• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.175-175
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• 2010

The etching characteristics with etch rate of ITO thin films in an $O_2/BCl_3$/Ar plasma were investigated. The etch rate of ITO thin films increased with increasing $O_2$ content from 0 to 10 % in $BCl_3$/Ar plasma, whereas that of ITO decreased with increasing $O_2$ content from 10 % to 30 % in $BCl_3$/Ar plasma. The maximum etch rate of 65.9 nm/min for the ITO thin films was obtained at 10 % $O_2$ addition. The etch conditions were the RF power of 500 W, bias power of 200 W, and process pressure of 2 Pa. The analysis of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was carried out to investigate the chemical reactions between the surfaces of ITO thin films and etch species.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.242-247
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• 2012

Yb-doped ITO (ITO:Yb) films were deposited on unheated non-alkali glass substrates by magnetron cosputtering using two cathodes (DC, RF) equipped with the ITO and $Yb_2O_3$ target, respectively. The composition of the ITO:Yb films was controlled by adjusting the RF powers from 0 W to 480 W in 120 W steps with the DC power fixed at 70 W. The ITO:Yb films had a higher crystallization temperature ($200^{\circ}C$) than that of the ITO films ($170^{\circ}C$), which was attributed to both larger ionic radius of $Yb^{3+}$ and higher bond enthalpy of $Yb_2O_3$, compared to ITO. This amorphous ITO:Yb film post-annealed at $170^{\circ}C$ showed a resistivity of $5.52{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$, indicating that a introduction of Yb increased resistivity of the ITO film. However, these amorphous ITO:Yb films showed a high etching rate, fine pattering property, and a very smooth surface morphology above the crystallization temperature of the amorphous ITO films (about $170^{\circ}C$). The transmittance of all films was >80% in the visible region.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2010

Indium tin oxide (ITO) provides high electrical conductivity and transparency in the visible and near IR (infrared) wavelengths. Thus, it is widely used as a transparent electrode for the fabrication of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting diode displays (OLRDs), photovoltaic devices, and other optical applications. Lasers have been used for removing coating on polymer substrate for flexible display and electronic industry. In selective removal of ITO layer, laser wavelength, pulse energy, scan speed, and the repetition rate of pulses determine conditions, which are efficient for removal of ITO coating without affecting properties of the polymer substrate. ITO coating removal with a laser is more environmentally friendly than other conventional etching methods. In this paper, pattering of ITO film from polymer substrates is described. The Yb:KGW femtosecond laser processing system with a pulse duration of 250fs, a wavelength of 1030nm and a repetition rate of 100kHz was used for removing ITO coating in air. We can remove the ITO coating using a scanner system with various pulse energies and scan speeds. We observed that the amount of debris is minimal through an optical and a confocal microscope, and femtosecond laser pulses with 1030nm wavelength are effective to remove ITO coating without the polymer substrate ablation.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.157-161
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• 2012

In this study, we investigated the etching characteristics of ITO thin films and the effects of inert gases added to $Cl_2/BCl_3$ inductivity coupled plasma. The maximum etch rate of ITO thin film was 130.0 nm/min upon the addition of Ar (6 sccm) to the $Cl_2/BCl_3$ (4:16 sccm) plasma, which was higher than that with He or $N_2$ added to the plasma. The ion bombardment by $Ar^+$ sputtering was due to the relatively low volatility of the by-products formed in the $Cl_2/BCl_3$ (4:16 sccm) plasma. The surface of the etched ITO thin film was characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). From the XPS results, it is concluded that the proper addition of Ar and He to the $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma removes carbon and by-products from the surface of the etched ITO thin film.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.8 no.4B
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• pp.565-571
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• 1999

In this study, high-density plasma etching characteristics of ITO(indium tin oxide) films used for transparent electrode in dispaly devices were investigated. Plasma diagnostic and surface analysis tools were used to understand etch reaction mechanism. The etch rate of ITO was increased by the increase of reactive radicals such as H and $CH_3$ with the addition of moderate amount of $CH_4$ to Ar. However, the addition of excess amount of $CH_4$ decreased possibly due to the increased polymer formation on the ITO surface being etched. The increase of source power and bias boltage increased ITO etch rates but it decreased selectivities over under-layers $(SiO_2, Si_3N_4)$. The increase of working pressure up to 20mTorr also increased ITO etch rates, however the further increased of the pressure decreased ITO etch rates. From the analysis of XPS, a peak related to the polymer of hydrocarbon was observed on the etched ITO surface especially for high $CH_4$ conditions and it appears to affect ITO etch rates.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2003

A 150 kV gas cluster ion accelerator was constructed and the cluster sizes of $CO_2$ and $N_2O$ gases were measured using time-of-flight mast spectrometry. Through isolated cluster ion impact on a HOPG, hillock with 1 nm height and a few tenth m in diameter were found to be formed by an atomic force microscope. When monomer ion beams were irradiated on the hillocks existed on a ITO surface, they became sharper and the surface became rougher. But they changed into round-shaped ones by cluster ion irradiation and the surface became smooth after the irradiation of $5\times10^{-14}\textrm{cm}^2$ at 25 kV. As the cluster ion dose was varied, the change of surface morphology and roughness of Si was examined. At the lower dose, the density of hillocks and surface roughness were increased, called surface embossment process. And then after the critical dose at which the area of the formed hillocks equals to the unirradiated area, the sputtering from the hillocks was predominantly evolved, and dislocated atoms were diffused and filled among the valleys, called surface sputtering and smoothing process. At the higher ion dose, the surface consisting of loosely bounded atoms was effectively sputtered into the depth and etching phenomenon was happened, called surface etching process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.04b
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• pp.137-140
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• 2004

We treated $O_2$ plasma on ITO thin film using RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) system, and analyzed the ingredient of ITO thin film according to change of processing conditions. The ingredient analysis of ITO thin film was used by EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy) and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) to compare and analyze the ingredient of bulk and surface. We measured electrical resistivity using Four-Point-Probe and calculated sheet resistance, and ITO surface roughness was measured by using AFM (Atomic Force Microscope). Finally, we fabricated OLEDs (Organic Light-Emitting Diodes) device using substrate that was treated optimum ITO surface. The result of the study for electrical and optical properties using I V L System (Flat Panel Display Analysis System), we confirmed that electrical properties (I-V) and optical properties (L-V) were improved.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.430.2-430.2
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• 2016

The front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films in thin fill solar cell should exhibit high transparency, conductivity, good surface morphology and excellent light scattering properties. The light trapping phenomenon is limited due to random surface structure of TCO films. The proper control of surface structure and uniform cauliflower TCO films may be appropriate for efficient light trapping. We report light trapping scheme of ICP-RIE glass texturing by SF6/Ar plasma for high roughness and haze ratio of ITO films. It was observed that the variation of etching time, pattern size and Ar flow ratio during ICP-RIE process were important factors to improve the diffused transmittance and haze ratio of textured glass. The ICP-RIE textured glass showed low etching rates due to the presence of metal elements like Al, B, F and Na. The ITO films deposited on textured glass substrates showed the high RMS roughness and haze ratio in the visible wavelength region. The change in surface morphology showed negligible influence on electrical and structural properties of ITO films. The ITO films with high roughness and haze ratio can be used to improve the performance of thin film solar cells.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.254-257
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• 2008

We have investigated the effect of source/drain electrode deposition method on a performance of top gate structured ZnO TFT performance. TFT using S/D of ITO film, consisted of bi-layer which deposited by ion beam assisted sputtering at the initial stage then deposited by DC magnetron sputtering, showed better performance compared to that using S/D of ITO deposited by just DC magnetron sputtering. Two ITO films exhibited different grain shapes and these resulted in different etching properties. We also suspect that charge trapping on the glass substrate (back channel) during the ITO film deposition may influence the characteristics of top gate structured ZnO TFT.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2009.08a
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• pp.411-411
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• 2009