• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.243-249
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• 2011

To reduce manufacturing costs of crystalline silicon solar cells, silicon wafers have become thinner. In relation to this, the properties of the aluminium-back surface field (Al-BSF) are considered an important factor in solar cell performance. Generally, screen-printing and a rapid thermal process (RTP) are utilized together to form the Al-BSF. This study evaluates Al-BSF formation on a (111) textured back surface compared with a (100) flat back surface with variation of ramp up rates from 18 to $89^{\circ}C$/s for the RTP annealing conditions. To make different back surface morphologies, one side texturing using a silicon nitride film and double side texturing were carried out. After aluminium screen-printing, Al-BSF formed according to the RTP annealing conditions. A metal etching process in hydrochloric acid solution was carried out to assess the quality of Al-BSF. Saturation currents were calculated by using quasi-steady-state photoconductance. The surface morphologies observed by scanning electron microscopy and a non-contacting optical profiler. Also, sheet resistances and bulk carrier concentration were measured by a 4-point probe and hall measurement system. From the results, a faster ramp up during Al-BSF formation yielded better quality than a slower ramp up process due to temperature uniformity of silicon and the aluminium surface. Also, in the Al-BSF formation process, the (111) textured back surface is significantly affected by the ramp up rates compared with the (100) flat back surface.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 2005

$SnO_2$ films were prepared at room temperature under a $(CH_3)_4Sn-H_2-O_2$ atmosphere in order to obtain transparent conductive polymer by using ECR-MOCVD (Electron Cyclotron resonance -Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) system. The electrical properties of the films were investigated as function of process parameters such as deposition time, microwave power, magnetic current power, magnet/showering/substrate distance and working pressure. An increase in microwave power and magnetic current power brought on $SnO_2$ film formation with low electric resistivity. On the other hand, the effects of process parameters described above on optical properties were insignificant in the range of our experimental scope. The transmittance and reflectance of the films prepared by the ECR-MOCVD exhibited their average values of 93-98% at wave length range of 380-780 nm and 0.1-0.5%, respectively. The grain size of the $SnO_2$ films that are also insensitive with the process parameters were in the range of 20-50 nm. On the basis of experimental data obtained in the present study, electrical resistivity of $7.5{\times}10^{-3}ohm{\cdot}cm$, transmittance of 93%, and reflectance of 0.2% can be taken as optimum values.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.642-642
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• 2013

Graphene, two dimensional single layer of carbon atoms, has tremendous attention due to its superior property such as high electron mobility, high thermal conductivity and optical transparency. Especially, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown graphene has been used as a promising material for high quality and large-scale graphene film. Unfortunately, although CVD-grown graphene has strong advantages, application of the CVD-grown graphene is limited due to ineffective transfer process that delivers the graphene onto a desired substrate by using polymer support layer such as PMMA(polymethyl methacrylate). The transferred CVD-grown graphene has serious drawback due to remaining polymeric residues generated during transfer process, which induces the poor physical and electrical characteristics by a p-doping effect and impurity scattering. To solve such issue incurred during polymer transfer process of CVD-grown graphene, various approaches including thermal annealing, chemical cleaning, mechanical cleaning have been tried but were not successful in getting rid of polymeric residues. On the other hand, lithographical patterning of graphene is an essential step in any form of microelectronic processing and most of conventional lithographic techniques employ photoresist for the definition of graphene patterns on substrates. But, application of photoresist is undesirable because of the presence of residual polymers that contaminate the graphene surface consistent with the effects generated during transfer process. Therefore, in order to fully utilize the excellent properties of CVD-grown graphene, new approach of transfer and patterning techniques which can avoid polymeric residue problem needs to be developed. In this work, we carried out transfer and patterning process simultaneously with no polymeric residue by using a metal etch mask. The patterned thin gold layer was deposited on CVD-grown graphene instead of photoresists in order to make much cleaner and smoother surface and then transferred onto a desired substrate with PMMA, which does not directly contact with graphene surface. We compare the surface properties and patterning morphology of graphene by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy(AFM) and Raman spectroscopy. Comparison with the effect of residual polymer and metal on performance of graphene FET will be discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.699-704
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• 2018

One-dimensional nanostructures have attracted increasing attention because of their unique electronic, optical, optoelectrical, and electrochemical properties on account of their large surface-to-volume ratio and quantum confinement effect. Vertically grown nanowires have a large surface-to-volume ratio. The vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process has attracted considerable attention for its self-alignment capability during the growth of nanostructures. In this study, vertically aligned silicon oxide nano-pillars were grown on Si\$SiO_2$(300 nm)\Pt substrates using two-zone thermal chemical vapor deposition system via the VLS process. The morphology and crystallographic properties of the grown silicon oxide nano-pillars were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The diameter and length of the grown silicon oxide nano-pillars were found to be dependent on the catalyst films. The body of the silicon oxide nano-pillars exhibited an amorphous phase, which is consisted with Si and O. The head of the silicon oxide nano-pillars was a crystalline phase, which is consisted with Si, O, Pt, and Ti. The vertical alignment of the silicon oxide nano-pillars was attributed to the preferred crystalline orientation of the catalyst Pt/Ti alloy. The vertically aligned silicon oxide nano-pillars are expected to be applied as a functional nano-material.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.110-115
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• 2010

Transparent conducting gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) thin films which were deposited on Corning glass substrate using an Gun-type rf magnetron sputtering deposition technology. The GZO thin films were fabricated with an GZO ceramic target (Zn : 97[wt%], $Ga_2O_3$ : 3[wt%]). The GZO thin films were deposited by varying the growth conditions such as the substrate temperature, oxygen pressure. Among the GZO thin films fabricated in this study, the one formed at conditions of the substrate temperature of 200[$^{\circ}C$], Ar flow rate of 50[sccm], $O_2$ flow rate of 5[sccm], rf power of 80[W] and working pressure of 5[mtorr] showed the best properties of an electrical resistivity of $2.536{\times}10^{-4}[{\Omega}{\cdot}cm]$, a carrier concentration of $7.746{\times}10^{20}[cm^{-3}]$, and a carrier mobility of 31.77[$cm^2/V{\cdot}S$], which indicates that it could be used as a transparent electrode for thin film transistor and flat panel display applications.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.631-635
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• 2017

We report facile solution processing of mesoporous hematite (${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$) thin films for high efficiency solar-driven water splitting. $Fe_2O_3$ thin films were prepared on fluorine doped tin oxide(FTO) conducting substrates by spin coating of a precursor solution followed by annealing at $550^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. in air ambient. Specifically, the precursor solution was prepared by dissolving non-toxic $FeCl_3$ as an Fe source in highly versatile dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO) as a solvent. The as-deposited and annealed thin films were characterized for their morphological, structural and optical properties using field-emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The photoelectrochemical performance of the precursor (${\alpha}-FeOOH$) and annealed (${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$) films were characterized and it was found that the ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ film exhibited an increased photocurrent density of ${\sim}0.78mA/cm^2$ at 1.23 V vs. RHE, which is about 3.4 times higher than that of the ${\alpha}-FeOOH$ films ($0.23mA/cm^2$ at 1.23 V vs. RHE). The improved performance can be attributed to the improved crystallinity and porosity of ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ thin films after annealing treatment at higher temperatures. Detailed electrical characterization was further carried out to elucidate the enhanced PEC performance of ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ thin films.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.993-994
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• 2008

Electrochromic (EC) devices are capable of reversibly changing their optical properties upon charge injection and extraction induced by the external voltage. The characteristics of the EC device, such as low power consumption, high coloration efficiency, and memory effects under open circuit status, make them suitable for use in a variety of applications including smart windows and electronic papers. Coloration due to reduction or oxidation of redox chromophores can be used for EC devices (e-paper), but the switching time is slow (second level). Recently, with increasing demand for the low cost, lightweight flat panel display with paper-like readability (electronic paper), an EC display technology based on dye-modified $TiO_2$ nanoparticle electrode was developed. A well known organic dye molecule, viologen, was adsorbed on the surface of a mesoporous $TiO_2$ nanoparticle film to form the EC electrode. On the other hand, ZnO is a wide bandgap II-VI semiconductor which has been applied in many fields such as UV lasers, field effect transistors and transparent conductors. The bandgap of the bulk ZnO is about 3.37 eV, which is close to that of the $TiO_2$ (3.4 eV). As a traditional transparent conductor, ZnO has excellent electron transport properties, even in ZnO nanoparticle films. In the past few years, one-dimension (1D) nanostructures of ZnO have attracted extensive research interest. In particular, 1D ZnO nanowires renders much better electron transportation capability by providing a direct conduction path for electron transport and greatly reducing the number of grain boundaries. These unique advantages make ZnO nanowires a promising matrix electrode for EC dye molecule loading. ZnO nanowires grow vertically from the substrate and form a dense array (Fig. 1). The ZnO nanowires show regular hexagonal cross section and the average diameter of the ZnO nanowires is about 100 nm. The cross-section image of the ZnO nanowires array (Fig. 1) indicates that the length of the ZnO nanowires is about $6\;{\mu}m$. From one on/off cycle of the ZnO EC cell (Fig. 2). We can see that, the switching time of a ZnO nanowire electrode EC cell with an active area of $1\;{\times}\;1\;cm^2$ is 170 ms and 142 ms for coloration and bleaching, respectively. The coloration and bleaching time is faster compared to the $TiO_2$ mesoporous EC devices with both coloration and bleaching time of about 250 ms for a device with an active area of $2.5\;cm^2$. With further optimization, it is possible that the response time can reach ten(s) of millisecond, i.e. capable of displaying video. Fig. 3 shows a prototype with two different transmittance states. It can be seen that good contrast was obtained. The retention was at least a few hours for these prototypes. Being an oxide, ZnO is oxidation resistant, i.e. it is more durable for field emission cathode. ZnO nanotetropods were also applied to realize the first prototype triode field emission device, making use of scattered surface-conduction electrons for field emission (Fig. 4). The device has a high efficiency (field emitted electron to total electron ratio) of about 60%. With this high efficiency, we were able to fabricate some prototype displays (Fig. 5 showing some alphanumerical symbols). ZnO tetrapods have four legs, which guarantees that there is one leg always pointing upward, even using screen printing method to fabricate the cathode.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.267-271
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• 2010

Super hydrophilic and high transparent $TiO_2$ thin films were successfully fabricated by sol-gel method without an irradiation of UV light. In addition, surfactant Tween 80 was used for increasing the transmittance of the thin films. When the contents of Tween 80 in $TiO_2$ solution were 0.0, 1.0, 3.0, 5.0 wt%, the transmittance of $TiO_2$ thin films was ca. 74.31%, 74.25%, 79.69%, 81.99% at 550 nm wavelength, respectively. The contact angles of fabricated $TiO_2$ thin films with or without Tween 80 were from ca. $4.0^{\circ}$ to $4.5^{\circ}$. The $TiO_2$ thin films annealed over $400^{\circ}C$ showed anatase crystal structure and the photocatalytic property that decomposed methyl orange with UV irradiation. The surface morphologies, optical properties and contact angle of prepared thin films with different contents of Tween 80 were evaluated by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray diffratometer (XRD), UV-Vis spectrophotometer and contact angle meter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.56-56
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• 2010

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have attracted much attention as a promising material for transparent conducting films (TCFs), due to their superior electrical conductivity, high mechanical strength, and complete flexibility as well as their one-dimensional morphological features of extremely high length-to-diameter ratios. This study investigated three kinds of SWCNTs with different purities: as-produced SWCNTs (AP-SWCNTs), thermally purified SWCNTs (TH-SWCNTs), thermally and acid purified SWCNTs (TA-SWCNTs). The purity of each SWCNT sample was assessed by considering absorption peaks in the semiconducting ($S_{22}$) and metallic ($M_{11}$) tubes with UV-Vis NIR spectroscopy and a metal content with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The purity increased as proceeding the purification stages from the AP-SWCNTs through the thermal purification to the acid purification. The samples containing different contents of SWCNTs were dispersed in water using sodium dodecyl benzensulfate (SDBS). Aqueous suspensions of different purities of SWCNTs were prepared to have similar absorbances in UV-Vis absorption measurements so that one can make the TCFs possess similar optical transmittances irrespective of the SWCNT purity. Transparent conductive SWCNT networks were formed by spraying an SWCNT suspension onto a poly(ethyleneterephthalate) (PET) substrate. As expected, the TCFs fabricated with AP-SWCNTs showed very high sheet resistances. Interestingly, the TH-SWCNTs gave lower sheet resistances to the TFCs than the TA-SWCNTs although the latter was of higher purity in the SWCNT content than the former. The TA-SWCNTs would be shortened in length and be more bundled by the acid purification, relative to the TH-SWCNTs. For both purified (TH, TA) samples, the subsequent nitric acid ($HNO_3$) treatment greatly lowered the sheet resistances of the TCFs, but almost eliminated the difference of sheet resistances between them. This seems to be because the electrical conductivity increased not only due to further removal of surfactants but also due to p-type doping upon the acid treatment. The doping effect was likely to overwhelm the effect of surfactant removal. Although the nitric acid treatment resulted in the similar. electrical properties to the two samples, the TCFs of TH-SWCNTs showed much lower sheet resistances than those of the TA-SWCNTs prior to the acid treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.35D no.6
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• pp.21-27
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• 1998

Electrical and optical characteristics of ZnS:Mn/ZnS:Tb multilayer TFEL devices were investigated for multi-color electroluminescent display applications. Emission spectra of M $n^{2+}$ and T $b^{3+}$ ions were observed from ZnS:Mn/ZnS:Tb multi-layer TFEL devices, and were very broad from 540 nm to 640 nm. Saturation luminance measured at 155 V was 1025 Cd/$m^2$. C-V, $Q_{t}$ - $V_{p}$ curves showed that the phosphor capacitance ( $C_{p}$ ) and the insulator capacitance ( $C_{i}$ ) were 13.5nF/$\textrm{cm}^2$ and 60 nF/$\textrm{cm}^2$, respectively. Threshold voltage( $V_{thl}$) was shown to decrease from 126 V to 93 V due to the increase of the applied voltage from 155 V to 185 V, which was attributed to the increase of the polarization charge. The equation for the calculation of the threshold voltage as a function of the applied voltage was proposed for the first time. The calculated threshold voltage agreed well with the data obtained from the measurement.t.t.t.