• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.341-341
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• 2012

Recently, oxide semi-conductor materials have been investigated as promising candidates replacing a-Si:H and poly-Si semiconductor because they have some advantages of a room-temperature process, low-cost, high performance and various applications in flexible and transparent electronics. Particularly, amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) is an interesting semiconductor material for use in flexible thin film transistor (TFT) fabrication due to the high carrier mobility and low deposition temperatures. In this work, we demonstrated improvement of flexibility in IGZO TFTs, which were fabricated on polyimide (PI) substrate. At first, a thin poly-4vinyl phenol (PVP) layer was spin coated on PI substrate for making a smooth surface up to 0.3 nm, which was required to form high quality active layer. Then, Ni gate electrode of 100 nm was deposited on the bare PVP layer by e-beam evaporator using a shadow mask. The PVP and $Al_2O_3$ layers with different thicknesses were used for organic/inorganic multi gate dielectric, which were formed by spin coater and atomic layer deposition (ALD), respectively, at $200^{\circ}C$. 70 nm IGZO semiconductor layer and 70 nm Al source/drain electrodes were respectively deposited by RF magnetron sputter and thermal evaporator using shadow masks. Then, IGZO layer was annealed on a hotplate at $200^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour. Standard electrical characteristics of transistors were measured by a semiconductor parameter analyzer at room temperature in the dark and performance of devices then was also evaluated under static and dynamic mechanical deformation. The IGZO TFTs incorporating hybrid gate dielectrics showed a high flexibility compared to the device with single structural gate dielectrics. The effects of mechanical deformation on the TFT characteristics will be discussed in detail.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.165-170
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of annealing conditions on physical and magnetic properties of Fe-Hf-N thin films. When the thin films were annealed in $N_2$ gas, a surface oxide layer, comprised of Fe$_2$O$_3$ and Fe$_3$O$_4$, was formed at the surface of the thin films and a Fe-Hf-O-N layer was also formed under this surface oxide layer. It was found that the thicknesses of the surface oxide layer and the Fe-Hf-O-N layer increased, as the annealing temperature increased. It was also found that if the thickness of the surface oxide layer was excluded in the property calculation, the soft magnetic properties of the annealed thin films were not much different from those of the as-deposited thin films. Therefore, it was suggested that the Fe-Hf-O-N layer formed under the surface oxide layer did not lose significantly the soft magnetic properties of the Fe-Hf-N films and the Fe-Hf-N films annealed in $N_2$gas showed the soft magnetic properties of the Fe-Hf-N and Fe-Hf-O-N multi-layers.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.344-351
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• 2018

The effects of bond coat species on the growth behavior of thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer in thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) was investigated through furnace cyclic test (FCT). Two types of feedstock powder with different particle sizes and distributions, AMDRY 962 and AMDRY 386-4, were used to prepare the bond coat, and were formed using air plasma spray (APS) process. The top coat was prepared by APS process using zirconia based powder containing 8 wt% yttria. The thicknesses of the top and bond coats were designed and controlled at 800 and $200{\mu}m$, respectively. Phase analysis was conducted for TBC specimens with and without heat treatment. FCTs were performed for TBC specimens at $1121^{\circ}C$ with a dwell time of 25 h, followed by natural air cooling for 1 h at room temperature. TBC specimens with and without heat treatment showed sound conditions for the AMDRY 962 bond coat and AMDRY 386-4 bond coat in FCTs, respectively. The growth behavior of TGO layer followed a parabolic mode as the time increased in FCTs, independent of bond coat species. The influences of bond coat species and heat treatment on the microstructural evolution, interfacial stability, and TGO growth behavior in TBCs are discussed.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2019

To find proper lathe machining parameters for SA182 Grade 304 stainless steel (SS), six kinds of samples with different machining surface states were prepared using a lathe. Surface morphologies and microstructures of near surface deformed layers on different samples were analysed. Surface morphologies and chemical composition of oxide films formed on different samples in simulated primary water with $100{\mu}g/L\;O_2$ at $310^{\circ}C$ were characterized. Results showed that surface roughness was mainly affected by lathe feed. Surface machining caused grain refinement at the top layer. A severely deformed layer with different thicknesses formed on all samples. In addition to high defect density caused by surface deformation, phase transformation, residual stress, and strain also affected the oxidation behaviour of SA182 Grade 304 SS in the test solution. Machining parameters used for # 4 (feed, 0.15 mm/r; back engagement, 2 mm; cutting speed, 114.86 m/min) and # 6 (feed,0.20 mm/r; back engagement, 1 mm; cutting speed, 73.01 m/min) samples were found to be proper for lathe machining of SA182 Grade 304 SS.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.189-195
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• 2016

Micro Hotplate (MHP) is the key component in micro-sensors, particularly gas sensors. Indeed, in metal oxide gas sensors MOX, micro-heater is used as a hotplate in order to control the temperature of the sensing layer which should be in the requisite temperature range over the heater area, so as to detect the resistive changes as a function of varying concentration of different gases. Hence, their design is a very important aspect. In this paper, we have presented the design and simulation results of a meander micro heater based on three different materials - platinum, titanium and tungsten. The dielectric membrane size is 1.4 mm × 1.6 mm with a thickness of 1.4 μm. Above the membrane, a meander heating film was deposed with a thickness of 100 nm. In order to optimize the geometry, a comparative study by simulating two different heater thicknesses, then two inter track widths has also been presented. Power consumption and temperature distribution were determined in the micro heater´s structure over a supply voltage of 5, 6, and 7 V.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.285-291
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• 2020

Recent advances in technology using ultra-thin noble metal film in oxide/metal/oxide structures have attracted attention because this material is a promising alternative to meet the needs of transparent conduction electrodes (TCE). AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films are prepared by magnetron sputtering for Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) of kesterite solar cells. It is shown that the electrical and optical properties of the AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films can be improved by the very low resistivity and surface plasmon effects due to the deposition of different thicknesses of Ag layer between oxide layers fixed at AZO 30 nm. The AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films of Ag 15 nm show high mobility of 26.4 ㎠/Vs and low resistivity and sheet resistance of 3.58^⁎10^-5 Ωcm and 5.0 Ω/sq. Also, the AZO/Ag (15 nm)/AZO multilayer film shows relatively high transmittance of more than 65 % in the visible region. Through this, we fabricated CZTSSe thin film solar cells with 7.51 % efficiency by improving the short-circuit current density and fill factor to 27.7 mV/㎠ and 62 %, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.235.2-235.2
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• 2015

The front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films must exhibit good transparency, low resistivity and excellent light scattering properties for high efficiency amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cells. The light trapping phenomenon is limited due to non-uniform and low aspect ratio of the textured glass [1]. We present the low cost electrochemically deposited uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods with various aspect ratios for a-Si thin film solar cells. Since the major drawback of the electrochemically deposited ZnO nanorods was the high sheet resistance and low transmittance that was overcome by depositing the RF magnetron sputtered AZO films as a seed layer with various thicknesses [2]. The length and diameters of the ZnO nanorods was controlled by varying the deposition conditions. The length of ZnO nanorods were varied from 400 nm to $2{\mu}m$ while diameter was kept higher than 200 nm to obtain different aspect ratios. The uniform ZnO nanorods showed higher haze ratio as compared to the commercially available FTO films. We also observed that the scattering in the longer wavelength region was favored for the high aspect ratio of ZnO nanorods and much higher aspect ratios degraded the light scattering phenomenon. Therefore, we proposed our low cost and uniform ZnO nanorods for the high efficiency of thin film solar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.202-207
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• 2024

In this study, we undertook detailed experiments to increase hydrogen production efficiency by optimizing the thickness of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) thin films. TiO₂ films were deposited on p-type silicon (Si) wafers using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology. The main goal was to identify the optimal thickness of TiO₂ film that would maximize hydrogen production efficiency while maintaining stable operating conditions. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of the TiO₂ films of different thicknesses were evaluated using open circuit potential (OCP) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) analysis. These techniques play a pivotal role in evaluating the electrochemical behavior and photoactivity of semiconductor materials in PEC systems. Our results showed photovoltage tended to improve with increasing thickness of TiO₂ deposition. However, this improvement was observed to plateau and eventually decline when the thickness exceeded 1.5 nm, showing a correlation between charge transfer efficiency and tunneling. On the other hand, LSV analysis showed bare Si had the greatest efficiency, and that the deposition of TiO₂ caused a positive change in the formation of photovoltage, but was not optimal. We show that oxide tunneling-capable TiO₂ film thicknesses of 1~2 nm have the potential to improve the efficiency of PEC hydrogen production systems. This study not only reveals the complex relationship between film thickness and PEC performance, but also enabled greater efficiency and set a benchmark for future research aimed at developing sustainable hydrogen production technologies.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.23-28
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• 2008

To improve the external quantum efficiency by means of the optimization of the polymer light emitting diodes(PLEDs) structure, the PLED with ITO/PEDOT:PSS/(PFO)/PFO:MEH-PPV/LiF/Al structure were fabricated and investigated the electrical and optical properties for the prepared devices. ITO(indium tin oxide) and PEDOT:PSS [poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene sulfolnate)] were used as transparent anode film and hole transport materials, respectively. PFO[poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene)] and MEHPPV[poly(2-methoxy-5(2-ethylhe xoxy)-1,4-phenylenevinyle)] were used as the light emitting host and dopant materials. The doping concentration of MEH-PPV was 9wt% with thickness of about $400{\AA}$. We investigated the dependence of the PFO thickness ranging from $200{\AA}$ to $300{\AA}$ on the electrical, optical properties of PLEDs. Among prepared PLED devices with different PFO thicknesses, the highest value of the luminance was obtained for the PLED device with $250{\AA}$ in thickness. As a result, the current density and luminance ware found to be about $400mA/cm^2$ and $1500cd/m^2$ at 13V, respectively. In addition, the luminance and current efficiency of PLED device with double emitting layer (PFO/PFO:MEH-PPV) were improved about 3 times compared with the one with single emitting layer (PFO:MEH-PPV).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.318-325
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• 2022

In this study, composites containing undoped and barium-doped Bi₂WO₆:Ba²⁺were investigated for their shielding against diagnostic X-ray. At first, Bi₂WO₆ and barium-doped Bi₂WO₆ were synthesized with different weight percentages of barium oxide through a hydrothermal process. The as-synthesized nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and Raman spectroscopy (RS). After that, some shields were generated with undoped and barium-doped Bi₂WO₆:Ba²⁺ nanostructure particles incorporated into polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polymer with different thicknesses and 15% weight of the nanostructure. Finally, the prepared samples were exposed to an X-ray tube at 40, 80, and 120 kV voltages, 10 mAs and, 44.5 cm SID (i.e. the distance from the X-ray beam source to the specimen). Linear and mass attenuation coefficients were also calculated for different samples. The results indicated that, among the samples, the one with 7.5 mmol barium-doped Bi₂WO₆ had the most attenuation at the voltage of 40kV, and the attenuation coefficients would increase with an increase in the amount of barium. The samples with 15 and 17.5 mmol barium-doped Bi₂WO₆ had higher attenuation than the others at 80 and 120 kV. Moreover, the half-value layer (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL) and 0.25 mm lead equivalent thickness were calculated for all the samples. The lowest HVL value was for the sample with 7.5 mmol barium-doped Bi₂WO₆. As the result clearly show, an increment in the barium-doping content leads to a decrease in both HVL and TVL. In every three voltages, 0.25 mm lead equivalent thickness of the barium-doped composites (7.5 mmol and 15 mmol) had less than the other composites. The lowest value of 0.25 mm lead equivalent thickness was 7.5 barium-doped in 40 kV voltage and 15 mmol barium-doped in 80 kV and 120 kV voltages. These results were obtained only for 15% weight of the nanostructure.