• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.251-252
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• 2012

Recently, the growing interest in organic microelectronic devices including OLEDs has led to an increasing amount of research into their many potential applications in the area of flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates. However, these organic devices require a gas barrier coating to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency OLEDs require an extremely low Water Vapor Transition Rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2$/day. The Key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required ($1{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2$/day) is the suppression of defect sites and gas diffusion pathways between grain boundaries. In this study, we developed an $Al_2O_3$ nano-crystal structure single gas barrier layer using a Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering (NBAS) process. The NBAS system is based on the conventional RF magnetron sputtering and neutral beam source. The neutral beam source consists of an electron cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasma source and metal reflector. The Ar+ ions in the ECR plasma are accelerated in the plasma sheath between the plasma and reflector, which are then neutralized by Auger neutralization. The neutral beam energies were possible to estimate indirectly through previous experiments and binary collision model. The accelerating potential is the sum of the plasma potential and reflector bias. In previous experiments, while adjusting the reflector bias, changes in the plasma density and the plasma potential were not observed. The neutral beam energy is controlled by the metal reflector bias. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to nano-crystal phase of various grain sizes within a single inorganic thin film. These NBAS process effects can lead to the formation of a nano-crystal structure barrier layer which effectively limits gas diffusion through the pathways between grain boundaries. Our results verify the nano-crystal structure of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ single gas barrier layer through dielectric constant measurement, break down field measurement, and TEM analysis. Finally, the WVTR of $Al_2O_3$ nano-crystal structure single gas barrier layer was measured to be under $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2$/day therefore we can confirm that NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ nano-crystal structure single gas barrier layer is suitable for OLED application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.10-10
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• 2010

가시광역에서 80% 이상의 높은 투과율과 전기전도성을 동시에 갖는 투명전도성 산화물(TCO) 박막은 LCD, PDP, OLED, 태양전지 등의 다양한 분야에 투명전극재료로서 사용되고 있다. 이들 TCO 박막은 Magnetron sputtering, Chemical vapor deposition, Pulse laser deposition, Ink jet등과 같은 다양한 방법으로 증착할 수 있지만, 대면적의 기판에 균일한 박막형성 및 박막과 기판의 높은 부착력등 양산성의 관점에서 우월성을 가지고 있기 때문에 생산라인에서는 DC magnetron sputtering법이 주로 사용되고 있다. 이 경우, 산화물 박막의 미세구조, 내부응력, 광학적 및 전기적 특성은 스퍼터링 과정에서 발생하는 고에너지 입자들의 기판입사 충격에 크게 의존하기 때문에 고품질의 TCO박막을 제작하기 위해서는 증착공정인자들의 제어는 매우 중요한 것으로 알려져 있다. 대표적 TCO박막재료로서 $In_2O_3$계, ZnO계 및 $SnO_2$계를 들 수 있으며, 이들 중에서 Sn을 $In_2O_3$에 치환고용시킨 ITO박막의 경우, 전기적 및 광학적 특성이 상대적으로 우수하기 때문에 실용화 TCO박막으로서 가장 널리 사용되고 있다. 한편, Flexible display의 경우, 유연성의 폴리머기판위에 증착되는 TCO박막에 대하여 요구되는 특성으로는 높은 투과율 및 낮은 비저항은 물론, 박막표면의 평활도 (낮은 표면조도), bending에 대한 높은 기계적 특성 (낮은 내부응력), 수분침투에 대한 높은 barrier특성 및 저온공정 등을 들 수 있다. 그러나 높은 전기전도도를 가지는 ITO박막을 제작하기 위해서는 $200^{\circ}C$ 이상의 증착온도가 필요하며, 이때 얻어진 다결정의 ITO박막은 높은 표면조도 및 bending시에 낮은 기계적 내구성이 문제점으로 지적되고 있다. 한편, 기판가열 없이 증착한 비정질 ITO박막은 낮은 표면조도, 높은 엣칭속도 및 양호한 식각특성을 나타내지만, 상대적으로 높은 비저항 및 기판과의 낮은 부착력 등이 지적되고 있다. 따라서 본 강연에서는 비정질 ITO박막의 결정화 온도 (약 $160^{\circ}C$) 이상에서도 비정질 구조를 유지하기 때문에 낮은 표면조도와 높은 엣칭속도를 가지면서 상대적으로 전기적 특성과 기계적 내구성이 개선된 새로운 고온형 비정질 TCO박막에 대한 최근의 연구성과를 소개하고자 한다.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.128-132
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• 2009

Transparent conducting thin films of indium tin oxide(ITO) co-sputtered with aluminum-doped zinc oxide(AZO) were deposited on glass substrate by dual magnetron sputtering. It was found that the electrical properties and structural characteristics of the films are significantly changed according to the sputtering power of the AZO target. The IAZTO film prepared with D.C power of ITO at 100 W and R.F power of AZO at 50 W shows an electrical resistivity of $4.6{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and a sheet resistance of $30{\Omega}/{\square}$ (for 150 nm thick). Besides of the improvement of the electrical properties, compared to the ITO films deposited at the same process conditions, the IAZTO films have very smooth surface, which is due to the amorphous nature of the films. However, the electrical conductivity of the IAZTO films was found to be deteriorated along with the crystallization in case of the high temperature deposition (above $310^{\circ}C$). In this work, high quality amorphous transparent conductive oxide layers could be obtained by mixing AZO with ITO, indicating possible use of IAZTO films as the transparent electrodes in OLED and flexible display devices.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.124-129
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• 2015

Organic electronics are the domain in which the components and circuits are made of organic materials. This new electronics help to realize electronic and optoelectronic devices on flexible substrates. In recent years, organic materials have replaced conventional semiconductors in many electronic components such as, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and organic photovoltaic (OPVs). It is well known that organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have many advantages in comparison with inorganic light-emitting diodes LEDs. These advantages include the low price of manufacturing, large area of electroluminescent display, uniform emission and lower the requirement for power. The aim of this paper is to model polymer LEDs and OLEDs made with small molecules for studying the electrical and optical characteristics. The purpose of this modeling process is, to obtain information about the running of OLEDs, as well as, the injection and charge transport mechanisms. The first simulation structure used in this paper is a mono layer device; typically consisting of the poly (2-methoxy-5(2'-ethyl) hexoxy-phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV) polymer sandwiched between an anode with a high work function, usually an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate, and a cathode with a relatively low work function, such as Al. Electrons will then be injected from the cathode and recombine with electron holes injected from the anode, emitting light. In the second structure, we replaced MEH-PPV by tris (8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (Alq₃). This simulation uses, the Poole-Frenkel -like mobility model and the Langevin bimolecular recombination model as the transport and recombination mechanism. These models are enabled in ATLAS- SILVACO. To optimize OLED performance, we propose to change some parameters in this device, such as doping concentration, thickness and electrode materials.