• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.33-38
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• 2021

Recently, rollable and foldable displays are attracting great attention in the flexible display market due to their excellent form factor. To predict and prevent the mechanical failure of the display panels, it is essential to accurately understand the mechanical properties of brittle SiN_x thin films, which have been used as an insulating film in flexible displays. In this study, tensile properties of the ~130 nm- and ~320 nm-thick SiN_x thin films were successfully measured by coating a ~190 nm-thick organic nano-support-layer (PMMA, PS, P3HT) on the fragile SiN_x thin films and stretching the films as a bilayer state. Young's modulus values of the ~130 nm and ~320 nm SiN_x thin films fabricated through the controlled chamber pressure and deposition power (A: 1250 mTorr, 450 W/B: 1000 mTorr, 600 W/C: 750 mTorr, 700 W) were calculated as A: 76.6±3.5, B: 85.8±4.6, C: 117.4±6.5 GPa and A: 100.1±12.9, B: 117.9±9.7, C: 159.6 GPa, respectively. As a result, Young's modulus of ~320 nm SiN_x thin films fabricated through the same deposition condition increased compared to the ~130 nm SiN_x thin films. The tensile testing method using the organic nano-support-layer was effective in the precise measurement of the mechanical properties of the brittle thin films. The method developed in this study can contribute to the robust design of the rollable and foldable displays by enabling quantitative measurement of mechanical properties of fragile thin films for flexible displays.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.49-49
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• 2010

Nanopiezotronics is an emerging area of nanotechnology with a variety of applications that include piezoelectric field-effect transistors and diodes, self-powered nanogenerators and biosystems, and wireless nano/biosensors. By exploiting coupled piezoelectric and semiconducting characteristics, it is possible for nanowires, nanobelts, or nanorods to generate rectifying current and potential under external mechanical energies such as body movement (handling, winding, pushing, and bending) and muscle stretching, vibrations (acoustic and ultrasonic waves), and hydraulic forces (body fluid and blood flow). Fully transparent, flexible (TF) nanogenerators that are operated by external mechanical forces will be presented. By controlling the density of the seed layer for ZnO nanorod growth, transparent ZnO nanorod arrays were grown on ITO/PES films, and a TF conductive electrode was stacked on the ZnO nanorods. The resulting integrated TF nanodevice (having transparency exceeding 70 %) generated a noticeable current when it was pushed by application of an external load. The output current density was clearly dependent on the force applied. Furthermore, the output current density depended strongly on the morphology and the work function of the top electrode. ZnO nanorod-based nanogenerators with a PdAu, ITO, CNT, and graphene top electrodes gave output current densities of approximately $1-10\;uA/cm^2$ at a load of 0.9 kgf. Our results suggest that our TF nanogenerators are suitable for self-powered TF device applications such as flexible self-powered touch sensors, wearable artificial skins, fully rollable display mobile devices, and battery supplements for wearable cellular phones.