• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2018

Flexible electronics must be stable under various deformations such as bending, folding, and rolling. The reliability of ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) film used widely as a transparent electrode for flexible electronics has been studied using rolling fatigue test and bending test. During repeated rolling deformations, the electrical resistance was in-situ measured with different number of rotation. During rolling fatigue test, the electrical resistance of ITO film was significantly increased with increasing the number of rotation. As the stress state of ITO film is different according to the relative position of ITO and substrate, the rolling fatigue test was investigated under both outer and inner bending conditions. Inner rolling fatigue test showed superior electrical stability because the crack nucleation and propagation were retarded under compressive stress state.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.72-77
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• 2017

Purpose: The electrochemical corrosion behavior of tin oxide film coated on PET substrates has been studied under varying concentrations of acrylic acid to investigate possible corrosion in contact with the acidic environment. Method: Potentiodynamic test was performed for a commercial ITO/PET film in 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 M of acrylic acid. The surface morphology was analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Results: Potentiodynamic test results showed an increase in Icorr and decrease in Ecorr value with increasing concentration of acid. Microscopic evaluation suggested the presence of certain deep cracks on the surface of the film in addition with a severe acidic attack. Conclusion: Exposure of ITO to acrylic acid resulted in the stress corrosion cracking of ITO film due to the mechanical mismatch between brittle inorganic ITO fim and a compliant organic PET substrate leading to the subsequent failure of the film.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2021

An electrochromic nickel oxide thin film was fabricated on a flexible PET/ITO substrate using a nanocrystallite- dispersed coating sol and bar coater. Nanocrystalline NiOx of 3-4 nm crystallite size was first synthesized by base precipitation and thermal conversion. This NiOx nanocrystallite powder was mechanically dispersed in an alcoholic solvent mixed with a silane binder to prepare a coating sol for thin film. This sol method is different from the normal sol-gel method in that it does not require the conversion of precursor by heat treatment. Therefore, this method provides a very facile method to prepare NiOx thin films on any kind of substrate and it can be easily applied to mass production. The electrochromic performance of this NiOx thin film on PET/ITO electrode with a thickness of about 400 nm was investigated in a nonaqueous LiClO4 electrolyte solution by cyclic voltammetric and repeated chronoamperometric measurements in conjunction with spectrophotometry. The visible light modulation of 44% and the colorization efficiency of 41 ㎠/C at 550 nm were obtained at the step potentials of -0.8/+1.2 V vs Ag and a duration of 30 s.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.21-25
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• 2009

Using an evaporation system, $SiO_2$ was deposited as a buffer layer between a PET substrate and a ITO layer and then ITO/$SiO_2$/PET layers were annealed for 1.5 hours at the temperature of $180^{\circ}C$. Adhesion and electro-optical properties of ITO films were studied with thickness variance of a $SiO_2$ buffer layer. As a result of introduction of the $SiO_2$ buffer layer, sheet resistance and resistivity increased and a ITO film with optimum sheet resistance ($529.3{\Omega}/square$) for an upper ITO film of resistive type touch panel could be obtained when $SiO_2$ of $50{\AA}$ was deposited. And it was found that ITO films with $SiO_2$ buffer layer have higher transmittance of $88{\sim}90%$ at 550 nm wavelength than ITO films with no buffer layers and the transmittance was enhanced as $SiO_2$ thickness increased from $50{\AA}$ to $100{\AA}$. Adhesion property of ITO films with $SiO_2$ buffer layers became better than ITO films with no buffer layers and this property was independent of $SiO_2$ thickness variance ($50{\sim}100{\AA}$). By depositing a $SiO_2$ buffer layer of $50{\AA}$ on the PET substrate and sputtering a ITO thin film on the layer, a ITO film with enhanced adhesion, electro-optical properties could be obtained.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.276-279
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• 2009

ITO and ITO:Ce films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering using an ITO ($SnO_2$: 10 wt%) and $CeO_2$ doped ITO ($CeO_2$: 0.5, 3.0, 4.0 and 6.0 wt%) ceramic targets, respectively, on unheated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. The lowest resistivity $6.7{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ was obtained from ITO:Ce film deposited using $CeO_2$ (3.0 wt%) doped ITO target. On hte other hand, ITO:Ce (0.5wt%) film has the excellent mechanical durability which was evaluated by bending test. This result was attributed to the higher binding energy of $CeO_2$ compared to $SnO_2$ and $In_2O_3$. Therefore, $CeO_2$ atoms have a small displacement caused by the bombardment of high energy particles, and it attribute to the increase in adhesion caused by decrease in internal stress. The average transmittance of the films was more than 80% in the visible region.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2009

In this study, the stress-strain response and the cracking behaviors of ITO film on a PET substrate are investigated. The cracking behaviors of ITO thin films deposited on a thermoplastic semi-crystalline polymer developed for flexible display applications was investigated by means of tensile experiments equipped with an electrical measurement apparatus and an in-situ optical microscope. Electrical resistance increased gradually in the elastic-to-plastic transition region of the stress strain curves and cracks formed. Numerous cracks were found in this region, and the increase of the resistance was linked to the cracking of ITO thin films. Upon loading, the initial cracks perpendicular to the tensile axis were observed at about 1% of the total strain. They propagated to the entire sample width as the strain increased. The spacing between the horizontal cracks is thought to be determined by the fracture strength and the thickness of the ITO film as well as by the interfacial strength between the ITO and PET. The effect of the strain rate on the cracking behavior was also investigated. The crack density increased as the strain increased. The spacing between the horizontal cracks (perpendicular to the stress axis) increased as the strain rate decreased. The increase of the crack density as the strain rate decreased can be attributed to the higher fraction of the plastic strain to the total strain at a given total strain. The higher critical strain for the onset of the increase in the resistance and the crack initiation of the ITO/PET with a thinner ITO film (300 ohms/sq.) suggests a higher strength of the thinner ITO film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.175-175
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• 2010

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films are widely used as transparent conducting thin film material for application in various fields such as solar cells, optoelectronic devices, heat mirrors and gas sensors, etc. Recently the increased utilization of many transparent electrodes has accelerated the development of inexpensive TCO materials. Indium tin oxide (ITO) film is well-known for TCO materials because of its low resistivity, but there is disadvantage that it is too expensive. ZnO film is cheaper than ITO but it shows thermally poor stability. On the contrary, antimony-doped tin oxide films (ATO) are more stable than TCO films such as Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) and ITO. Moreover, SnO2 film shows the best thermal and chemical stability, low cost and mechanical durability except the poor conductivity. However, annealing is proved to improve the conductivity of ATO film. Therefore, in this work, antimony (6 wt%) doped tin oxide films to improve the conductivity were deposited on 7059 corning glass by RF magnetron sputtering method for the application to transparent electrodes. In general, of all TCO films, glass is the most commonly selected substrate. However, for future development in flexible devices, glass is limited by its intrinsic inflexibility. In this study, we report the growth and properties of antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) films deposited on PES flexible substrate by using RF magnetron sputtering. The optimization process was performed varying the sputtering parameters, such as RF power and working pressure, and parameter effect on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the ATO films were investigated.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.1542-1545
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• 2009

For the application of flexible substrate to future display and new transparent devices, indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film was formed on polycarbonate(PC) substrate at room temperature by in-line sputter system. During the ITO sputtering, Ar and $O_2$ reaction gas were fixed at a constant value and the process pressure was varied from 3 to 7 mtorr. From the electrical and the optical properties of sputtered ITO films, the sheet resistances of as-deposited ITO films varied with a different pressure and the optical transmittances of the ITO films at visible wavelength were maintained above 85%. The results are considered to be due to the saturation of $O_2$ atoms from reaction in ITO film.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.1-11
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• 2014

Flexible transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) have recently attracted a great deal of attention owing to rapid advances in flexible electronic devices, such as flexible displays, flexible photovoltanics, and e-papers. As the performance and reliability of flexible electronics are critically affected by the quality of TCE films, it is imperative to develop TCE films with low resistivity and high transparency as well as high flexibility. Indium tin oxide (ITO) has been the most dominant transparent conducting material due to its high optical transparency and electrical conductivity. However, ITO is susceptible to cracking and delamination when it is bent or deformed. Therefore, various types of flexible TCEs, such as carbon nanotube, conducting polymers, graphene, metal mesh, Ag nanowires (NWs), and metal mesh have been extensively investigated. Among several options to replace ITO film, Ag NWs and metal mesh have been suggested as the promising candidate for flexible TCEs. In this paper, we focused on Ag NWs and metal mesh, and summarized the current development status of Ag NWs and metal mesh. The several critical issues such as high contact resistance and haze are discussed, and newly developed technologies to resolve these issues are also presented. In particular, the flexibility and durability of Ag NWs and metal mesh was compared with ITO electrode.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.4 no.4 s.13
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• pp.5-8
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• 2005

In this study, we prepared the ITO thin film for TOLED(Top-emitting OLED) or flexible display at room temperature using the FTS(Facing Targets Sputtering Apparatus). We observed characteristics of deposited thin films as a function of sputtering conditions. XRD patterns were independence trom oxygen gas flow and input current. But electrical and optical properties were strongly dependence. In the results, we could prepare good properties of ITO thin films resistivity of $4.27X10^{-4}[\Omega-cm]$, transmittance of over 80% at working gas pressure 1[mTorr], input current 0.6[A], oxygen gas ratio 0.3[sccm], at room temperature.