073 K in $H_2$ and $CH_4$ respectively, despite using thick electrolyte support-type cell. Long-term stability was also examined in $CH_4$ and the redox cycle, when the anode is exposed to air. The cell with Pd-doped perovskite anode had high tolerance against re-oxidation and recovered the behavior of anodic performance from catalytic degradation. This recovery of power density can be explained by the surface segregation of Pd nanoparticles, which are self-recovered via re-oxidation and reduction. In addition, self-recovery of the anode by oxidation treatment was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.41 no.12 s.271
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• pp.900-906
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• 2004

Solid oxide fuel cells have a limitation in their low-temperature application due to the low ionic conductivity of electrolyte materials and difficulties in thin film formation on porous gas diffusion layer. These problems can be solved by improvement of ionic conductivity through controlled nanostructure of electrolyte and adopting nanoporous electrodes as substrates which have homogeneous submicron pore size and highly flattened surface. In this study, ultra-thin oxide films having submicron thickness without gas leakage are deposited on nanoporous substrates. By oxidation of metal thin films deposited onto nanoporous anodic alumina substrates with pore size of $20nm{\sim}200nm$ using dc-magnetron sputtering at room temperature, ultra-thin and dense ionic conducting oxide films with submicron thickness are realized. The specific material properties of the thin films including gas permeation, grain/gran boundaries formation, change of crystalline structure/microstructure by phase transition are investigated for optimization of ultra thin film deposition process.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.476-480
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• 2004

AZO (Al-doped ZnO) thin films were deposited on glass by pulsed magnetron sputtering method, and their structural, electrical and optical properties were investigated. XRD patterns showed that a highly c-axis preferred AZO film was grown in perpendicular to the substrate when pulse frequency of 30 ㎑ was applied to the target. Microstructure of thin films showed that the fibrous grain of tight dome shape was grown. The deposition rate decreased linearly with increase of pulse frequency, and the lowest resistivity was 8.67${\times}$10$\^$-4/ $\Omega$-cm for the film prepared at pulse frequency of 30 ㎑. The optical transmittance spectra of the films showed a very high transmittance of 85∼90%, within visible wavelength region and exhibited the absorption edge of about 350 nm. The characteristics of the low electrical resistivity and high optical transmittance of AXO films suggested a possibility for the application to transparent conducting oxides.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.8
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• pp.472-476
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• 2008

The surface region of commercial stainless steel 304 and 316 plates has been modified through deposition of the multi-layered coatings composed of titanium film ($0.1{\mu}m$) and gold film ($1-2{\mu}m$) by an electron beam evaporation method. XRD patterns of the stainless steel plates deposited with conductive metal films showed the peaks of the external gold film and the stainless steel substrate. Surface microstructural morphologies of the stainless steel bipolar plates modified with multi-layered coatings were observed by AFM and FE-SEM images. The stainless steel plates modified with $0.1{\mu}m$ titanium film and $1{\mu}m$ gold film showed microstructure of grains of under 100 nm diameter. The external surface of the stainless steel plates deposited with $0.1{\mu}m$ titanium film and $2{\mu}m$ gold film represented somewhat grain growth of Au grains in FE-SEM image. The electrical resistance and water contact angle of the stainless steel bipolar plates modified with multi-layered coatings were examined with the thickness of the gold film.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.41-48
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• 2017

Herein, we have fabricated an ultrathin aluminum oxide ($Al_2O_3$) coated PP separator by using a RF sputter deposition process. Approximately 20 nm thickness coating layer on the bare PP separator was formed at the power of 55 W for 2 minutes without thermal damage. Whereas only permeability of the coated separator was degraded slightly, other properties such as thermal stability, uptake amount of liquid electrolyte, and ionic conductivity were improved comparing to the bare PP separator. As a result, an only 20-nm-thick $Al_2O_3$ coating layer could improve the rate capability compared with a bare PP separator under a high current density.