• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.281-287
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• 2005

Titanium aluminium nitride((TiAl)N) film is anticipated as an advanced coating film with wear resistance used for drills, bites etc. and with corrosion resistance at a high temperature. In this study, (TiAl)N thin films were deposited both at room temperature and at elevated substrate temperatures of 573 to 773 K by using a two-facing-targets type DC sputtering system in a mixture Ar and $N_2$ gases. Atomic compositions of the binary Ti-Al alloy target is Al-rich (25Ti-75Al (atm%)). Process parameters such as precursor volume %, substrate temperature and Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio were optimized. The crystallization processes and phase transformations of (TiAl)N thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The microhardness of (TiAl)N thin films were measured by a dynamic hardness tester. The films obtained with Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:3 and at 673 K substrate temperature showed the highest microhardness of $H_v$ 810. The crystallized and phase transformations of (TiAl)N thin films were $Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:3, $Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:1 and $TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 3:1. The above results are discussed in terms of crystallized phases and microhardness.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.137-137
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• 2009

Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) thin films for TFT channel were prepared by using a Facing Target Sputtering (FTS) system. To investigate the effect of oxygen on the optical and the electrical properties of amorphous InGaZnO(a-IGZO), we prepared thin films by FTS system in various oxygen atmospheres at room temperature. As-deposited IZTO thin films were investigated by using a UV/VIS spectrometer, an X-ray diffractometer, a Hall Effect measurement system, and an atomic force microscope. The quantitative analysis of the films was carried out by using the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) technique for the as-deposited film.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.18-21
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• 2005

A new technology for reducing photolithography process from a four step to a three step process in the fabrication of TFT LCD is introduced. The core technology for 3-mask-TFT processes is the lift-off process [1], by which the PAS and PXL layers can be formed simultaneously. A different method of the lift-off process was developed in order to enhance the performance of efficiency with conventional positive and not negative PR which is the generally used in other lift-off process. In addition, the removal capacity of the ITO/PR in lift-off process was evaluated. The evaluation results showed that the new process can be run in conventional TFT production condition. In order to apply this new process in existing TFT process, several tests were conducted to ensure stability of the TFT process. It was found that the outgases from PR on the substrate in ITO sputtering chamber do not raise any problem, and the deposited ITO film beside the PR has conventional ITO qualities. Furthemore, the particles that were produced due to the ITO chips in PR strip bath could be reduced by the existing filtering system of stripper. With the development of total process and design of the structure for TFT using this technology, 3-mask-panels were achieved in TN and IPS modes, which showed the same display performances as those with the conventional 4mask process. The applicability and usefulness of the 3-mask process has already verified in the mass production line and in fact it currently being used for the production of some products.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.163-163
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• 2015

The effect of nematic liquid crystal(5CB-4-Cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl) on the amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide thin film transistors(a-IGZO TFTs) was investigated. Through dropping the 5CB on the a-IGZO TFT's channel layer which is deposited by RF-magnetron sputtering, properties of a-IGZO TFTs was dramatically improved. When drain bias was induced, 5CB molecules were oriented by Freedericksz transition generating positive charges to one side of dipoles. From increment of the capacitance by orientation of liquid crystals, the drain current was increased, and we analyzed these phenomena mathematically by using MOSFET model. Transfer characteristic showed improvement such as decreasing of subthreshold slope(SS) value 0.4 to 0.2 and 0.45 to 0.25 at linear region and saturation region, respectively. Furthermore, in positive bias system(PBS), prevention effect for electron trapping by 5CB liquid crystal dipoles was observed, which showing decrease of threshold voltage shift [(${\delta}V$]_TH) when induced +20V for 1~1000sec at the gate electrode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2000.02a
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• pp.59-59
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• 2000

Recently low resistance of bus line is required for large screen size TFT-LCD panels. As a result, lower resistance Al-alloy is currently reviewed extensively. The resistivity is required smaller than 10 $\mu$$\Omega$cm. In this paper, Al-Nd thin film were deposited on glass substrates by D.C. magnetron sputtering system under various condition. Its properties were characterized by SEM, AFM, XRD, 4-ping-probe. The optimal condition of Al-Nd was 12$0^{\circ}C$, 125W, 0.4Pa, 30sccm(Ar) and 35$0^{\circ}C$, 20min. annealing. At that condition the resistivity of Al-Nd(2wt.%) was about 4 $\mu$$\Omega$cm. The minimum contact resistance of ITO/Nd was about 110$\mu$$\Omega$cm in the condition of 30$0^{\circ}C$, Ar 30 sccm. O2.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.98-103
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• 2013

In this work, we investigated the enhanced performance of IZO-based TFTs with $HfSiO_x$ gate insulators. Four types of $HfSiO_x$ gate insulators using different diposition powers were deposited by co-sputtering $HfO_2$ and Si target. To simplify the processing sequences, all of the layers composing of TFTs were deposited by rf-magnetron sputtering method using patterned shadow-masks without any intentional heating of substrate and subsequent thermal annealing. The four different $HfSiO_x$ structural properties were investigated x-ray diffraction(XRD), atomic force microscopy(AFM) and also analyzed the electrical characteristics. There were some noticeable differences depending on the composition of the $HfO_2$ and Si combination. The TFT based on $HfSiO_x$ gate insulator with $HfO_2$(100W)-Si(100W) showed the best results with a field effect mobility of 2.0[$cm^2/V{\cdot}s$], a threshold voltage of -0.5[V], an on/off ratio of 5.89E+05 and RMS of 0.26[nm]. This show that the composition of the $HfO_2$ and Si is an important factor in an $HfSiO_x$ insulator. In addition, the effective bonding of $HfO_2$ and Si reduced the defects in the insulator bulk and also improved the interface quality between the channel and the gate insulator.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.115-121
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• 2013

We fabricated thin film transistors (TFTs) using TiInZnO(TiIZO) thin films as active channel layer. The thin films of TiIZO were deposited at room temperature by RF-magnetron co-sputtering system from InZnO(IZO) and Ti targets. We examined the effects of titanium addition by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the electrical characteristics of the TFTs. The TiIZO TFTs were investigated according to the radio-frequency power applied to the Ti target. We found that the transistor on-off currents were greatly influenced by the composition of titanium addition, which suppressed the formation of oxygen vacancies, because of the stronger oxidation tendency of Ti relative to that of Zn or In. A optimized TiIZO TFT with rf power 40W of Ti target showed good performance with an on/off current ratio greater than $10^5$, a field-effect mobility of 2.09 [$cm^2/V{\cdot}s$], a threshold voltage of 2.2 [V] and a subthreshold swing of 0.492 [V/dec.].

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.540-542
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• 2009

Phosphorus doped ZnO (PZO) thin films were deposited on $SiO_2$/n-Si substrates using DC magnetron sputtering system varying oxygen partial pressures from 0 to 40 % under Ar atmosphere. The deposited films showed reduced n-type conductivity due to the compensating donor effects by phosphorus dopant. The bias-time stability shows relatively good stability over bias and time comparing to un-doped ZnO-based TFTs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.160-160
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• 2015

InGaZnO (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) are very promising due to their potential use in high performance display backplane [1]. However, the stability of IGZO TFTs under the various stresses has been issued for the practical IGZO applications [2]. Up to now, many researchers have studied to understand the sub-gap density of states (DOS) as the root cause of instability [3]. Nomura et al. reported that these deep defects are located in the surface layer of the IGZO channel [4]. Also, Kim et al. reported that the interfacial traps can be affected by different RF-power during RF magnetron sputtering process [5]. It is well known that these trap states can influence on the performances and stabilities of IGZO TFTs. Nevertheless, it has not been reported how these defect states are created during conventional RF magnetron sputtering. In general, during conventional RF magnetron sputtering process, negative oxygen ions (NOI) can be generated by electron attachment in oxygen atom near target surface and accelerated up to few hundreds eV by self-bias of RF magnetron sputter; the high energy bombardment of NOIs generates bulk defects in oxide thin films [6-10] and can change the defect states of IGZO thin film. In this study, we have confirmed that the NOIs accelerated by the self-bias were one of the dominant causes of instability in IGZO TFTs when the channel layer was deposited by conventional RF magnetron sputtering system. Finally, we will introduce our novel technology named as Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process [9-10] to eliminate the NOI bombardment effects and present how much to be improved the instability of IGZO TFTs by this new deposition method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.12-12
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• 2010

Time dependence of the shift of the threshold voltage of amorphous hafnium-indium-zinc oxide (a-HIZO) has been reported under on-current stress condition. a-HIZO thin films were deposited on $SiO_2$/Si (100) by rf magnetron sputtering. XPS measurement indicates that the Hf metal cations in a-HIZO system after annealing process reduce oxygen vacancies by binding oxygen. It was found that the Hf metal cation can be effectively incorporated in the IZO thin films as a suppressor against both the oxygen deficiencies and the carrier generation in the ZnO-based system.