• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.07c
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• pp.1357-1358
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• 2006

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film is a transparent electrode, which is widely applied to solar battery, illuminators, optical switches, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), and organic light emitting displays (OLEDs) due to its easy formation on glass substrates, goof optical transmittance, and good conductivity. ITO thin film is generally fabricated by various methods such as spray, CVD, evaporation, electron gun deposition, direct current electroplating, high frequency sputtering, and reactive DC sputtering. However, some problems such as peaks, bumps, large particles, and pin-holes on the surface of ITO thin film were reported, which caused the destruction of color quality, the reduction of device life time, and short-circuit. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) processis one of the suitable solutions which could solve the problems.

• 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 Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.336-341
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• 2008

Recently, research on a flat panel display(FPD) has focused on organic light-emitting display(OLED) which has wide angle of view, high contrast ratio and low power consumption. ITO(Indium-Tin-Oxide) films are the most widely used material as a transparent electrode of OLED and also in many other display devices like LCD or PDP. The performance and efficiency of OLED is related to the surface condition of ITO coated glass substrate. The typical surface defect of glass substrate is measured for electric characteristics and physical condition for transmittance and roughness. Since ITO coated glass substrate can be destroyed for inspection about surface roughness, sheet resistance, film thickness and transmittance, precise fabrication condition should be made based on the estimated relationship. In this paper, ITO films were prepared on the commercial glass substrate by the Ion-Plating method changing the partial pressure of gas(Ar, 02) and the chamber temperature between $200^{\circ}C$ and $300^{\circ}C$. The characteristics of films were examined by the 4-point probe, supersonic thickness measurement, transmittance measurement and AFM. We estimated the relationship between processing parameters(Ar gas, O2 gas, Temperature) and properties of ITO films (Sheet Resistance, Film Thickness, Transmittance, Surface Roughness).

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.260-264
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• 2007

We have studied stability in organic light-emitting diode depending on buffer layer and cathode. A transparent electrode of indium-tin-oxide(ITO) was used as an anode. An electron injection energy barrier into organic material is different depending on a work function of cathodes. Theoretically, the energy barriers for the electron injection are 1.2 eV, -0.1 eV, and 0.0 eV for Al, LiAl, and LiF/Al at 300 K, respectively. We considered the cases that holes are injected to organic light-emitting diode. The hole injection energy barrier is about 0.7 eV between ITO and TPD without buffer layer. For hole-injection buffer layers of CuPc and PEDOT:PSS, the hole injection energy barriers are 0.4 eV and 0.5 eV, respectively. When the buffer layer of CuPc and PEDOT:PSS is existed, we observed the effects of hole injection energy barrier, and a reduction of operating-voltage. However, in case of PVK buffer layer, the hole injection energy barrier becomes high(1.0 eV). Even though the operating voltage becomes high, the efficiency is improved. A device structure for optimal lifetime condition is ITO/PEDOT:PSS/TPD/$Alq_3$/LiAl at an initial luminance of $300cd/m^2$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.113.1-113.1
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• 2011

PEMS (printed electro-mechanical system) is fabricated by means of various printing technologies. Passive and active compo-nents in 2D or 3D such as conducting lines, resistors, capacitors, inductors and TFT(Thin Film Transistor), which are printed withfunctional materials, can be classified in this category. And the issue of PEMS is applied to a R2R process in the manu-facturing process. In many electro-devices, the vacuum process is used as the manufacturing process. However, the vacuum process has a problem, it is difficult to apply to a continuous process such as a R2R(roll to roll) printing process. In this paper, we propose an ESD (electro static deposition) printing process has been used to apply an organic solar cell of thin film forming. ESD is a method of liquid atomization by electrical forces, an electrostatic atomizer sprays micro-drops from the solution injected into the capillary with electrostatic force generated by electric potential of about several tens kV. ESD method is usable in the thin film coating process of organic materials and continuous process as a R2R manufacturing process. Therefore, we experiment the thin films forming of PEDOT:PSS layer and active layer which consist of the P3HT:PCBM. The organic solar cell based on a P3HT/PCBM active layer and a PEDOT:PSS electron blocking layer prepared from ESD method shows solar-to-electrical conversion efficiency of 1.42% at AM 1.5G 1sun light illumination, while 1.86% efficiency is observed when the ESD deposition of P3HT/PCBM is performed on a spin-coated PEDOT:PSS layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.158-161
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• 2004

We have studied a lifetime in organic light-emitting diodes depending on buffer layer. A transparent electrode of indium-tin-oxide(ITO) was used as an anode. And the cathode for electron injection was LiAl. Phthalocyanine Copper(CuPc), Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (PEDOT:PSS), or poly (9-vinylcarbazole)(PVK) material was used as a buffer layer. A thermal evaporation was performed to make a thickness of 40nm of TPD layer at a rate of $0.5{\sim}1\;{\AA}/s$ at a base pressure of $5{\times}10^{-6}\;torr$. A material of tris(8-hydroxyquinolinate) Aluminum($Alq_3$) was used as an electron transport and emissive layer. A thermal evaporation of $Alq_3$ was done at a deposition rate of $0.7{\sim}0.8[{\AA}/s]$ at a base pressure of $5{\times}10^{-6}\;torr$. By varying the buffer material, hole injection at the interface could be controlled because of the change in work function. Devices with CuPc and PEDOT:PSS buffer layer are superior to the other PVK buffer layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.166.1-166.1
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• 2014

We have controlled the graphene surface in two ways to improve the device performance of optoelectronics based on graphene transparent conductive films. We controlled multilayer graphene (MLG) work function and localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength using a silver nanoparticles formed on graphene surface. Graphene substrates were prepared using a chemical vapor deposition and transfer process. Various size of silver nanoparticles were prepared using a thermal evaporator and post annealing process on graphene surface. Silver nanoparticles were confirmed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Work functions of graphene surface with various sizes of Ag nanoparticles were measured using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). The result shows that the work functions of MLG could be controlled from 4.39 eV to 4.55 eV by coating different amounts of silver nanoparticles while minimal changes in the sheet resistance and transmittance. Also the Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) wavelength was investigated according to various sizes of silver nanoparticles. LSPR wavelength was measured using the absorbance spectrum, and we confirmed that the resonance wavelength could be controlled from 396nm to 425nm according to the size of silver nanoparticles on graphene surface. To confirm improvement of the device performance, we fabricated the organic solar cell based on MLG electrode. The results show that the work function and plasmon resonance wavelength could be controlled to improve the performance of optoelectronics device.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.287-287
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• 2010

We report a new direct patterning method, called liquid bridge-mediated nanotransfer molding (LB-nTM), for the formation of two- or three-dimensional structures with feature sizes between tens of nanometers and tens of micron over large areas. LB-nTM is based on the direct transfer of various materials from a mold to a substrate via a liquid bridge between them. This procedure can be adopted for automated direct printing machines that generate patterns of functional materials with a wide range of feature sizes on diverse substrates. Arrays of TIPS-PEN TFTs were fabricated on 4" polyethersulfone (PES) substrates by LB-nTM using PDMS molds. An inverted staggered structure was employed in the TFT device fabrication. A 150 nm-thick indium-tin oxide (ITO) gate electrode and a 200 nm-thick SiO2dielectric layer were formed on a PES substrate by sputter deposition. An array of TIPS-PEN patterns (thickness: 60 nm) as active channel layers was fabricated on the substrate by LB-nTM. The nominal channel length of the TIPS-PEN TFT was 10 mm, while the channel width was 135 mm. Finally, the source and drain electrodes of 200 nm-thick Ag were defined on the substrate by LB-nTM. The TIPS-PEN TFTs can endure strenuous bending and are also transparent in the visible range, and therefore potentially useful for flexible and invisible electronics.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.168.1-168.1
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• 2014

We developed poly (3,4-ethylene dioxylene thiophene):poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS)-free organic solar cells (OSCs) using buffer and anode combined Ta doped $In_2O_3$ (ITaO) electrodes. To optimize the ITaO electrodes, we investigated the effect of $Ta_2O_5$ doping power on the electrical, optical, and structural properties of the co-sputtered ITaO films. The optimized ITaO film doped with 20 W $Ta_2O_5$ radio frequency power showed sheet resistance of 17.11 Ohm/square, a transmittance of 93.45%, and a work function of 4.9 eV, all of which are comparable to the value of conventional ITO electrodes. The conventional bulk heterojunction OSC with ITaO anode showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.348% similar to the OSCs (3.541%) with an ITO anode. In addition, OSCs fabricated on an ITaO electrode successfully operated without an acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer and showed a PCE of 2.634%, which was much higher than the comparable no buffer OSC with an ITO anode. Therefore, co-sputtered ITaO electrodes simultaneously acting as a buffer and an anode layer can be considered promising transparent electrodes for cost-efficient and reliable OSCs because they can eliminate the use of an acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer.