• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.368-375
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• 2016

MoN-Cu thin films were prepared to achieve appropriate properties of high hardness and low friction coefficient, which could be applied to automobile engine parts for reducing energy consumption as well as solving wear problems. Composite thin films of MoN-Cu have been deposited by various processes using multiple targets such as Mo and Cu. However, those deposition with multiple targets revealed demerits such as difficulties in exact control of composition and homogeneous deposition. This study is aiming for suggesting an appropriate process to solve those problems. A single alloying target of Mo-Cu (10 at%) was prepared by powder metallurgy methods of mechanical alloying (MA) and spar plasma sintering (SPS). Thin film of MoN-Cu was then deposited by magnetron sputtering using the single alloying target of Mo-Cu (10 at%). Properties of the resulting MoN-Cu thin film were examined and compared to those of MoN-Cu thin films prepared with double targets of Mo and Cu.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.261-262
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• 2006

$CuInS_2$ thin films were synthesized by sulpurization of Cu/In Stacked elemental layer deposited onto glass Substrates by vacuum furance annealing at temperature 200[$^{\circ}C$]. And structural and electrical properties were measured in order to certify optimum conditions for growth of the ternary compound semiconductor $CuInS_2$ thin films with non-stoichiometry composition. $CuInS_2$ thin film was well made at the heat treatment 200[$^{\circ}C$] of SLG/Cu/In/S stacked elemental layer which was prepared by thermal evaporator, and chemical composition of the thin film was analyzed nearly as the proportion of 1:1:2. Physical properties of the thin film were investigated at various fabrication conditions substrate temperature, annealing and temperature, annealing time by XRD, FE-SEM and hall measurement system. At the same time, carrier concentration, hall mobility and resistivity of the thin films was $9.10568{\times}10^{17}[cm^{-3}]$, 312.502 [$cm^2/V{\cdot}s$] and $2.36{\times}10^{-2}[{\Omega}{\cdot}cm]$, respectively.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1571-1576
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• 2018

Recent study shows that the main reason for limiting CZTS device performance lies in the low open circuit voltage, and crucial factor that could affect the $V_{oc}$ is secondary phases like ZnS existing in absorber layer and its interfaces. In this work, the $Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ thin film solar cells were prepared by sputtering CuSn and CuZn alloy targets. Through tuning the Zn/Sn ratios of the CZTS thin films, the crystal structure, morphology, chemical composition and phase purity of CZTS thin films were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and Raman spectroscopy. The statistics data show that the CZTS solar cell with a ratio of Zn/Sn = 1.2 have the best power convention efficiency of 5.07%. After HCl etching process, the CZTS thin film solar cell with the highest efficiency 5.41% was obtained, which demonstrated that CZTS film solar cells with high efficiency could be developed by sputtering CuSn and CuZn alloy targets.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.54-62
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• 2007

In this paper, we report the research highlight on the preparation and characterization of Indium-free $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ and Indium-reduced $CulnZnSe_2$ thin films in order to seek the viability of these absorber materials to be applied in thin film solar cells. The films of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4\;and\;CulnZnSe_2$ were prepared using mixed binary chalcogenides powders. It was observed that Cu concentration was a function of substrate temperature as well as CuSe mole ratio in the target. Under an optimized condition, $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4\;and\;CulnZnSe_2$ thin films grew with strong [112]. [220/204] and [312/116] reflections. Both $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4\;and\;CulnZnSe_2$ films were found to exhibit a high absorption coefficient of $104^4cm^{-1}\;Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ film showed a band gap of 1.5eV which closes to the optimum band gap of an ideal solar absorber for a solar cell. On the other side, an increase of optical band gap from 1.0 to 1.25eV was found to be proportional with an increase of Zn concentration in the $CulnZnSe_2$ film. All films in this study revealed a p-type semiconductor characteristic.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.07c
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• pp.1396-1397
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• 2006

Process variables for manufacturing the $CuInSe_2$ thin film were established in order to clarify optimum conditions for growth of the thin film depending upon process conditions (substrate temperature, sputtering pressure, DC/RF Power), and then by changing a number of vapor deposition conditions and Annealing conditions variously, structural and electrical characteristics were measured. Thereby, optimum process variables were derived. For the manufacture of the $CuInSe_2$, Cu, In and Se were vapor-deposited in the named order. Among them, Cu and In were vapor-deposited by using the sputtering method in consideration of their adhesive force to the substrate, and the DC/RF power was controlled so that the composition of Cu and In might be 1 : 1, while the surface temperature haying an effect on the quality of the thin film was changed from $100[^{\circ}C]$ to $300[^{\circ}C]$ at intervals of $50[^{\circ}C]$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.477-482
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• 2013

We investigated the detection properties of nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas using transparent p-type $CuAlO_2$ thin film gas sensors. The $CuAlO_2$ film was fabricated on an indium tin oxide (ITO)/glass substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), and then the transparent p-type $CuAlO_2$ active layer was formed by annealing. Structural and optical characterizations revealed that the transparent p-type $CuAlO_2$ layer with a thickness of around 200 nm had a non-crystalline structure, showing a quite flat surface and a high transparency above 65 % in the range of visible light. From the NO gas sensing measurements, it was found that the transparent p-type $CuAlO_2$ thin film gas sensors exhibited the maximum sensitivity to NO gas in dry air at an operating temperature of $180^{\circ}C$. We also found that these $CuAlO_2$ thin film gas sensors showed reversible and reliable electrical resistance-response to NO gas in the operating temperature range. These results indicate that the transparent p-type semiconductor $CuAlO_2$ thin films are very promising for application as sensing materials for gas sensors, in particular, various types of transparent p-n junction gas sensors. Also, these transparent p-type semiconductor $CuAlO_2$ thin films could be combined with an n-type oxide semiconductor to fabricate p-n heterojunction oxide semiconductor gas sensors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.467-468
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• 2009

For the manufacture of the $CuGaS_2$, Cu, Ga and S were vapor-deposited in the named order. Among them, Cu and Ga were vapor-deposited by using the Evaporation method in consideration of their adhesive force to the substrate so that the composition of Cu and Ga might be 1 : 1, while the surface temperature having an effect on the quality of the thin film was changed from R.T.[$^{\circ}C$] to $150[^{\circ}C$] at intervals of 50[$^{\circ}C$]. As a result, at 300[$^{\circ}C$]of the Annealing temperature, their chemical composition was measured in the proportion of 1 : 1 : 2. It could be known from this experimental result that it is the optimum condition to conduct Annealing on the $CuGaS_2$ thin film under a vacuum when the $CuGaS_2$ thin film as an optical absorption layer material for a solar cell is manufactured.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2006

Recent ULSI and multilevel structure trends in microelectronic devices minimize the line width down to less than $0.25{\mu}m$, which results in high current densities in thin film interconnections. Under high current densities, an EM(electromigration) induced failure becomes one of the critical problems in a microelectronic device. This study is to improve thin film interconnection materials by investigating the EM characteristics in Ag, Cu, Au, and Al thin films, etc. EM resistance characteristics of Ag, Cu, Au, and Al thin films with high electrical conductivities were investigated by measuring the activation energies from the TTF (Time-to-Failure) analysis. Optical microscope and XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) analysis were used for the failure analysis in thin films. Cu thin films showed relatively high activation energy for the electromigration. Thus Cu thin films may be potentially good candidate for the next choice of advanced thin film interconnection materials where high current density and good EM resitance are required. Passivated Al thin films showed the increased MTF(Mean-time-to-Failure) values, that is, the increased EM resistance characteristics due to the dielectric passivation effects at the interface between the dielectric overlayer and the thin film interconnection materials.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.58.1-58.1
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• 2007

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.688-688
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• 2013

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films have attracted a lot of attention as a cheap transparent conducting oxide (TCO) material that can replace the expensive Sn-doped In2O3. In particular, AZO thin films are widely used as a window layer of chalcogenide-based thin film solar cells such as Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS). Mostly important requirements for the window layer material of the thin film solar cells are the high transparency and the low sheet resistance, because they influence the light absorption by the activelayer and the electron collection from the active layer, respectively. In this study, we prepared the AZO thin films by RF magnetron sputtering using a ZnO/Al2O3 (98：2wt%) ceramic target, and the effect of the sputtering condition such as the working pressure, RF power, and the working distance on the optical, electrical, and crystallographic properties of the AZO thin films was investigated. The AZO thin films with optimized properties were used as a window layer of CZTS thin film solar cells. The CZTS active layers were prepared by the electrochemical deposition and the subsequent sulfurization process, which is also one of the cost-effective synthetic approaches. In addition, the solar cell properties of the CZTS thin film solar cells, such as the photocurrent density-voltage (J-V) characteristics and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) were investigated.