• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.214-220
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• 2018

We report on the fabrication and photoelectrochemical(PEC) properties of a $Cu_2O$ thin film/ZnO nanorod array oxide p-n heterojunction structure with ZnO nanorods embedded in $Cu_2O$ thin film as an efficient photoelectrode for solar-driven water splitting. A vertically oriented n-type ZnO nanorod array was first prepared on an indium-tin-oxide-coated glass substrate via a seed-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method and then a p-type $Cu_2O$ thin film was directly electrodeposited onto the vertically oriented ZnO nanorods array to form an oxide semiconductor heterostructure. The crystalline phases and morphologies of the heterojunction materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy as well as Raman scattering. The PEC properties of the fabricated $Cu_2O/ZnO$ p-n heterojunction photoelectrode were evaluated by photocurrent conversion efficiency measurements under white light illumination. From the observed PEC current density versus voltage (J-V) behavior, the $Cu_2O/ZnO$ photoelectrode was found to exhibit a negligible dark current and high photocurrent density, e.g., $0.77mA/cm^2$ at 0.5 V vs $Hg/HgCl_2$ in a $1mM\;Na_2SO_4$ electrolyte, revealing an effective operation of the oxide heterostructure. In particular, a significant PEC performance was observed even at an applied bias of 0 V vs $Hg/HgCl_2$, which made the device self-powered. The observed PEC performance was attributed to some synergistic effect of the p-n bilayer heterostructure on the formation of a built-in potential, including the light absorption and separation processes of photoinduced charge carriers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.401-405
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• 2017

Because silicon thin film solar cells have a high absorption coefficient in visible light, they can absorb 90% of the solar spectrum in a $1-{\mu}m$-thick layer. Silicon thin film solar cells also have high transparency and are lightweight. Therefore, they can be used for building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems. However, the contact electrode needs to be replaced for fabricating silicon thin film solar cells in BIPV systems, because most of the silicon thin film solar cells use metal electrodes that have a high reflectivity and low transmittance. In this study, we replace the conventional aluminum top electrode with a transparent aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) electrode, the band level of which matches well with that of the intrinsic layer of the silicon thin film solar cell and has high transmittance. We show that the AZO effectively replaces the top metal electrode and the bottom fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate without a noticeable degradation of the photovoltaic characteristics.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 전력전자학회 2008년도 하계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.646-648
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• 2008

The multi-films of a metallic film and a transparent conducting oxide (TCO, indium-tin oxide, ITO) film were formed on the stainless steel 316 and 304 plates by a sputtering method and an E-beam method and then the external metallic region of the stainless steel bipolar plates was converted into the metal nitride films through an annealing process. The multi-film formed on the stainless steel bipolar plates showed the XRD patterns of the typical indium-tin oxide, the metallic phase and the metal substrate and the external nitride film. The XRD pattern of the thin film on the bipolar plates modified showed two metal nitride phases of CrN and $Cr_2N$ compound. Surface microstructural morphology of the multi-film deposited bipolar plates was observed by AFM and FE-SEM. The electrical resistivity of the stainless steel bipolar plates modified was evaluated.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.15-20
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• 2004

The interfacial layer between the oxide film and the metal film according to RTP annealing temperature of metal film has been studied. Two types of oxides, BPSG and PETEOS, were used as a bottom layer under multi-layered metal films. We observed the interface between oxide and metal films using SEM (scanning electron microscopy), TEM (transmission electron microscopy), AES (auger electron spectroscopy). Bonding failure was occurred by interfacial reaction between the BPSG oxide and the multi-layered metal films above $650^{\circ}C$ RTP anneal. The phosphorus accumulation layer was observed at interface between BPSG oxide and metal films by AES and TEM measurements. On the other hand, bonding was always good in the sample using PETEOS oxide as a bottom layer. We have known that adhesion between BPSG and multi-layered metal films was improved when the sample was annealed below $650^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.49-53
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• 2018

Recently, technologies for integrating various devices such as a flexible device, a transparent device, and a MEMS device have been developed. The key processes of heterogeneous device manufacturing technology are chip or wafer-level bonding process, substrate grinding process, and thin substrate handling process. In this study, the effect of Si substrate grinding process on the electrical properties of tin oxide thin films applied as transparent thin film transistor or flexible electrode material was investigated. As the Si substrate thickness became thinner, the Si d-spacing decreased and strains occurred in the Si lattice. Also, as the Si substrate thickness became thinner, the electric conductivity of tin oxide thin film decreased due to the lower carrier concentration. In the case of the thinner tin oxide thin film, the electrical conductivity was lower than that of the thicker tin oxide thin film and did not change much by the thickness of Si substrate.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• 제35권5호
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• pp.128-136
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• 2020

In the present experimental study, the effect of water-based iron(III) oxide nanofluid on the MFB(Minimum Film Boiling) point during quenching was investigated. As the highly heated test specimen, the cylindrical stainless steel rod was used, and as the test fluids, the water-based iron(III) oxide nanofluids of 0.001 and 0.01 vol% concentrations were prepared with the pure water. To examine the effect of location in the test specimen, the thermocouples were installed at the bottom and middle of wall, and center in the test specimen. Through a series of experiments, the experimental data about the influences of nanofluid concentrations, the number of repeated experiments, and locations in the test specimen on the reaching time to MFB point, MFBT(Minimum Film Boiling Temperature), and MHF(Minimum Heat Flux) were obtained. As a result, with increasing the concentration of nanofluid and the number of repeated experiments, the reaching time to MFB point was reduced, but the MFBT and MHF were increased. In addition, it was found that the effect of water-based iron(III) oxide nanofluid on the MFB point at the bottom of wall in the test specimen was observed to be greater than that at the middle of wall and center. In the present experimental ranges, as compared with the pure water, the water-based iron(III) oxide nanofluid showed that the maximum reduction of reaching time to MFB point was about 53.6%, and the maximum enhancements of MFBT and MHF were about 31.1% and 73.4%, respectively.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제9권6호
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• pp.276-280
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• 2010

Copper(Cu) as an interconnecting metal layer can replace aluminum (Al) in IC fabrication since Cu has low electrical resistivity, showing high immunity to electromigration compared to Al. However, it is very difficult for copper to be patterned by the dry etching processes. The chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process has been introduced and widely used as the mainstream patterning technique for Cu in the fabrication of deep submicron integrated circuits in light of its capability to reduce surface roughness. But this process leaves a large amount of residues on the wafer surface, which must be removed by the post-CMP cleaning processes. Copper corrosion is one of the critical issues for the copper metallization process. Thus, in order to understand the copper corrosion problems in post-CMP cleaning solutions and study the effects of DC biases and post-CMP cleaning solution concentrations on the Cu film, a constant voltage was supplied at various concentrations, and then the output currents were measured and recorded with time. Most of the cases, the current was steadily decreased (i.e. resistance was increased by the oxidation). In the lowest concentration case only, the current was steadily increased with the scarce fluctuations. The higher the constant supplied DC voltage values, the higher the initial output current and the saturated current values. However the time to be taken for it to be saturated was almost the same for all the DC supplied voltage values. It was indicated that the oxide formation was not dependent on the supplied voltage values and 1 V was more than enough to form the oxide. With applied voltages lower than 3 V combined with any concentration, the perforation through the oxide film rarely took place due to the insufficient driving force (voltage) and the copper oxidation ceased. However, with the voltage higher than 3 V, the copper ions were started to diffuse out through the oxide film and thus made pores to be formed on the oxide surface, causing the current to increase and a part of the exposed copper film inside the pores gets back to be oxidized and the rest of it was remained without any further oxidation, causing the current back to decrease a little bit. With increasing the applied DC bias value, the shorter time to be taken for copper ions to be diffused out through the copper oxide film. From the discussions above, it could be concluded that the oxide film was formed and grown by the copper ion diffusion first and then the reaction with any oxidant in the post-CMP cleaning solution.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• 제36권5호
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• pp.599-605
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• 2012

The physicochemical properties such as surface hardness, solvent mechanical wear resistance, and resistance to scratch properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) thin film prepared by vapor phase polymerization (VPP) was effectively improved by post-treatment of various metal alkoxide sol solutions. Metal oxide layer derived from sol-gel process of metal alkoxide was generated on the PEDOT thin film layer by VPP, resulting in improving mechanical properties of the conductive thin films without any deterioration of their original surface resistance. Several kinds of silicone and titanium alkoxide derivatives with various functional groups were used as metal alkoxide sol sources. Among them, PEDOT-metal oxide composite thin film derived tetraethyl orthosilicate showed the best performance in the terms of surface resistance, transmittance, and various physicochemical properties. The effect of metal alkoxide content in washing solution, oxidant content and drying temperature have been investigated in order to optimize the various properties of PEDOT-metal oxide composite thin film.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• 제40권5호
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• pp.1116-1125
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• 2023

Zinc oxide film is a transparent conductive material and is used in optoelectronic devices in various fields. Therefore, characterization of the zinc oxide film will play a very important role in improving the performance of optoelectronic devices. Here, we will evaluate the morphological and structural characteristics of such a zinc oxide film based on the solution process. Specifically, the sol-gel method will be repeatedly performed to observe the change in material properties of the zinc oxide film according to the number of times of spin-coating. It was confirmed that crystallization proceeded as a result of performing the sol-gel method repetitively 5 times under constant solution conditions. At 7 times or more, the element composition and crystallinity tended to converge to a specific value. The average crystal size of the final zinc oxide film was calculated to be about 10.7 nm. In this study, the number of processes showing optimal crystallization was 7 times. The results and methodology of this study can be applied while varying various solution process variables and are expected to contribute to establishing optimal process conditions.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.196-203
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• 2019

We report on the fabrication and characterization of an oxide photoanode with a zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod array embedded in cuprous oxide ($Cu_2O$) thin film, namely a $ZnO/Cu_2O$ oxide p-n heterostructure photoanode, for enhanced efficiency of visible light driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. A vertically oriented n-type ZnO nanorod array is first prepared on an indium-tin-oxide-coated glass substrate via a seed-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method and then a p-type $Cu_2O$ thin film is directly electrodeposited onto the vertically oriented ZnO nanorod array to form an oxide p-n heterostructure. The introduction of $Cu_2O$ layer produces a noticeable enhancement in the visible light absorption. From the observed PEC current density versus voltage (J-V) behavior under visible light illumination, the photoconversion efficiency of this $ZnO/Cu_2O$ p-n heterostructure photoanode is found to reach 0.39 %, which is seven times that of a pristine ZnO nanorod photoanode. In particular, a significant PEC performance is observed even at an applied bias of 0 V vs $Hg/Hg_2Cl_2$, which makes the device self-powered. The observed improvement in the PEC performance is attributed to some synergistic effect of the p-n bilayer heterostructure on the formation of a built-in potential including the light absorption and separation processes of photoinduced charge carriers, which provides a new avenue for preparing efficient photoanodes for PEC water splitting.