• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.453-457
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• 2007

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and Ga doped zinc oxide (GZO) with different thickness in range of 10nm to 100nm are prepared on glass substrate by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The structural and optical properties of the thin films is evaluated. The structural properties of ZnO and GZO are investigated by Tunneling Electron Microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Optical properties are also investigated by UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer (200$\sim$1400nm). The much larger grain size of ZnO compared to GZO decreased the light scattering at the grain boundary and improved the transmittance. The transmittance of ZnO is higher than that of GZO through all of the ranges of wavelengths. In case of over 50nm, we found that the transmittance of ZnO is 20% higher than that of GZO.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.642-642
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• 2013

Graphene, two dimensional single layer of carbon atoms, has tremendous attention due to its superior property such as high electron mobility, high thermal conductivity and optical transparency. Especially, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown graphene has been used as a promising material for high quality and large-scale graphene film. Unfortunately, although CVD-grown graphene has strong advantages, application of the CVD-grown graphene is limited due to ineffective transfer process that delivers the graphene onto a desired substrate by using polymer support layer such as PMMA(polymethyl methacrylate). The transferred CVD-grown graphene has serious drawback due to remaining polymeric residues generated during transfer process, which induces the poor physical and electrical characteristics by a p-doping effect and impurity scattering. To solve such issue incurred during polymer transfer process of CVD-grown graphene, various approaches including thermal annealing, chemical cleaning, mechanical cleaning have been tried but were not successful in getting rid of polymeric residues. On the other hand, lithographical patterning of graphene is an essential step in any form of microelectronic processing and most of conventional lithographic techniques employ photoresist for the definition of graphene patterns on substrates. But, application of photoresist is undesirable because of the presence of residual polymers that contaminate the graphene surface consistent with the effects generated during transfer process. Therefore, in order to fully utilize the excellent properties of CVD-grown graphene, new approach of transfer and patterning techniques which can avoid polymeric residue problem needs to be developed. In this work, we carried out transfer and patterning process simultaneously with no polymeric residue by using a metal etch mask. The patterned thin gold layer was deposited on CVD-grown graphene instead of photoresists in order to make much cleaner and smoother surface and then transferred onto a desired substrate with PMMA, which does not directly contact with graphene surface. We compare the surface properties and patterning morphology of graphene by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy(AFM) and Raman spectroscopy. Comparison with the effect of residual polymer and metal on performance of graphene FET will be discussed.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.604-610
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• 2016

We report on the fabrication and characterization of a novel $Cu_2O/CuO$ heterojunction structure with CuO nanorods embedded in $Cu_2O$ thin film as an efficient photocathode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) solar water splitting. A CuO nanorod array was first prepared on an indium-tin-oxide-coated glass substrate via a seed-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method; then, a $Cu_2O$ thin film was electrodeposited onto the CuO nanorod array to form an oxide semiconductor heterostructure. The crystalline phases and morphologies of the heterojunction materials were examined using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, as well as Raman scattering. The PEC properties of the fabricated $Cu_2O/CuO$ heterojunction photocathode were evaluated by photocurrent conversion efficiency measurements under white light illumination. From the observed PEC current density versus voltage (J-V) behavior, the $Cu_2O/CuO$ photocathode was found to exhibit negligible dark current and high photocurrent density, e.g. $-1.05mA/cm^2$ at -0.6 V vs. $Hg/HgCl_2$ in $1mM\;Na_2SO_4$ electrolyte, revealing the effective operation of the oxide heterostructure. The photocurrent conversion efficiency of the $Cu_2O/CuO$ photocathode was estimated to be 1.27% at -0.6 V vs. $Hg/HgCl_2$. Moreover, the PEC current density versus time (J-T) profile measured at -0.5 V vs. $Hg/HgCl_2$ on the $Cu_2O/CuO$ photocathode indicated a 3-fold increase in the photocurrent density compared to that of a simple $Cu_2O$ thin film photocathode. The improved PEC performance was attributed to a certain synergistic effect of the bilayer heterostructure on the light absorption and electron-hole recombination processes.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.279-285
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• 2007

We have demonstrated structural evolution and optical properties of the Si-NWs on Si (111) substrates with synthesized nanoscale Au-Si islands by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition(RTCVD). Au nano-islands (10-50nm in diameter) were employed as a liquid-droplet catalysis to grow Si-NWs via vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. Si-NWs were grown by a mixture gas of $SiH_4\;and\;H_2$ at pressures of $0.1{\sim}1.0$Torr and temperatures of $450{\sim}650^{\circ}C$. SEM measurements showed the formation of Si-NWs well-aligned vertically for Si (111) surfaces. The resulting NWs are 30-100nm in diameter and $0.4{\sim}12um$ in length depending on growth conditions. HR-TEM measurements indicated that Si-NWs are single crystals convered with about 3nm thick layers of amorphous oxide. In addition, optical properties of NWs were investigated by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The downshift and asymmetric broadening of the Si optical phonon peak with a shoulder at $480cm^{-1}$ were observed in Raman spectra of Si-NWs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.239-240
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• 2008

As semiconductor devices are scaled down for better performance and more functionality, the Cu-based interconnects suffer from the increase of the resistivity of the Cu wires. The resistivity increase, which is attributed to the electron scattering from grain boundaries and interfaces, needs to be addressed in order to further scale down semiconductor devices [1]. The increase in the resistivity of the interconnect can be alleviated by increasing the grain size of electroplating (EP)-Cu or by modifying the Cu surface [1]. Another possible solution is to maximize the portion of the EP-Cu volume in the vias or damascene structures with the conformal diffusion barrier and seed layer by optimizing their deposition processes during Cu interconnect fabrication, which are currently ionized physical vapor deposition (IPVD)-based Ta/TaN bilayer and IPVD-Cu, respectively. The use of in-situ etching, during IPVD of the barrier or the seed layer, has been effective in enlarging the trench volume where the Cu is filled, resulting in improved reliability and performance of the Cu-based interconnect. However, the application of IPVD technology is expected to be limited eventually because of poor sidewall step coverage and the narrow top part of the damascene structures. Recently, Ru has been suggested as a diffusion barrier that is compatible with the direct plating of Cu [2-3]. A single-layer diffusion barrier for the direct plating of Cu is desirable to optimize the resistance of the Cu interconnects because it eliminates the Cu-seed layer. However, previous studies have shown that the Ru by itself is not a suitable diffusion barrier for Cu metallization [4-6]. Thus, the diffusion barrier performance of the Ru film should be improved in order for it to be successfully incorporated as a seed layer/barrier layer for the direct plating of Cu. The improvement of its barrier performance, by modifying the Ru microstructure from columnar to amorphous (by incorporating the N into Ru during PVD), has been previously reported [7]. Another approach for improving the barrier performance of the Ru film is to use Ru as a just seed layer and combine it with superior materials to function as a diffusion barrier against the Cu. A RulTaN bilayer prepared by PVD has recently been suggested as a seed layer/diffusion barrier for Cu. This bilayer was stable between the Cu and Si after annealing at $700^{\circ}C$ for I min [8]. Although these reports dealt with the possible applications of Ru for Cu metallization, cases where the Ru film was prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have not been identified. These are important because of ALD's excellent conformality. In this study, a bilayer diffusion barrier of Ru/TaCN prepared by ALD was investigated. As the addition of the third element into the transition metal nitride disrupts the crystal lattice and leads to the formation of a stable ternary amorphous material, as indicated by Nicolet [9], ALD-TaCN is expected to improve the diffusion barrier performance of the ALD-Ru against Cu. Ru was deposited by a sequential supply of bis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)ruthenium [Ru$(EtCp)_2$] and $NH_3$plasma and TaCN by a sequential supply of $(NEt_2)_3Ta=Nbu^t$ (tert-butylimido-trisdiethylamido-tantalum, TBTDET) and $H_2$ plasma. Sheet resistance measurements, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis showed that the bilayer diffusion barriers of ALD-Ru (12 nm)/ALD-TaCN (2 nm) and ALD-Ru (4nm)/ALD-TaCN (2 nm) prevented the Cu diffusion up to annealing temperatures of 600 and $550^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, respectively. This is found to be due to the excellent diffusion barrier performance of the ALD-TaCN film against the Cu, due to it having an amorphous structure. A 5-nm-thick ALD-TaCN film was even stable up to annealing at $650^{\circ}C$ between Cu and Si. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigation combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis revealed that the ALD-Ru/ALD-TaCN diffusion barrier failed by the Cu diffusion through the bilayer into the Si substrate. This is due to the ALD-TaCN interlayer preventing the interfacial reaction between the Ru and Si.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.189-198
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• 2000

The stochiometric mixture of evaporating materials for the $CuGaSe_2$single crystal thin films were prepared from horizontal furnace. Using extrapolation method of X-ray diffraction patterns for the polycrystal $CuGaSe_2$, it was found tetragonal structure whose lattice constant $a_0}$ and $c_0$ were 5.615 $\AA$ and 11.025 $\AA$, respectively. To obtains the single crystal thin films, $CuGaSe_2$mixed crystal was deposited on throughly etched GaAs(100) by the Hot Wall Epitaxy (HWE) system. The source and substrate temperature were $610^{\circ}C$ and $450^{\circ}C$ respectively, and the growth rate of the single crystal thin films was about 0.5$\mu\textrm{m}$/h. The crystalline structure of single crystal thin films was investigated by the double crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXD). Hall effect on this sample was measured by the method of van der Pauw and studied on carrier density and mobility depending on temperature. From Hall data, the mobility was likely to be decreased by pizoelectric scattering in the temperature range 30 K to 150 K and by polar optical scattering in the temperature range 150 K to 293 K. The optical energy gaps were found to be 1.68 eV for CuGaSe$_2$sing1e crystal thin films at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the photocurrent peak energy is well explained by the Varshni equation then the constants in the Varshni equation are given by $\alpha$ = $9.615{\times}10^{-4}$eV/K, and $\beta$ = 335 K. From the photocurrent spectra by illumination of polarized light of the $CuGaSe_2$single crystal thin films. We have found that values of spin orbit coupling $\Delta$So and crystal field splitting $\Delta$Cr was 0.0900 eV and 0.2498 eV, respectively. From the PL spectra at 20 K, the peaks corresponding to free bound excitons and D-A pair and a broad emission band due to SA is identified. The binding energy of the free excitons are determined to be 0.0626 eV and the dissipation energy of the acceptor-bound exciton and donor-bound exciton to be 0.0352 eV, 0.0932 eV, respectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.643-647
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• 2010

O-carboxymethyl water-soluble chitosan (OCMCh) prepared for enhance the application of chitosan was modified with mthoxy polyethyleneglycol (mPEG) by ion-complex for long circulation in the blood. OCMCh-PEG-PLLs was prepared by forming ion-complex with OCMCh-PEG and Poly(L-Lysine) (PLL) for drug and gene delivery system. The physicochemcal characterisitcs of OCMCh-PEG-PLLs were investigated by FT-IR, $^1H$-NMR. These results showed that CMCh-PEG-PLLs were successfully syntehsized by ion-complex. Particle size distribution and zeta potential of the OCMCh-PEG-PLLs were determined using dynamic light scattering technique. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was also used to observe the morphology of the OCMCh-PEG-PLLs. OCMCh-PEG-PLLs have spherical shapes with particle size 290∼390 nm. OCMCh-PEG-PLLs were showed when the feeding amount of mPEG ratio was increased, particle size and zeta potential were decreased. Based on these results, it is possible to introduction of the OCMCh-PEG-PLLs into various biomedical fields such as drug and gene delivery system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.55-55
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• 2009

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a material with a wide bandgap (3.26eV), a high critical electric field (~2.3MV/cm), a and a high bulk electron mobility (${\sim}900cm^2/Vs$). These electronic properties allow high breakdown voltage, high frequency, and high temperature operation compared to Silicon devices. Although various SiC DMOSFET structures have been reported so far for optimizing performances. the effect of channel dimension on the switching performance of SiC DMOSFETs has not been extensively examined. In this paper, we report the effect of the interface states ($Q_s$) on the transient characteristics of SiC DMOSFETs. The key design parameters for SiC DMOSFETs have been optimized and a physics-based two-dimensional (2-D) mixed device and circuit simulator by Silvaco Inc. has been used to understand the relationship with the switching characteristics. To investigate transient characteristic of the device, mixed-mode simulation has been performed, where the solution of the basic transport equations for the 2-D device structures is directly embedded into the solution procedure for the circuit equations. The result is a low-loss transient characteristic at low $Q_s$. Based on the simulation results, the DMOSFETs exhibit the turn-on time of 10ns at short channel and 9ns at without the interface charges. By reducing $SiO_2/SiC$ interface charge, power losses and switching time also decreases, primarily due to the lowered channel mobilities. As high density interface states can result in increased carrier trapping, or recombination centers or scattering sites. Therefore, the quality of $SiO_2/SiC$ interfaces is important for both static and transient properties of SiC MOSFET devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.386-386
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• 2012

For white light emitting diode (LED) applications, it has been reported that Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ (YAG:Ce) in nano-sized phosphor performs better than it does in micro-sized particles. This is because nano-sized YAG:Ce can reduce internal light scattering when coated onto a blue LED surface. Recently, there have been many reports on the synthesis of nano-sized YAG particles using bottom-up method, such as co-precipitation method, sol-gel process, hydrothermal method, solvothermal method, and glycothermal method. However, there has been no report using top-down method. Top-down method has advantages than bottom-up method, such as large scale production and easy control of doping concentration and particle size. Therefore, in this study, nano-sized YAG:Ce phosphors were synthesized by a high energy beads milling process with varying beads size, milling time and milling steps. The beads milling process was performed by Laboratory Mill MINICER with ZrO2 beads. The phase identity and morphology of nano-sized YAG:Ce were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), respectively. By controlling beads size, milling time and milling steps, we synthesized a size-tunable and uniform nano-sized YAG:Ce phosphors which average diameters were 100, 85 and 40 nm, respectively. After milling, there was no impurity and all of the peaks were in good agreement with YAG (JCPDS No. 33-0040). Luminescence and quantum efficiency (QE) of nano-sized YAG:Ce phosphors were measured by fluorescence spectrometer and QE measuring instrument, respectively. The synthesized YAG:Ce absorbed light efficiently in the visible region of 400-500 nm, and showed single broadband emission peaked at 550 nm with 50% of QE. As a result, by considering above results, high energy beads milling process could be a facile and reproducible synthesis method for nano-sized YAG:Ce phosphors.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.527-534
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• 2015

This study offers a novel method for improving the physical contact between the anode and fuel in a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC): a direct generation of carbon in a porous Ni anode through the thermal decomposition of gaseous hydrocarbons. Three kinds of alkane hydrocarbons with different carbon numbers (CH4, C2H6, and C3H8) are tested. From electron microscope observations of the carbon particles generated from each hydrocarbon, we confirm that more carbon spheres (CS), carbon nanotubes (CNT), and carbon nanofibers (CNF) were identified with increasing carbon number. Raman scattering results revealed that the carbon samples became less crystalline and more flexible with increasing carbon number. DCFC performance was measured at $700^{\circ}C$ with the anode fueled by the same mass of each carbon sample. One-dimensional carbon fuels of CNT and CNF more actively produced and had power densities 148 and 210 times higher than that of the CS, respectively. This difference is partly attributed to the findings that the less-crystalline CNT and CNF have much lower charge transfer resistances than the CS.