• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.138.1-138.1
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• 2013

We present the low temperature (${\leq}1,000^{\circ}C$) vacuum sublimation behavior of an e-beam evaporative deposited on a SiC film and a method to reduce the vacuum sublimation through an ion beam process. The density of the SiC film deposited using the e-beam evaporation method was ~60% of the density of the bulk source material. We found that the sublimation became appreciable above ${\sim}750^{\circ}C$ under $1.5{\times}10^{-5}$ torr pressure and the sublimation rate increased with an increase in temperature, reaching ~70 nm/h at $950^{\circ}C$ when the coated sample was heated for 5 h. When the film was irradiated with 70 keV N+ ions prior to heating, the sublimation rate decreased to ~23 nm/h at a fluence of $1{\times}10^{17}\;ions/cm^2$. However, a further increase in fluence beyond this value or an extended heating period did not change (decrease or increase) the sublimation rate any further.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.154-155
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• 2012

The promise of nano-crystalites (nc) as a technological material, for applications including display backplane, and solar cells, may ultimately depend on tailoring their behavior through doping and crystallinity. Impurities can strongly modify electronic and optical properties of bulk and nc semiconductors. Highly doped dopant also effect structural properties (both grain size, crystal fraction) of nc-Si thin film. As discussed in several literatures, P atoms or radicals have the tendency to reside on the surface of nc. The P-radical segregation on the nano-grain surfaces that called self-purification may reduce the possibility of new nucleation because of the five-coordination of P. In addition, the P doping levels of ${\sim}2{\times}10^{21}\;at/cm^3$ is the solubility limitation of P in Si; the solubility of nc thin film should be smaller. Therefore, the non-activated P tends to segregate on the grain boundaries and the surface of nc. These mechanisms could prevent new nucleation on the existing grain surface. Therefore, most researches shown that highly doped nc-thin film by using conventional PECVD deposition system tended to have low crystallinity, where the formation energy of nucleation should be higher than the nc surface in the intrinsic materials. If the deposition technology that can make highly doped and simultaneously highly crystallized nc at low temperature, it can lead processes of next generation flexible devices. Recently, we are developing a novel CVD technology with a neutral particle beam (NPB) source, named as neutral beam assisted CVD (NBaCVD), which controls the energy of incident neutral particles in the range of 1~300eV in order to enhance the atomic activation and crystalline of thin films at low temperatures. During the formation of the nc-/pm-Si thin films by the NBaCVD with various process conditions, NPB energy directly controlled by the reflector bias and effectively increased crystal fraction (~80%) by uniformly distributed nc grains with 3~10 nm size. In the case of phosphorous doped Si thin films, the doping efficiency also increased as increasing the reflector bias (i.e. increasing NPB energy). At 330V of reflector bias, activation energy of the doped nc-Si thin film reduced as low as 0.001 eV. This means dopants are fully occupied as substitutional site, even though the Si thin film has nano-sized grain structure. And activated dopant concentration is recorded as high as up to 1020 #/$cm^3$ at very low process temperature (＜ $80^{\circ}C$) process without any post annealing. Theoretical solubility for the higher dopant concentration in Si thin film for order of 1020 #/$cm^3$ can be done only high temperature process or post annealing over $650^{\circ}C$. In general, as decreasing the grain size, the dopant binding energy increases as ratio of 1 of diameter of grain and the dopant hardly be activated. The highly doped nc-Si thin film by low-temperature NBaCVD process had smaller average grain size under 10 nm (measured by GIWAXS, GISAXS and TEM analysis), but achieved very higher activation of phosphorous dopant; NB energy sufficiently transports its energy to doping and crystallization even though without supplying additional thermal energy. TEM image shows that incubation layer does not formed between nc-Si film and SiO2 under later and highly crystallized nc-Si film is constructed with uniformly distributed nano-grains in polymorphous tissues. The nucleation should be start at the first layer on the SiO2 later, but it hardly growth to be cone-shaped micro-size grains. The nc-grain evenly embedded pm-Si thin film can be formatted by competition of the nucleation and the crystal growing, which depend on the NPB energies. In the evaluation of the light soaking degradation of photoconductivity, while conventional intrinsic and n-type doped a-Si thin films appeared typical degradation of photoconductivity, all of the nc-Si thin films processed by the NBaCVD show only a few % of degradation of it. From FTIR and RAMAN spectra, the energetic hydrogen NB atoms passivate nano-grain boundaries during the NBaCVD process because of the high diffusivity and chemical potential of hydrogen atoms.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.869-873
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• 2002

$Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ (CZTS) thin film is one of the candidate materials for the solar cell. It has an excellent optical absorption coefficient as well as appropriate 1.4~1.5eV band gap. The purpose of this study is replacing a half of high-cost Indium(In) atoms with low-cost Zinc(Zn) atoms and the other half with low-cost Tin(Sn) atoms in the lattice of CIS. In annealing process of thin films deposited with mixture target, the thin films were appeared the peeling. The resistivity was decreased. Thin films were deposited on ITO glass substrates using a compound target which were made by $CU_2S$, ZnS, $SnS_2$ powder were sintered in the atmosphere of Al at room temperature by rf magnetron sputtering We investigated potentialities of a low-cost material for the solar cell by measuring of thin film composition, the structure and optical properties. We could get an appropriate $Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ composition A (112) preferred orientation was appeared without annealing temperature as shown in the diffraction peaks of the CIS cells and was available for photovoltaic thin film materials. The band gap increased from 1.4 to 1.7eV as the composition ratio of Zn/Sn.. The optical absorption coefficient of the thin film was above $10^4cm^{-1}$.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2002

$Cu_2$$ZnSnS_4$(CZTS) thin film is one of the candidate materials for the solar cell. It has an excellent optical absorption coefficient as well as appropriate 1.4~1.5eV band gap. The purpose of this study is replacing a half of high-cost Indium(In) atoms with low-cost Zinc(Zn) atoms and the other half with low-cost Tin(Sn) atoms in the lattice of CIS. Thin films were deposited on ITO glass substrates using a compact target which were made by $Cu_2$S, ZnS, SnS$_2$ powder at room temperature by rf magnetron sputtering and were annealed in the atmosphere of Ar and $S_2$(g). We investigated potentialities of a low-cost material for the solar cell by measuring of thin film composition, the structure and optical properties. We could get an appropriate $Cu_2$$ZnSnS_4$ composition. Structure was coarsened with increasing temperature and (112), (200), (220), (312) planes appeared to conform to all the reflection Kesterite structure. A (112) preferred orientation was advanced with increasing the annealing temperature as shown in the diffraction peaks of the CIS cells and was available for photovoltaic thin film materials. The band gap increased from 1.51 to 1.8eV as the annealing temperature increased. The optical absorption coefficient of the thin film was about $10^4$$cm^{-1}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.333-333
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• 2011

We studied the H/D exchange kinetics of pure and acid dopped water-ice film by using the techniques of reactive ions scattering (RIS) and low energy sputtering (LES) with low kinetic energy cesium ion beam (<35 eV). From RIS, neutral water isotopomers were detected in the form of cesium-molecule ion clusters, $CsX^+$ (X= $H_2O$, HDO, $D_2O$). Ionic species, like $H_3O^+$, $DH_2O^+$, $D_2HO^+$, $D_3O^+$, adsorbed on the surface were ejected via LES process. Those techniques allowed us to trace the isotopomeric populations of water-ice film. To show the catalytic effect of excess proton in the H/D exchange reaction, our study was conducted with two types of water-ice films. In film 1, about 0.5 BL of $H_2O$ was adsorbed on HCl (0.1 ML) dopped $D_2O$ (8 BL) film. In film 2, similar amount of $H_2O$ used in film 1 was adsorbed on pure $D_2O$ film. Kinetic data were obtained from each film type for 90-110 K (film 1) and 110-130 K (film 2) and fitted with numerically integrated lines. Through the Arrhenius plot of kinetic coefficient deduced from fitting of the H/D exchange reaction, the activation energy of film 1 and 2 were estimated to be $10{\pm}3kJmol^{-1}$ and $17{\pm}4kJmol^{-1}$. This activation barrier difference could be understood from detailed pictures of H/D exchange. In film 2, both the formation of ion pair, $H_3O^+$ and OH. and proton transfer were needed for the H/D exchange. However, in film 1, only proton transfer was necessary but ion pair formation was not, so this might reduce the activation energy.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.1001-1007
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• 1996

The conduction mechanisms of the off-current in low temperature (.leq. >$600^{\circ}C$) processed polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (LTP poly-Si TFT'S) have been systematically studied. Especially, the temperature and bias dependence of the off-current between hydrogenated and nonhydrogenated poly-Si TFT's were investigated and compared. The off-current of nonhydrogenated poly-Si TF's is because of a resistive current at low gate and drain voltage, thermally activated current at high gate and low drain voltage, and Poole-Frenkel emission current in the depletion region near the drain at high gate and drain voltage. After hydrogenation it has shown that the off -current mechanism is caused mainly by thermal activation and that the field-induced current component is suppressed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.293.1-293.1
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• 2016

Various materials including conductive, dielectric, and semi-conductive materials, constitute suitable candidates for printed electronics. Metal nanoparticles (e.g. Ag, Cu, Ni, Au) are typically used in conductive ink. However, easily oxidized metals, such as Cu, must be processed at low temperatures and as such, photonic sintering has gained significant attention as a new low-temperature processing method. This method is based on the principle of selective heating of a strongly absorbent film, without light-source-induced damage to the transparent substrate. However, Cu nanoparticles used in inks are susceptible to the growth of a native copper-oxide layer on their surface. Copper-oxide-nanoparticle ink subjected to a reduction mechanism has therefore been introduced in an attempt to achieve long-term stability and reliability. In this work, a flash-light sintering process was used for the reduction of an inkjet-printed Cu(II)O thin film to a Cu film. Using a photographic lighting instrument, the intensity of the light (or intense pulse light) was controlled by the charged power (Ws). The resulting changes in the structure, as well as the optical and electrical properties of the light-irradiated Cu(II)O films, were investigated. A Cu thin film was obtained from Cu(II)O via photo-thermal reduction at 2500 Ws. More importantly, at one shot of 3000 Ws, a low sheet resistance value ($0.2527{\Omega}/sq.$) and a high resistivity (${\sim}5.05-6.32{\times}10^{-8}{\Omega}m$), which was ~3.0-3.8 times that of bulk Cu was achieved for the ~200-250-nm-thick film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10b
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• pp.267-268
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• 2002

Engine testing of new low-sulfur, low-phosphorus anti wear components is expensive and time consuming so bench testing of potential candidates is highly desirable as a first step evaluation. Electrical contact resistance (ECR) has been shown to be a convenient method to assess antiwear film formation in a ball-on-flat bench wear test. Correlation of the bench test to fired engines was demonstrated for lubricants varying only in the type of detergent. Previous papers have examined film formation by one and two component formulations of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZnDTP) and detergents. In this study, the ECR technique is systematically extended to formulations including ZnDTP, detergent, and dispersant. Both type and level of components are considered and the implications for engine performance are discussed.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.570-575
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• 1997

In this days, the thinner film of dielectric materials is required while its capacitance is required to be still large at the VLSI process. Most of such VLSI have MOS structures. For the research on this requirement, MOS capacitors were fabricated on the silicon wafer in four different thickness groups by RF sputtering method. SiO of the SiO/TiN film is used as the insulating layer and TiN is chosen as the barrier against the diffusion of Al which is the terminal connected by ohmic contact because TiN has the advantageous properties such as good thermal stability and very low diffusion rate in spite of its relatively low specific resistance. In this study their electrical and optical characteristics are investigated to find refractive index, absorption coefficient and Permittivity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.288-289
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• 2011

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is a typical highly Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) currently used as a transparent electrode material. Most widely used deposition method is the sputtering process for ITO film deposition because it has a high deposition rate, allows accurate control of the film thickness and easy deposition process and high electrical/optical properties. However, to apply high quality ITO thin film in a flexible microelectronic device using a plastic substrate, conventional DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) processed ITO thin film is not suitable because it needs a high temperature thermal annealing process to obtain high optical transmittance and low resistivity, while the generally plastic substrates has low glass transition temperatures. In the room temperature sputtering process, the electrical property degradation of ITO thin film is caused by negative oxygen ions effect. This high energy negative oxygen ions(about over 100eV) can be critical physical bombardment damages against the formation of the ITO thin film, and this damage does not recover in the room temperature process that does not offer thermal annealing. Hence new ITO deposition process that can provide the high electrical/optical properties of the ITO film at room temperature is needed. To solve these limitations we develop the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) system. The MFSS is based on DMS and it has the plasma limiter, which compose the permanent magnet array (Fig.1). During the ITO thin film deposition in the MFSS process, the electrons in the plasma are trapped by the magnetic field at the plasma limiters. The plasma limiter, which has a negative potential in the MFSS process, prevents to the damage by negative oxygen ions bombardment, and increases the heat(-) up effect by the Ar ions in the bulk plasma. Fig. 2. shows the electrical properties of the MFSS ITO thin film and DMS ITO thin film at room temperature. With the increase of the sputtering pressure, the resistivity of DMS ITO increases. On the other hand, the resistivity of the MFSS ITO slightly increases and becomes lower than that of the DMS ITO at all sputtering pressures. The lowest resistivity of the DMS ITO is $1.0{\times}10-3{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and that of the MFSS ITO is $4.5{\times}10-4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. This resistivity difference is caused by the carrier mobility. The carrier mobility of the MFSS ITO is 40 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$, which is significantly higher than that of the DMS ITO (10 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$). The low resistivity and high carrier mobility of the MFSS ITO are due to the magnetic field shielded effect. In addition, although not shown in this paper, the roughness of the MFSS ITO thin film is lower than that of the DMS ITO thin film, and TEM, XRD and XPS analysis of the MFSS ITO show the nano-crystalline structure. As a result, the MFSS process can effectively prevent to the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment and supply activation energies by accelerating Ar ions in the plasma; therefore, high quality ITO can be deposited at room temperature.