• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.80-85
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• 2022

ZnO-based transparent conductive films have been widely studied to achieve high performance optoelectronic devices such as next generation flexible and transparent display systems. In order to achieve a transparent flexible ZnO-based device, a low temperature growth technique using a flexible polymer substrate is required. In this work, high quality flexible ZnO films were grown on colorless polyimide substrate using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Transparent ZnO films grown from 80 to 200℃ were fabricated with a metal-semiconductor-metal structure photodetectors (PDs). As the growth temperature of ZnO film increases, the photocurrent of UV PDs increases, while the sensitivity of that decreases. In addition, it is found that the response times of the PDs become shorter as the growth temperature increases. Based on these results, we suggest that high-quality ZnO film can be grown below 200℃ in an atomic layer deposition system, and can be applied to transparent and flexible UV PDs with very fast response time and high photocurrent.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1453-1454
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• 2011

We have investigated the effect of silicon contents (0~0.4 molar ratios) on the performance of solution processed silicon-indium-zinc oxide (SIZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). Despites its solution processed channel layer, low annealed temperature below $200^{\circ}C$ in air has been used for SIZO-TFTs. The $V_{th}$ is shifted from -4.04 to 5.15 V as increasing Si ratio in the SIZO-TFTs. The positive shift of $V_{th}$ as increasing Si contents in SIZO system indicates that Si suppresses the carrier generation in the active channel layer since $V_{th}$ is defined as the voltage required accumulating sufficient charge carriers to form a conductive channel path.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.863-867
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• 2008

In this paper, to increase the light current efficiency of photodiode, we fabricated aluminum-doped zinc oxide(AZO) thin films by RF magnetron sputtering. AZO thin films were deposited at low temperature of 100 $^{\circ}C$ and different RF powers of 50, 100, 150 and 200 W due to selective process technology. Then the AZO thin films were annealed at 400 $^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr in vacuum ambient to increase crystalline. The lowest resistivity of 1.35 ${\times}$ $10^{-3}$ ${\Omega}cm$ and a high transmittance over 90 % were obtained under the conditions of 3 mTorr, 100 'c and 150 W. The optimized AZO thin films were deposited as anti-reflection coating on PN junction of silicon photodiode. It was confirmed by the result of $V_r-I_{ph}$ curve that the efficiency of photodiode with AZO thin film was enhanced 17 % more than commercial photodiode.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.19.2-19.2
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• 2010

Printed electronics using printing process has broadened in all respects such as electrics (lighting, batteries, solar cells etc) as well as electronics (OLED, LCD, E-paper, transistor etc). Copper is considered to be a promising alternative to silver for printed electronics, due to very high conductivity at a low price. However, Copper is easily oxidized, and its oxide is non-conductive. This is the highest hurdle for making copper inks, since the heat and humidity that occurs during ink making and printing simply accelerates the oxidation process. A variety of chemical treatments including organic capping agents and metallic coating have been used to slow this oxidation. We have established synthetic conditions of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) which are resistant to oxidation and average diameter of 20 to 50nm. Specific resistivity should be less than $4\;{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ when sintered at lower temperature than $250^{\circ}C$ to be able to apply to conductive patterns of FPCBs using ink-jet printing. Through this study, the parameters to control average diameter of CuNPs were found to be the introduction of additive agent, the feeding rate of reducing agent, and reaction temperature. The CuNPs with various average diameters (58, 40, 26, 20nm) could be synthesized by controlling these parameters. The dispersed solution of CuNPs with an average size of 20 nm was made with nonpolar solvent containing 3 wt% of binder, and then coated onto glass substrate. After sintering the coated substrates at $250^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes in nitrogen atmosphere, metallic copper film resulted in a specific resistivity of $4.2\;{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.231-236
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• 2018

We report p-type electrical characteristics of the amorphous $La_2NiO_{4+{\delta}}$ thin films which were sputtered on the glass substrates using an RF sputtering system. As-deposited thin films at room temperature and $300^{\circ}C$ were amorphous in nature. Post-annealing of the thin film samples over $400^{\circ}C$ resulted in the nano-crystallization of the $La_2NiO_{4+{\delta}}$. The electrical properties of the films were much dependent on the oxygen partial pressure, temperature of the post-annealing and sputtering ambient. The as-deposited samples at room temperature show a hole concentration of $7.82{\times}10^{13}cm^{-3}$, and it could be increased as high as $3.51{\times}10^{22}cm^{-3}$ when the films were post-annealed in an oxygen atmosphere at $500^{\circ}C$. Such p-type conductivity behavior of the $La_2NiO_{4+{\delta}}$ films suggests that the amorphous and nano-crystallized $La_2NiO_{4+{\delta}}$ films have potential for the application as p-type semiconductive or conductive materials at low temperatures where material diffusion is limited.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.807-812
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• 2016

Transparent film heaters (TFHs) based on Joule heating are currently an active research area. However, TFHs based on an indium tin oxide (ITO) monolayer have a number of problems. For example, heating is concentrated in only part of the device. Also, heating efficiency is low because it has high sheet resistance ($R_s$). To address these problems, this study introduced hybrid layers of ITO/Ag/ITO deposited by magnetron sputtering, and the electrical, optical, and thermal properties were estimated for various thicknesses of the metal interlayer. The $R_s$ of ITO(40)/Ag/ITO(40 nm) hybrid TFHs were 5.33, 3.29 and $2.15{\Omega}/{\Box}$ for Ag thicknesses of 10, 15, and 20 nm, respectively, while the $R_s$ of an ITO monolayer (95 nm) was $59.58{\Omega}/{\Box}$. The maximum temperatures of these hybrid TFHs were 92, 131, and $145^{\circ}C$, respectively, under a voltage of 3 V. And that of the ITO monolayer was only $32^{\circ}C$. For the same total thickness of 95 nm, the heat generation rate (HGR) of the hybrid produced a temperature approximately $100^{\circ}C$ higher than the ITO monolayer. It was confirmed that the film with the lowest $R_s$ of the samples had the highest HGR for the same applied voltage. Overall, hybrid layers of ITO/Ag/ITO showed excellent performance for HGR, uniformity of heat distribution, and thermal response time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.168-168
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• 2010

Transparent conduction oxides (TCOs) films is extensively reported for optoelectronic devices application such as touch panels, solar cells, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and organic light emitting diodes(OLEDs). Among the many TCO film, indium tin oxide(ITO) is in great demand due to the growth of flat panel display industry. However, indium is not only high cost but also its deposits dwindling. Therefore, many studies are being done on the transparent conductive oxides(TCOs). We fabricated a target of IZTO(In2O3:ZnO:SnO2=70:15:15 wt.%) reduced indium. Then, IZTO thin films were deposited on glass substrates by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering with various oxygen flow ratio. The substrate temperature was fixed at the room temperature. We investigated the electrical, optical, structural properties of IZTO thin films. The electrical properties of IZTO thin films were dependent on the oxygen partial pressure. As a result, the most excellent properties of IZTO thin films were obtained at the 3% of oxygen flow rate with the low resistivity of $7.236{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$. And also the optical properties of IZTO thin films were shown the good transmittance over 80%. These IZTO thin films were used to fabricated organic light emitting diodes(OLEDs) as anode and the device performances studied. The OLED with an IZTO anode deposited at optimized deposition condition showed good brightness properties. Therefore, IZTO has utility value of TCO electrode although it reduced indium and we expect it is possible for the IZTO to apply to flexible display due to the low processing temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.151-151
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• 2009

Recently, there has been increasing interest in amorphous oxide semiconductors to find alternative materials for an amorphous silicon or organic semiconductor layer as a channel in thin film transistors(TFTs) for transparent electronic devices owing to their high mobility and low photo-sensitivity. The fabriction of amorphous oxide-based TFTs at room temperature on plastic substrates is a key technology to realize transparent flexible electronics. Amorphous oxides allows for controllable conductivity, which permits it to be used both as a transparent semiconductor or conductor, and so to be used both as active and source/drain layers in TFTs. One of the materials that is being responsible for this revolution in the electronics is indium-zinc-tin oxide(IZTO). Since this is relatively new material, it is important to study the properties of room-temperature deposited IZTO thin films and exploration in a possible integration of the material in flexible TFT devices. In this research, we deposited IZTO thin films on polyethylene naphthalate substrate at room temperature by using magnetron sputtering system and investigated their properties. Furthermore, we revealed the fabrication and characteristics of top-gate-type transparent TFTs with IZTO layers, seen in Fig. 1. The experimental results show that by varying the oxygen flow rate during deposition, it can be prepared the IZTO thin films of two-types; One a conductive film that exhibits a resistivity of $2\times10^{-4}$ ohm${\cdot}$cm; the other, semiconductor film with a resistivity of 9 ohm${\cdot}$cm. The TFT devices with IZTO layers are optically transparent in visible region and operate in enhancement mode. The threshold voltage, field effect mobility, on-off current ratio, and sub-threshold slope of the TFT are -0.5 V, $7.2\;cm^2/Vs$, $\sim10^7$ and 0.2 V/decade, respectively. These results will contribute to applications of select TFT to transparent flexible electronics.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.15-24
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• 2014

Recently, a variety of printing technologies, including ink jet, gravure, and roll-to-roll (R2R) printing, has generated intensive interest in the application of flexible and wearable electronic devices. However, the actual use of printing technique is much limited because the sintering process of the printed nanoparticle inks remains as a huge practical drawback. In the fabrication of the conductive metal film, a post-sintering process is required to achieve high conductivity of the printed film. The conventional thermal sintering takes considerable sintering times, and requires high temperatures. For application to flexible devices, the sintering temperature should be as low as possible to minimize the damage of polymer substrate. Several alternative sintering methods were suggested, such as laser, halogen lamp, infrared, plasma, ohmic, microwave, and etc. Eventually, the new sintering technique should be applicable to large area, R2R, and polymer substrate as well as low cost. This article reviews progress in recent technologies for several sintering methods. The advantages and disadvantages of each technology will be reviewed. Several issues for the application in R2R process are discussed.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.877-880
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• 2009

A curing process in post-printing section of R2R process is required for an electrical property of the printed pattern when devices such as RFID, Solar cell are printed. PEN as well as heat-stabilized PET which is used as a plastic substrate would be deformed at high temperature due to change of its elastic modulus. And crack in the printed pattern, which is on the plastic substrate is occurred due to the deformation of the substrate. The occurrence of crack causes electrical resistance to increase and the quality of the device to deteriorate. In case of RFID antenna, the range of reading distance is shortened as the electrical resistance of the antenna is increased. Therefore, the deformation of the plastic substrate, which causes the occurrence of crack, should be minimized by setting up low operating tension in R2R process. In low tension, slippage between a moving substrate and a roller would be generated when the operating speed is increased. And scratch would be occurred when slippage is generated due to an air entrainment, which is related to the thickness of the air film. The thickness of the air film is increased when operating speed is increased as shown by simulation based on mathematical model. The occurrence of scratch in conductive pattern printed by roll to roll process is a critical damage because it causes degradation or failure of electrical property of it.