• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.382-382
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• 2012

CIGS thin films have received great attention as a promising material for solar cells due to their high absorption coefficient, appropriate bandgap, long-term stability, and low cost production. CIGS thin films are deposited by various methods such as co-evaporation, sputtering, spray pyrolysis and electro-deposition. The deposition technique is one of the most important processes in preparing CIGS thin film solar cells. Among these methods, co-evaporation is one of the best technique for obtaining high quality and stoichiometric CIGS films. However, co-evaporation method is known to be unsuitable for commercialization. The sputtering is known to be very effective and feasible process for mass production. In this study, CIGS thin films have prepared by rf magnetron sputtering using a $Cu(In_{1-x}Ga_x)Se_2$ single quaternary target without post deposition selenization. This process has been examined by the effects of deposition parameters on the structural and compositional properties of the films. In addition, we will explore the influences of substrate temperature and additional annealing treatment after deposition on the characteristics of CIGS thin films. The thickness of CIGS films will be measured by Tencor-P1 profiler. The crystalline properties and surface morphology of the films will be analyzed using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The optical properties of the films will be determined by UV-Visible spectroscopy. Electrical properties of the films will be measured using van der Pauw geometry and Hall effect measurement at room temperature using indium ohmic contacts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.286-287
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• 2012

Reset-first resistive switching mechanism based on reduction reaction in HfO2-x with oxygen drift-diffusion was studied. we first report that the indirect evidence of local filamentary conductive path formation in bulk HfO2 film with local TiOx region at Ti top electrode formed during forming process and presence of anion-migration at interface between electrode and HfO2 during resistive switching through high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), electron disperse x-ray (EDX), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) mapping. Based on forming process mechanism, we expected that redox reaction from Ti/HfO2 to TiOx/HfO2-x was responsible for an increase of initial current with increasing the post-annealing process. First-reset resistive switching in above $350^{\circ}C$ annealed Ti/HfO2 film was exhibited and the redox phenomenon from Ti/HfO2 to TiOx/HfO2-x was observed with high angle annular dark field (HAADF) - scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), EDX and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Therefore, we demonstrated that the migration of oxygen ions at interface region under external electrical bias contributed to bipolar resistive switching behavior.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.255-255
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• 2011

Zinc oxide based thin films have been extensively studied in recent several years because they have very interesting properties and zinc oxide is non-poisonous, abundant and cheap material. ZnO films are employed in different applications like transparent conductive layers in solar cells, protective coatings and so on. Wide industrial application of the ZnO films requires of development of cheap, effective and scalable technology. Typically used technologies don't completely satisfy the industrial requirements. In the present work, we studied effect of the deposition parameters on the structure and properties of ZnO films deposited by DC arc plasmatron. The varied parameters were gas flow rates, precursor composition, substrate temperature and post-deposition annealing temperature. Vapor of Zinc acetylacetone was used as source materials, oxygen was used as working gas and argon was used as the cathode protective gas and a transport gas for the vapor. The plasmatron power was varied in the range of 700-1500 watts. Flow rate of the gases and substrate temperature rate were varied in the wide range to optimize the properties of the deposited coatings. After deposition films were annealed in the hydrogen atmosphere in the wide range of temperatures. Structure of coatings was investigated using XRD and SEM. Chemical composition was analyzed using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Sheet conductivity was measured by 4-point probe method. Optical properties of the transparent ZnO-based coatings were studied by the spectroscopy. It was shown that deposition by a DC Arc plasmatron can be used for low-cost production of zinc oxide films with good optical and electrical properties. Increasing of the oxygen content in the gas mixture during deposition allow to obtain high-resistive protective and insulation coatings with high adhesion to the metallic surface.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.281-286
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• 2007

Ordered $L1_0$ to FePt nanoparticles are strong candidates for high density magnetic data storage media because the $L1_0$ phase FePt has a very high magnetocrystalline anisotropy $(K_u{\sim}6.6-10{\times}10^7erg/cm^3)$, high coercivity and chemical stability. In this study, the ordered $L1_0$ FePt nanoparticles were successfully fabricated by chemical vapor condensation process without a post-annealing process which causes severe particle growth and agglomeration. The $Fe_{50}Pt_{50}$ nanopowder was obtained when the mixing ratio of Fe(acac) and Pt(arac) was 2.5 : 1. And the synthesized FePt nanoparticles were very fine and spherical shape with a narrow size distribution. The average particle size of the powder tended to increase from 5 nm to 10 nm with increasing reaction temperature from $800^{\circ}C$ to $1000^{\circ}C$. Characterisitcs of FePt nanopowder were investigated in terms of process parameters and microstructures.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.149-154
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• 1996

ZnO and Al-doped ZnO thin films were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating method and electrical and optical properties of films were investigated. Using the zinc acetate dihydrate and acetylaceton(AcAc) as a chelating agent stable ZnO sol was synthesized with HCl catalyst. Adding aluminium chloride to the ZnO sol Al-doped ZnO sol could be also synthesized. As Al contents increase the crystallinity of ZnO thin film was retarded by increased compressive stress in the film resulted from the difference of ionic radius between Zn2+ and Al3+ The thickness of ZnO and Al-doped ZnO thin film was in the range of 2100~2350$\AA$. The resistivity of ZnO thin films was measured by Van der Pauw method. ZnO and Al-doped ZnO thin films with annealing temperature and Al content had the resistivity of 0.78~1.65$\Omega$cm and ZnO and Al-doped ZnO thin film post-annealed at 40$0^{\circ}C$ in vacuum(5$\times$10-5 torr) showed the resistivity of 2.28$\times$10-2$\Omega$cm. And the trans-mittance of ZnO and Al-doped ZnO thin film is in the range of 91-97% in visible range.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.803-810
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• 1997

Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 thin films were deposited by RF magnetron sputliring method in order to clarify the anneal condition and doping effect on loakage current Nb and Al were selected as electron donor and acceptor dopants respectively, in the BST films because they have been known to have nearly same ionic radii as Ti and thought to substitute Ti sites to influence the charge carrier and the acceptor state adjacent to the gram boundary. BST thin films prepared in-situ at elevated temperature showed selatively high leakage current density and low breakdown voltage. In order to achieve smooth surface and to improve electrical properties, BST thin films were deposited at room temperature and annealed at elevated temperature. Post-annealed BST thin films showed smoother surface morphology and lower leakage current density than in-situ prepared thin films. The leakage current density of Al doped thin films was measured to be around 10-8A/cm2, which is much lower than those of undoped and Nb doped BST films. The result clearly demonstrates that higher Schottky barrier and lower mobile charge carrier concentration achieved by annealing in the oxygen atmosphere and by Al doping are desirable for reducing leakage current density in BST thin films.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.118-123
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• 2018

5 nm-thick $SiO_2$ layers formed by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are densified to improve the electrical and interface properties by using nitric acid oxidation of Si (NAOS) method at a low temperature of $121^{\circ}C$. The physical and electrical properties are clearly investigated according to NAOS times and post-metallization annealing (PMA) at $250^{\circ}C$ for 10 min in 5 vol% hydrogen atmosphere. The leakage current density is significantly decreased about three orders of magnitude from $3.110{\times}10^{-5}A/cm^2$ after NAOS 5 hours with PMA treatment, although the $SiO_2$ layers are not changed. These dramatically decreases of leakage current density are resulted from improvement of the interface properties. Concentration of suboxide species ($Si^{1+}$, $Si^{2+}$ and $Si^{3+}$) in $SiO_x$ transition layers as well as the interface state density ($D_{it}$) in $SiO_2/Si$ interface region are critically decreased about 1/3 and one order of magnitude, respectively. The decrease in leakage current density is attributed to improvement of interface properties though chemical method of NAOS with PMA treatment which can perform the oxidation and remove the OH species and dangling bond.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.560-564
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• 1998

CoPtCr magnetic layer was fabricated on the Cr underlayer by RF magnetron sputtering and the protective $SiO_2$ layer was deposited at room temperature. As the thickness of Cr underlayer increased, the coercive force of magnetic layer increased, then saturated slightly further increasing Cr underlayer thickness. Maximum coercive force was 860 Oe. It is thought that in-plane arrangement of magnetic phase and magnetic decoupling between the magnetic crystallites could lead to the increase of the coercive force. Post-annealing raised the coercive force exceedingly. and maximum coercive force value was 1650 Oe which was acquired from the sample annealed at 55$0^{\circ}C$ for 1hr.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2013

The $Cu_2ZnSnS_4$ (CZTS) thin film solar cell is a candidate next generation thin film solar cell. For the application of an absorption layer in solar cells, CZTS thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at substrate temperature of $300^{\circ}C$ without post annealing process. Deposition time was carefully adjusted as the main experimental variable. Regardless of deposition time, single phase CZTS thin films are obtained with no existence of secondary phases. Irregularly-shaped grains are densely formed on the surface of CZTS thin films. With increasing deposition time, the grain size increases and the thickness of the CZTS thin films increases from 0.16 to $1{\mu}m$. The variation of the surface morphology and thickness of the CZTS thin films depends on the deposition time. The stoichiometry of all CZTS thin films shows a Cu-rich and S-poor state. Sn content gradually increases as deposition time increases. Secondary ion mass spectrometry was carried out to evaluate the elemental depth distribution in CZTS thin films. The optimal deposition time to grow CZTS thin films is 150 min. In this study, we show the effect of deposition time on the structural properties of CZTS thin film deposited on soda lime glass (SLG) substrate using PLD. We present a comprehensive evaluation of CZTS thin films.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.285-290
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• 2000

BaM thin films were prepared by using RF magnetron sputtering system at room temperature, and then successively annealed to crystallize at 850$\^{C}$ using RTA. The structure and magnetic properties of post-annealed BaM films have been investigated using XRD and VSM, respectively. The dependences of partial oxygen gas pressure (Po2) on the characteristics of BaM films were investigated. Although mixing of spinel and BaM phase only was identified in 0.5 mTorr oxygen partial pressure, BaM phase only was identified in the range from 1 to 3 mTorr oxygen partial pressure. The saturation magnetization and perpendicular coercivity of BaM thin films decreases with increase of Po2 in the range of Pot between 0.5 and 3 mTorr.