• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.291-297
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• 2010

This article introduces a facile nanoparticle self-assembly/annealing method for the preparation of nanoisland films. First, nanoparticle-polymer multilayer films are prepared with layer-by-layer assembly. Nanoparticle multilayer films are then annealed at $~500^{\circ}C$ in air to evaporate organic matters from the films. During the annealing process, the nanoparticles on the solid surface undergo nucleation and coalescence, resulting in the formation of nanostructured gold island arrays. By controlling the overall thickness (number of layers) of nanoparticle multilayer films, nanoisland films with various island density and different average sizes are obtained. The surface property of gold nanoisland films is further controlled by the self-assembly of alkanethiols, which results in an increased surface hydrophobicity of the films. The structure and characteristics of these nanoisland film arrays are found to be quite comparable to those of nanoisland films prepared by vacuum evaporation method. However, this self-assembly/annealing protocol is simple and requires only common laboratory supplies and equipment for the entire preparation process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.272.2-272.2
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• 2016

Copper-Tin (CuSn) thin films were synthsized by rf magnetron co-sputtering method with pure Cu and Sn metal targets with various rf powers and sputtering times. The obtained CuSn thin films were characterized by a surface profiler (alpha step), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy (XAES), and contact angle measurement. The deposition rates were calculated by the thickness of CuSn thin films and sputtering times. We observed hexagonal Cu20Sn6 and cubic Cu39Sn11 phases from the films by XRD measurement. From the survey XPS spectra, the Cu and Sn main peaks were observed. Therefore, we could conclude CuSn thin films were successfully fabricated on the substrate in this study. The changes of oxidation states and chemical environment of the films were investigated with high resolution XPS spectra in the regions of Cu 2p, Cu LMM, and Sn 3d. Surface free energy (SFE) and wettability of the CuSn thin films were studied with distilled water (DW) and ethylene glycol (EG) using the contact angle measurement. The total SFE of CuSn thin films decreased as rf power on Cu target increased. The contribution to the total SFE of dispersive SFE was relatively superior to polar SFE.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.175.1-175.1
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• 2015

CuSn thin films were deposited by rf magnetron co-sputtering method with pure Cu and Sn metal targets with a variety of rf powers. CuSn thin films were studied with a surface profiler (alpha step), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy (XAES), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and contact angle measurement. The thickness of CuSn thin films was fixed at $200{\pm}10nm$ and deposition rate was calculated by the measured with a surface profiler. From the survey XPS spectra, the characteristic peaks of Cu and Sn were observed. Therefore, CuSn thin films were successfully synthesized on the Si (100) substrate. The oxidation state and chemical environment of Cu and Sn were investigated with the binding energy regions of Cu 2p XPS spectra, Sn 3d XPS spectra, and Cu LMM Auger spectra. Change of the crystallinity of the films was observed with XRD spectra. Using contact angle measurement, surface free energy (SFE) and wettability of the CuSn thin films were studied with distilled water (DW) and ethylene glycol (EG).

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.349-349
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• 2009

High quality ZnO:Al films were prepared on glass substrates by in-line RF magnetron sputtering and their surface morphologies were modified by wet-etching process in dilute acid solution to improve optical properties for application to silicon thin film solar cells as front electrode. The as-deposited films show a strong preferred orientation in [001] direction under our experimental conditions. A low resistivity below $5{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and high optical transmittance above 80% in a visible range are achieved in the films deposited at optimized conditions. After wet-etching, the surface morphologies of the films are changed dramatically depending on the deposition conditions, especially working pressure. The optical properties such as total/diffuse transmittance, haze and angular resolved distribution of light are varied significantly with the surface morphology feature, whereas the electrical properties are seldom changed. The cell performances of silicon thin film solar cells fabricated on the textured films are also evaluated in detail with comparison of commercial $SnO_2$:F films.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.146-151
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• 2004

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used to make a transparent conducting film for various display devices and opto-electric devices. In this study, ITO films on glass substrate were fabricated by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted dc magnetron sputtering. A two-turn rf coil was inserted in the process chamber between the substrate and magnetron for the generation of ICP. The substrates were not heated intentionally. Subsequent post-annealing treatment for as-deposited ITO films was not performed. Low-temperature deposition technique is required for ITO films to be used with heat sensitive plastic substrates, such as the polycarbonate and acrylic substrates used in LCD devices. The surface roughness of the ITO films is also an important feature in the application of OLEDs along with the use of a low temperature deposition technique. In order to obtain optimum ITO thin film properties at low temperature, the depositions were carried out at different condition in changing of Ar and $O_2$ gas mixtures, ICP power. The electrical, optical and structural properties of the deposited films were characterized by four-point probe, UV/VIS spectrophotometer, atomic force microscopy(AFM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrical resistivity of the films was -l0$^{-4}$ $\Omega$cm and the optical transmittance in the visible range was ＞85%. The surface roughness ( $R_{rms}$) was -20$\AA$.>.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.121-125
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• 2004

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were deposited on Si(100) substrates at room temperature by RF magnetron sputtering from a NiO target. The effects of plasma gas and RF power on the crystallographic orientation and surface morphology of the NiO films were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed to characterize the deposited film. It was found that the type of plasma gases affected the crystallographic orientation, deposition rate, surface morphology, and crystallinity of NiO films. Highly crystalline NiO films with (100) orientation were obtained when it was deposited under Ar atmosphere. On the other hand, (l11)-oriented NiO films with poor crystallinity were deposited in $O_2$. Also, the increase in RF power resulted in not only higher deposition rate, larger grain size, and rougher surface but also higher crystallinity of NiO films.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.329-333
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• 2011

To develop wide-band noise absorbers with a special design for low-frequency performance, this study proposes a tin oxide (Sn-O) thin films as the noise absorbing materials in a microstrip line. Sn-O thin films were deposited on polyimide film substrates by reactive sputtering of the Sn target under flowing $O_{2}$ gas, exhibiting a wide variation of surface resistance (in the range of $10^{0}-10^{5}{\Omega}$) depending on the oxygen partial pressure during deposition. The microstrip line with characteristic impedance of $50\Omega$ was used for the measurement of noise absorption by the Sn-O films. The reflection parameter $(S_{11})$ increased with a decrease of surface resistance due to an impedance mismatch at the boundary between the film and the microstrip line. Meanwhile, the transmission parameter $(S_{21})$ diminished with a decrease of surface resistance resulting from an Ohmic loss of the Sn-O films. The maximum noise absorption predicted at an optimum surface resistance of the Sn-O films was about $150{\Omega}$. For this film, greater power absorption is predicted in the lower frequency region (about 70% at 1 GHz) than in conventional magnetic sheets of high magnetic loss, indicating that Ohmic loss is the predominant loss parameter for the conduction noise absorption in the low frequency band.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.193-197
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• 2023

Transparent and conducting titanium (Ti) doped indium oxide (TIO) thin films were deposited on the poly-imide (PI) substrate with radio frequency magnetron sputtering and then electron irradiation was conducted on the TIO film's surface to investigate the effect electron irradiation on the crystallization and opto-electrical properties of the films. All x-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern showed two diffraction peaks of the In₂O₂ (431) and (444) planes with regardless of the electron beam irradiation energy. In the AFM analysis, the surface roughness of as deposited films was 3.29 nm, while the films electron irradiated at 700 eV, show a lower RMS roughness of 2.62 nm. In this study, the FOM of as deposited TIO films is 6.82 × 10^-3 Ω^-1, while the films electron irradiated at 500 eV show the higher FOM value of 1.0 × 10^-2 Ω^-1. Thus, it is concluded that the post-deposition electron beam irradiation at 500 eV is the one of effective methods of crystallization and enhancement of opto-electrical performance of TIO thin film deposited on the PI substrate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 1998.02a
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• pp.87-89
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• 1998

The Y2O3 films on Si(111) was grown by ionized cluster beam depposition (ICBD) in ultrahigh-vacuum (UHV). The acceleration voltage and oxygen ppartial ppressure were fixed at 5 kV and 2$\times$10-5 Torr resppectively. The substrate tempperature was varied from 10$0^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$ in order to find the deppendence of crystallinity of Y2O3 films on the substrate tempperature. The crystallinity of the films with the substrate tempperature studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rutherford backscattering sppectroscoppy (RES). Surface crystallinity and surface morpphology of the films were also investigated using the reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and atomic force microscoppe (AFM) resppectively. The films grown at the substrate tempperature below 50$0^{\circ}C$showed the ppoly-crystalline structure of oxygen deficiency. On the contrary the single-crystalline structure was obtained at the substrate tempperature over 50$0^{\circ}C$ and the stochimetry was gradually matched as increasing the substrate tempperature. The surface morpphology showed the increase of the surface roughness as the substrate tempperature was increased upp to 50$0^{\circ}C$ The crystallinity of the film was not good and the minimum channeling yield $\chi$min was measured at 0.91 The stochiometric and high crystallinine film (surface $\chi$min=0.25) was obtained as the substrate tempperature increased upp to 60 $0^{\circ}C$ which indicate the tempperature was sufficient to migrate the depposited atom.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.60-65
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• 1998

Deposition conditions, surface morphology, and electrical properties of polyamic acid alkylamine salts (PAAS) Langmuir-Blodgett(LB) films have been investigated through a study of surface pressure-area $\pi$-A isotherms, AFM (atomic force microscopy), and current-voltage characteristics. To obtain the optimum conditions of film deposition, the $\pi$-A isotherms were examined by varying temperature, barrier moving speed, dipping speed, spreading amount of solution etc. The Z-type LB films were made at the surface pressure of 5 mN m-1 and 25 mN m-1 for the AFM study; the former surface pressure forms the gas phase and the latter one forms the solid phase. The LB film made in the gas phase show domains with a size of about 200 A diameter and 70 A height. However, the LB films made in the solid phase show a very smooth surface with 2 A surface roughness. In the current-voltage characteristics measured along the perpendicular direction of the films, ohmic conduction has been observed below 105 V cm-1 and the calculated electrical conductivity is about 10-13 S cm-1. Nonohmic conduction has been observed above = 10-11 V cm and the conduction mechanism can be explained by the Schottky effect.