• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2023

In conventional liquid crystal display(LCD) manufacturing process, Indium Tin Oxide(ITO) as transparent electrode and rubbing process of polyimide as alignment layer are essential process to apply electric field and align liquid crystal molecules. However, there are some limits that deposition of ITO requires high vacuum state, and rubbing process might damage the device with tribolectric discharge. In this paper, we made nanocomposite with PEDOT:PSS and MWNT to replace ITO and constructed alignment layer by nano imprint lithography with nano wrinkle pattern, to replace rubbing process. These replacement made that only one PEDOT:PSS/MWNT film can function as two layers of ITO and polyimide alignment layer, which means simplification of process. Transferred nano wrinkle patterns functioned well as alignment layer, and we found out lowered threshold voltage and shortened response time as MWNT content increase, which is related to increment of electric conductivity of the film. Through this study, it may able to contribute to process simplification, reducing process cost, and suggesting a solution to disadvantage of rubbing process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.259-259
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• 2015

Single crystalline indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanowires (NWs) were grown by sputtering method. A thin Ni film of 5 nm was deposited before ITO sputtering. Thermal treatment forms Ni nanoparticles, which act as templates to diffuse Ni into the sputtered ITO layer to grow single crystalline ITO NWs. This Ni diffusion through an ITO NW was investigated by transmission electron microscope to observe the Ni-tip sitting on a single crystalline ITO NW. Meanwhile, a single crystalline ITO structure was found at bottom and body part of a single ITO NW without remaining of Ni atoms. This indicates the Ni atoms diffuse through the oxygen vacancies of ITO structure. Rapid thermal process (RTP) applied to generate an initial stage of a formation of Ni nanoparticles with variation in time periods to demonstrate the existence of an optimum condition to initiate ITO NW growth. Modulation in ITO sputtering condition was applied to verify the ITO NW growth or the ITO film growth. The Ni-assisted grown ITO layer has an improved electrical conductivity while maintaining a similar transmittance value to that of a single ITO layer. Electrically conductive and optically transparent nanowire-coated surface morphology would provide a great opportunity for various photoelectric devices.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.165-169
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• 2007

Compared to conventional Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) film deposition methods, cesium (Cs) assisted sputtering offers higher film characteristics in terms of electrical, mechanical and optical properties. However, it showed highly non-linear characteristics between process input factors and equipment responses. Therefore, to maximize film quality, optimization of manufacturing process is essential and process characterization is the first step for process optimization. For this, we designed 2 level design of experiment (DOE) to analyze ITO film characteristics including film thickness, resistivity and transmittance. DC power, pressure, carrier flow, Cs temperature and substrate temperature were selected for process input variables. Through statistical effect analysis methods, relation between three types of ITO film characteristics and five kinds of process inputs are successfully characterized and eventually, it can be used to optimize Cs assisted sputtering processes for various types of film deposition.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.82-86
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• 2021

In this study, we investigated the oxygen partial pressure effect of ITO films for electrodes of oxide-based Thin-Film Transistor (TFT). Firstly, we deposited single ITO films on the glass substrate at room temperature. ITO films were prepared at the various partial pressures of oxygen gas 0-7.4% (O₂/(Ar+O₂)). As increasing oxygen on the process of film deposition, electrical properties were improved and optical transmittance increased in the visible light range (300-800 nm). For the electrode of TFT, we fabricated a TFT device (W/L=1000/200 ㎛) with ITO films as the source and drain electrode on the silicon wafer. Except for the TFT device combined with ITO film prepared at the oxygen partial pressure ratio of 7.4%, We confirmed that TFT devices with ITO films via FTS system operated as a driving device at threshold voltage (V_th) of 4V.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.352-353
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• 2005

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film was polished by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) immediately after pad conditioning with the various conditioning temperatures by control of do-ionized water (DIW). Light transparent efficiency of ITO thin film was improved after CMP process after pad conditioning at the high temperature because the surface morphology was smoother by soften polishing pad and decreased particle size.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.192-196
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• 2011

The multi-layered thin film with an ITO/Ag/ITO structure was produced on PET by using magnetron reactive sputtering method. First, 30 nm of ITO thin film was coated on PET by using normal temperature process. Then 20-52 nm of the Ag thin film was coated. Lastly, 30 nm of ITO thin film was coated on Ag layer. The sample of the 20 nm Ag thin film showed more than 70% transmission and a $2.7{\Omega}/{\Box}$ sheet resistance. When compared to the existing single-layered transparent conducting thin film, multi-layered film was found to be superior with about $5{\Omega}/{\Box}$ less sheet resistance. However, since the Ag layer became thinner, the band gap energy needs to be increased to more than 3.5 eV.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.244.1-244.1
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• 2014

디스플레이 패널의 터치 스크린에 가장 널리 사용되는 ITO 전극은 사용자의 눈에 전극 면이 시각적으로 구분되지 않도록 해야 한다. 따라서 최근에는 ITO 전극 면이 구분되지 않도록 하기 위해 다층 박막으로 이루어진 인덱스 매칭(index matching, IM) 기술을 이용하여 ITO 전극 필름을 제작하고 있다. 이러한 인덱스 매칭된 ITO 필름은 기판이나 공정 조건, 인덱스 매칭 층의 물질 종류에 따라 ITO 박막의 전기적 광학적 특성이 각각 다르게 나타나기 때문에 이에 대한 많은 연구가 이루어지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 롤투롤 스퍼터링(roll to roll sputtering) 방법으로 고굴절과 저굴절이 순차적으로 코팅 처리된 PET 기판 위에 ITO 박막을 증착하여 IM-ITO 필름을 제작하고 전기적 광학적 특성을 관찰하였다. 이를 위해 습식(wet) 코팅 방법으로 저굴절층과 고굴절층을 PET 필름 위에 코팅하여 IM층을 제작한 PET 필름 위에 ITO 박막을 증착하고, $150^{\circ}C$로 후 열처리를 하여 인덱스 매칭된 ITO 필름을 제작하였다. 제작된 필름은 GIXD를 이용하여 박막의 구조와 결정성을 조사하였고, 면저항 측정기와 홀측정 장치를 이용하여 전기적 특성을 관찰하였다. 그리고 분광광도계와 탁도(haze) 측정기를 이용하여 광학적 특성을 조사하였다. 본 연구를 통해 롤투롤 스퍼터링 방법으로 유무기 복합막으로 구성된 IM-ITO 박막의 전기적 광학적 구조적 특성에 대해 보고하고자 한다.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.352-356
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• 2011

Transparent conducting oxide films like ITO/Au/ITO and AZO/Au/AZO were fabricated with a sputter at a low-temperature of less then $70^{\circ}C$ and their crystallization and opto-electrical properties were studied. X-ray diffractiometry showed that single-ITO layer was amorphous, whereas, ITO of ITO/Au/ITO multi-layer was crystal. The ITO crystallization and its orientation depended on Au crystallization. Surface roughness of the ITO-multi-layers were in the range of 29-88% of that of ITO-single layer. ITO on amorphous gold layer had more rough surface than ITO on crystal gold. The gold layer between ITO improved electrical conductivity. Carrier density, mobility, resistivity and sheet resistance of ITO-single layer were $2.3{\times}10^{19}/cm^3$, $85{\times}cm^2$/Vs, $31{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$, and $310{\times}{\Omega}/cm^2$, respectively. Those of ITO/Au/ITO-multi-layers depended on Au-interlayer-thickness, which were in the range of $3.6{\times}10^{19}{\sim}4.2{\times}10^{21}/cm^3$, $43{\sim}85cm^2$/Vs, $0.17{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}25{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$, and $1.7{\sim}20{\times}{\Omega}/cm^2$, respectively. The sheet resistances of the single-layer ITO and the multi-layer ITO were 310 and $2.7{\sim}21{\Omega}/cm^2$, respectively. That of AZO/Au/AZO was $8.6{\Omega}/cm^2$, which was better than the single-layer ITO.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.987-991
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• 2009

We report growth of vertically well-aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods on indium-tin oxide (ITO)/glass substrates using a simple aqueous solution method at low temperature via control of the ZnO seed layer morphology. ZnO nanoparticles acting as seeds are pre-coated on ITO-coated glass substrates. by spin coating to control distribution and density of the ZnO seed nanoparticles. ZnO nanorods were synthesized on the seed-coated substrates in a dipping process into a main growth solution. It was found that the alignment of ZnO nanorods can be effectively manipulated by the spin-coating speed of the seed layer. A grazing incidence X-ray diffraction pattern shows that the ZnO seed layer prepared using the higher spin-coating speed is of uniform seed distribution and a flat surface, resulting in the vertical growth of ZnO nanorods aligned toward the [0001] direction in the main growth process.