• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.187-191
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• 2006

Sputter deposition followed by surface treatment was studied using reactive RF plasma as a method for preparing titanium oxide $(TiO_2)$ films on the FTO $(SnO_2: F)$ substrate for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Anatase structure $TiO_2$ films deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering under the conditions of $Ar/O_2(5%)$ mixtures, RF power of 600W and substrate temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ were surface-treated by inductive coupled plasma (ICP) with $Ar/O_2$ mixtures at substrate temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, and thus the films were applied to the DSCs. We have chosen a solar cell width as a variable of a large-scaled DSCs and confirmed electric characteristics of an individual cell. As a result, the higher the internal resistance of DSC becomes, the wider the width gets. Internal resistance makes it difficult to collect photoelectron generated from dye. Ultimately up sizing DSC causes the increase of internal resistance and then has a bad effect on the cell characteristics.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.35-39
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• 2019

Effect of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) chalcogen composition on plasma induced damage was investigated by using Ar ions and F radicals. Experiments were carried out with three different modes; the physical etching, the chemical etching, and the ion-enhanced chemical etching mode. For the physical etching by Ar ions, the sputtering yield was obtained according to ion bombarding energy and there was no change in GST composition ratio. In the plasma mode, the lowest etch rate was measured at the same applied power and there was also no plasma induced damage. In the ion-enhanced chemical etching conditions irradiated with high energy ions and F halogen radicals, the GST composition ratio was changed according to the density of F radicals, resulting in higher roughness of the etched surface. The change of GST composition ratio in halogen plasma is caused by the volatility difference of GST-halogen compounds with high energy ions over than the activation energy of surface reactions.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.375-382
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• 2019

Homogeneous multicomponent indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) ceramics for transparent electrode targets are prepared from the oxides and nitrates as the source materials, and their properties are characterized. The selected compositions were $In_2O_3:Ga_2O_3:ZnO$ = 1:1:2, 1:1:6, and 1:1:12 in mole ratio based on oxide. As revealed by X-ray diffraction analysis, calcination of the selected oxide or nitrides at $1200^{\circ}C$ results in the formation of $InGaZnO_4$, $InGaZn_3O_6$, and $InGaZn_5O_8$ phases. The 1:1:2, 1:1:6, and 1:1:12 oxide samples pressed in the form of discs exhibit relative densities of 96.9, 93.2, and 84.1%, respectively, after sintering at $1450^{\circ}C$ for 12 h. The $InGaZn_3O_6$ ceramics prepared from the oxide or nitrate batches comprise large grains and exhibit homogeneous elemental distribution. Under optimized conditions, IGZO multicomponent ceramics with controlled phases, high densities, and homogeneous microstructures (grain and elemental distribution) are obtained.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.347-352
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• 2010

This study reports a novel method off abricating highly sensitive hydrogen gas sensors based on PdO thin films. The PdO thin films with a thickness of 40 nm were deposited on Si substrates under Ar and $O_2$ ambient conditions using a reactive de magnetron sputtering system. Considerable changes in the resistance of the palladium oxide thin films were observed when they were initially exposed to hydrogen gas, as a result of the reduction process. The sensitivity of the PdO thin films was found to be as high as 90%. After the thin films were exposed to hydrogen gas, the nano-sized cracks were discovered to have formed on the surface of the PdO thin films. These types of nano-cracks that formed on the deoxidized PdO thin films are known to play a key role incausing a four-fold reduction of the response time of the absorption process. The results of this study demonstrate that deoxidized PdO thin films can be applied for use in the creation of high-sensitivity hydrogen sensors.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.619-625
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• 2021

Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) based thin-film solar cells have attracted growing attention because of their earth-abundant and non-toxic elements. However, because of their large open-circuit voltage (V_oc)-deficit, CZTSSe solar cells exhibit poor device performance compared to well-established Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ (CIGS) and CdTe based solar cells. One of the main causes of this large V_oc-deficit is poor absorber properties for example, high band tailing properties, defects, secondary phases, carrier recombination, etc. In particular, the fabrication of absorbers using physical methods results in poor surface morphology, such as pin-holes and voids. To overcome this problem and form large and homogeneous CZTSSe grains, CZTSSe based absorber layers are prepared by a sputtering technique with different RTA conditions. The temperature is varied from 510 ℃ to 540 ℃ during the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Further, CZTSSe thin films are examined with X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, IPCE, Energy dispersive spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy techniques. The present work shows that Cu-based secondary phase formation can be suppressed in the CZTSSe absorber layer at an optimum RTA condition.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.250-254
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• 2021

A highly sensitive and selective non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) carbon dioxide gas sensor requires achieving high transmittance and narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM), which depends on the interface of the optical filter for precise measurement of carbon dioxide concentration. This paper presents the design, simulation, and fabrication of a Fabry-Perot filter based on a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) for a low-cost NDIR carbon dioxide sensor. The Fabry-Perot filter consists of upper and lower DBR pairs, which comprise multilayered stacks of alternating high- and low-index thin films, and a cavity layer for the resonance of incident light. As the number of DBR pairs inside the reflector increases, the FWHM of the transmitted light becomes narrower, but the transmittance of light decreases substantially. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the relationship between the FWHM and transmittance according to the number of DBR pairs. The DBR is made of silicon and silicon dioxide by RF magnetron sputtering on a glass wafer. After the optimal conditions based on simulation results were realized, the DBR exhibited a light transmittance of 38.5% at 4.26 ㎛ and an FWHM of 158 nm. The improved results substantiate the advantages of the low-cost and minimized process compared to expensive commercial filters.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.130-135
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• 2023

Plasma-resistant ceramic (PRC) is a material used to prevent internal damage in plasma processing equipment for semiconductors and displays. The challenge is to suppress particles falling off from damaged surfaces and increase retention time in order to improve productivity and introduce the latest miniaturization process. Here, we confirmed the effect of suppressing plasma deterioration and reducing the etch rate through surface treatment of existing PRC with an initial illumination level of 200 nm. In particular, quartz glass showed a decrease in etch rate of up to 10%. Furthermore, it is believed that micro-scale secondary particles formed on the microstructure of each material grow as crystals during the fluoridation process. This is a factor that can act as a killer defect when dropped, and is an essential consideration when analyzing plasma resistance. The plasma etching suppression effect of the initial illumination is thought to be due to partial over etching at the dihedral angle of the material due to the sputtering of re-emission of Ar+-based cations. This means that plasma damage due to densification can also be interpreted in existing PRC studies. The research results are significant in that they present surface treatment conditions that can be directly applied to existing PRC for mass production and a new perspective to analyze plasma resistance in addition to simple etching rates.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2003

The spectroe-ellipsometric constant $\Delta$, Ψ and the ellipsometric growth curves at the wavelength of 632.8 nm are collected. These are critically examined to find out the optimum growth condition of phase change $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5(GST)$ thin films as an optical recording medium. GST films are prepared using DC magnetron sputtering technique, under the selected experimental conditions of Ar gas pressure (5 mTorr, 7 mTorr and 10 mTorr), DC power of sputtering gun (15 W, 30 W and 45 W), and substrate temperature (from room temperature to 18$0^{\circ}C$). Based on the three film model, the density distribution of deposited GST films are obtained versus Ar gas pressure and DC power by analyzing spectro-ellipsometric data. The calculated evolution curves at the wavelength of 632.8 nm, are fit into the in situ observed ones to get information about the evolution of density distribution during film growth. The density distribution showed different evolution curves depending on deposition conditions. The GST films fabricated at DC power of 30 W or 45 W, and at Ar gas pressure of 7 mTorr turned out to be the most homogeneous one out of those prepared at room temperature, even though the maximum density difference between the dense region and the dilute region of the GST film was still significant (~50%). Finally, in order to find the optimum growth condition of homogeneous GST thin films, the substrate temperature is varied while Ar gas pressure is fixed at 7 mTorr and DC power at 30 W and 45 W respectively. A monotonic decrease of void fraction except for a slight increase at 18$0^{\circ}C$ is observed as the substrate temperature increases. Decrease of void fraction indicates an increase of film density and hence an improvement of film homogeneity. The optimum condition of the most homogeneous GST film growth turned out to be 7 mTorr of Ar gas pressure, 15$0^{\circ}C$ of substrate temperature. and 45 W of DC power. The microscopic images obtained using scanning electron microscope, of the samples prepared at the optimum growth condition, confirmed this conclusion. It is believed that the fabrication of homogeneous GST films will be quite beneficial to provide a reliable optical recording medium compatible with repeated write/erase cycles.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.146-152
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• 2000

Lithium doped zinc oxide(ZnO:Li) films are prepared by rf magnetron sputtering on Corning 7059 glass substrate using specifically designed ZnO targets containing different amount of $Li_2CO_3$ powder as the Li doping source. The structural properties of the Li doped ZnO films are investigated by XRD, SEM and AFM. The electrical properties of the ZnO:Li films are measured for various deposition conditions, such as the substrate temperature, $O_2$/Ar gas ratio and rf power. The effects of the $Li_2CO_3$ content in target and the deposition conditions on the structural and electrical properties were studied. When ZnO:Li films were sputtered at the substrate temperature of $200^{\circ}C$, $O_2$/Ar gas ratio of 100% and rf power of 100W with a target containing less than 1wt% content of $Li_2CO_3$, showed good surface morphology, strong c-axis orientation and high resistivity of more than $10^8{\Omega}cm$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.6-13
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• 2006

Tin doped indium oxide(ITO) and Al doped zinc oxide(ZnO:Al) films, which are widely used as a transparent conductor in optoelectronic devices, were prepared by using the capacitively coupled DC magnetron sputtering method. ITO and ZnO:Al films with the optimum growth conditions showed each resistivity of $1.67{\times}10^{-3}[{\Omega}-cm],\;2.2{\times}10^{-3}[{\Omega}-cm]$ and transmittance of 89.61[%], 90.88[%] in the wavelength range of the visible spectrum. The two types of 5 inch-PDP cells with ZnO:Al and ITO transparent electrodes were made under the same manufacturing conditions. The PDP cell with ZnO:Al film was optimally operated in the mixing gas rate of Ne(base)-Xe(8[%]), and at gas pressure of 400[Torr]. It also shows the average measured brightness of $836[cd/m^2]$ at voltage range of $200{\sim}300$[V]. Luminous efficiency, one of the key parameter for high brightness and low power consumption, ranges from 1.2 to 1.6[lm/W] with increasing frequency of ac power supplier from 10 to 50[Khz]. The brightness and luminous efficiency are lower than those with ITO electrode by about 10[%]. However, these values are considered to be enough for the normal operation of PDP TV.