• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.573-579
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• 2011

Highly textured Ag, Al and Al:Si back reflectors for flexible n-i-p silicon thin-film solar cells were prepared on 100-${\mu}m$-thick stainless steel substrates by DC magnetron sputtering and the influence of their surface textures on the light-scattering properties were investigated. The surface texture of the metal back reflectors was influenced by the increased grain size and by the bimodal distribution that arose due to the abnormal grain growth at elevated deposition temperatures. This can be explained by the structure zone model (SZM). With an increase in the deposition temperatures from room temperature to $500^{\circ}C$, the surface roughness of the Al:Si films increased from 11 nm to 95 nm, whereas that of the pure Ag films increased from 6 nm to 47 nm at the same deposition temperature. Although Al:Si back reflectors with larger surface feature dimensions than pure Ag can be fabricated at lower deposition temperatures due to the lower melting point and the Si impurity drag effect, they show poor total and diffuse reflectance, resulting from the low reflectivity and reflection loss on the textured surface. For a further improvement of the light-trapping efficiency in solar cells, a new type of back reflector consisting of Ag/Al:Si bilayer is suggested. The surface morphology and reflectance of this reflector are closely dependent on the Al:Si bottom layer and the Ag top layer. The relationship between the surface topography and the light-scattering properties of the bilayer back reflectors is also reported in this paper.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2022

In this paper, we investigated current (I)- and voltage (V)-sweeping properties in a double-stack structure, Ge₂Sb₂Te₅/Ti/W-doped Ge₈Sb₂Te₁₁, a candidate medium for applications to multilevel phase-change memory. 200-nm-thick and W-doped Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ and W-doped Ge₈Sb₂Te₁₁ films were deposited on p-type Si(100) substrate using magnetron sputtering system, and the sheet resistance was measured using 4 point-probe method. The sheet resistance of amorphous-phase W-doped Ge₈Sb₂Te₁₁ film was about 1 order larger than that of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ film. The I- and V-sweeping properties were measured using sourcemeter, pulse generator, and digital multimeter. The speed of amorphous-to-multilevel crystallization was evaluated from a graph of resistance vs. pulse duration (t) at a fixed applied voltage (12 V). All the double-stack cells exhibited a two-step phase change process with the multilevel memory states of high-middle-low resistance (HR-MR-LR). In particular, the stable MR state is required to guarantee the reliability of the multilevel phase-change memory. For the Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (150 nm)/Ti (20 nm)/W-Ge₈Sb₂Te₁₁ (50 nm), the phase transformations of HR→MR and MR→LR were observed at t<30ns and t<65ns, respectively. We believe that a high speed and stable multilevel phase-change memory can be optimized by the double-stack structure of proper Ge-Sb-Te films separated by a barrier metal (Ti).

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.16-19
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• 2006

$2-\mu{m}$ thick GaN epilayer was prepared, and 80 KeV $Co^{-}$ ions with a dose of $3X10^{16}\;cm^{-2}$ were implanted into GaN at $350^{\circ}C$. The implanted samples were post annealed at $700^{\circ}C$. We have investigated the magnetic and structural properties of Co ion-implanted GaN by various measurements. HRXRD results did not show any peaks associated with second phase formation and only the diffraction from the GaN layer and substrate structure were observed. SIMS profiles of Co implanted into GaN before and after annealing at $700^{\circ}C$ have shown a projected range of $\sim390\AA$ with 7.4% concentration and that there is little movement in Co. AFM measurement shows the form of surface craters for $700^{\circ}C$-annealed samples. The magnetization curve and temperature dependence of magnetization taken in zero-field-cooling (ZFC) and field-cooling (FC) conditions showed the features of superparamagnetic system in film. XPS measurement showed the metallic Co 2p core levels spectra for $700^{\circ}C$-annealed samples. From this, it could be explained that magnetic property of our films originated from Co magnetic clusters.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.202-206
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• 2012

$CoSi_2$ was formed through annealing of atomic layer deposition Co thin films. Co ALD was carried out using bis(N,N'-diisopropylacetamidinato) cobalt ($Co(iPr-AMD)_2$) as a precursor and $NH_3$ as a reactant; this reaction produced a highly conformal Co film with low resistivity ($50\;{\mu}{\Omega}cm$). To prevent oxygen contamination, $ex-situ$ sputtered Ti and $in-situ$ ALD Ru were used as capping layers, and the silicide formation prepared by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was used for comparison. Ru ALD was carried out with (Dimethylcyclopendienyl)(Ethylcyclopentadienyl) Ruthenium ((DMPD)(EtCp)Ru) and $O_2$ as a precursor and reactant, respectively; the resulting material has good conformality of as much as 90% in structure of high aspect ratio. X-ray diffraction showed that $CoSi_2$ was in a poly-crystalline state and formed at over $800^{\circ}C$ of annealing temperature for both cases. To investigate the as-deposited and annealed sample with each capping layer, high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) was employed with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). After annealing, in the case of the Ti capping layer, $CoSi_2$ about 40 nm thick was formed while the $SiO_x$ interlayer, which is the native oxide, became thinner due to oxygen scavenging property of Ti. Although Si diffusion toward the outside occurred in the Ru capping layer case, and the Ru layer was not as good as the sputtered Ti layer, in terms of the lack of scavenging oxygen, the Ru layer prepared by the ALD process, with high conformality, acted as a capping layer, resulting in the prevention of oxidation and the formation of $CoSi_2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.218-218
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• 2012

Recently, hexagonal manganites have attracted much attention because of the coexistence of ferroelectricity and antiferromagnetic (AFM) order. The crystal structure of hexagonal manganites consists of $MnO_5$ polyhedra in which $Mn^{3+}$ ion is surrounded by three oxygen atoms in plane and two apical oxygen ions. The Mn ions within Mn-O plane form a triangular lattice and couple the spins through the AFM superexchange interaction. Due to incomplete AFM coupling between neighboring Mn ions in the triangular lattice, the system forms a geometrically-frustrated magnetic state. Among hexagonal manganites, $YMnO_3$, in particular, is the best known experimentally since the f states are empty. In addition, for applications, $YMnO_3$ thin films have been known as promising candidates for non-volatile ferroelectric random access memories. However, $YMnO_3$ has low magnetic order temperature (~70 K) and A-type AFM structure, which hinders its applications. We have synthesized $YMn1_{-x}Cr_xO_3$ (x = 0, 0.05 and 0.1) samples by the conventional solid-state reaction. The powders of stoichiometric proportions were mixed, and calcined at $900^{\circ}C$ for $YMn1_{-x}Cr_xO_3$ for 24 h. The obtained powders were ground, and pressed into 5-mm-thick disks of 1/2-inch diameter. The disks were directly put into the oven, and heated up to $1,300^{\circ}C$ and sintered in air for 24 h. The phase of samples was checked at room temperature by powder x-ray diffraction using a Rigaku Miniflex diffractometer with Cu $K{\alpha}$ radiation. All the magnetization measurements were carried out with a superconducting quantum-interference-device magnetometer. Our experiments point out that the Cr-doped samples show the characteristics of a spin-glass state at low temperatures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.293.1-293.1
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• 2016

Various materials including conductive, dielectric, and semi-conductive materials, constitute suitable candidates for printed electronics. Metal nanoparticles (e.g. Ag, Cu, Ni, Au) are typically used in conductive ink. However, easily oxidized metals, such as Cu, must be processed at low temperatures and as such, photonic sintering has gained significant attention as a new low-temperature processing method. This method is based on the principle of selective heating of a strongly absorbent film, without light-source-induced damage to the transparent substrate. However, Cu nanoparticles used in inks are susceptible to the growth of a native copper-oxide layer on their surface. Copper-oxide-nanoparticle ink subjected to a reduction mechanism has therefore been introduced in an attempt to achieve long-term stability and reliability. In this work, a flash-light sintering process was used for the reduction of an inkjet-printed Cu(II)O thin film to a Cu film. Using a photographic lighting instrument, the intensity of the light (or intense pulse light) was controlled by the charged power (Ws). The resulting changes in the structure, as well as the optical and electrical properties of the light-irradiated Cu(II)O films, were investigated. A Cu thin film was obtained from Cu(II)O via photo-thermal reduction at 2500 Ws. More importantly, at one shot of 3000 Ws, a low sheet resistance value ($0.2527{\Omega}/sq.$) and a high resistivity (${\sim}5.05-6.32{\times}10^{-8}{\Omega}m$), which was ~3.0-3.8 times that of bulk Cu was achieved for the ~200-250-nm-thick film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.426.2-426.2
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• 2016

Numerous of researches are being conducted to improve the efficiency of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ (CZTSe)-based photovoltaic devices, which is one of the most promising candidates for low cost and environment-friendly solar cells. In this work, we concentrate on the back contact of the devices. A proper thickness of $MoSe_2$ in back contact structure is believed to enhance adhesion and ohmic contact between Mo back contact and absorber layer. Nevertheless, too thick $MoSe_2$ layers that are grown during high-temperature selenization process can impede the current collection, thus resulting in low cell performance. By applying molybdenum nitride as a barrier in back contact structure, we were able to control the thickness of $MoSe_2$ layer, which resulted in lower series resistance and higher fill factor of CZTSe devices. The phase transformation of Mo-N binary system was systematically studied by changing $N_2$ concentration during the sputtering process. With a proper phase of Mo-N fabricated by using an adequate partial pressure of $N_2$, the efficiency of CZTSe solar cells as high as 8.31% was achieved while the average efficiency was improved by about 2% with respect to that of the referent cells where no barrier layer was employed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.170-170
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• 2009

aerosol deposition method(ADM)은 에어로졸화 된 고상의 원료분말을 노즐을 통해 분사시켜 소결과정을 거치지 않고도 상온에서 고밀도 후막을 제조할 수 있으며, 세라믹, 고분자, 금속 등의 다양한 코팅이 가능하다. 본 연구에서는 ADM들 이용하여 세라믹 후막 및 세라믹-폴리머 복합체 후막을 제조하였고 60 mm 노즐을 이용하여 대면적 세라믹 후막 성장도 시도되었다. 세라믹 후막의 원료로는 낮은 유전율과 우수한 품질계수를 갖는 $Al_2O_3$ 분말과 AlN의 분말이 사용되었으며, 세라믹에 비하여 높은 탄성과 1,500~2,000의 품질계수를 갖는 테프론(teflon) 분말이 세라믹과의 복합체 후막성장에 사용되었다. 세라믹-폴리머 복합체의 경우, 폴리머의 함유량에 따라 후막 내부의 결정립 크기가 20 때의 평균 결정립을 갚는 세라믹 후막에 비해 최대 10배 정도까지 증가하는 것을 확인할 수 있었으며, 이에 따라 후막에서의 유전특성 및 전기적인 특성, 열전도도, 투과율이 크게 변화하는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 물성 변화에 대한 원인 고찰을 위하여 후막의 미세구조 및 화학조성 등에 다양한 분석이 이루어졌으며, 상온에서 성막되는 후막의 고분자 기판으로의 응용을 위한 최적의 공정조건을 제시하고자 한다.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.241-246
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• 2003

The transparent conducting thin film of ATO (antimony-doped tin oxide) was successfully fabricated on$SiO_2$/glass substrate by a sol-gel dip coating method. The crystalline phase of the ATO thin film was identified as SnO$_2$ major phase and the film thickness was about 100 nm/layer at the withdrawal speed of 50 mm/minute. Optical transmittance and electrical resistivity of the 400 nm-thick ATO thin film which was annealed under nitrogen atmosphere were 84% and $5.0\times 10^{-3}\Omega \textrm{cm}$, respectively. It was found that the $SiO_2$ layer inhibited Na ion diffusion and the formation of impurities like $Na_2SnO_3$ or SnO while increasing Sb ion concentration and higher ratio of $Sb^{5+}/Sb^{3+}$in the film. Annealing at nitrogen atmosphere leads to the reduction of $Sn^{4+}$ as well as $Sb^{5+}$ resulting in decrease of the electrical resistivity of the film.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.271-274
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• 2016

The reliability and reproducibility of gas sensors are very important for real applications. The influence of nanofiber length and sensing film thickness on the reliability and response of gas sensing characteristics was investigated. For this, the length of $SnO_2$ nanofibers was controlled by tuning ultrasonic treatment and the different thicknesses of sensing films were prepared by manipulating the amount of slurry deposition. The sensor prepared from long nanofibers (length: ${\sim}3.6{\mu}m$) showed the significant fluctuation of gas sensing characteristics when the film becomes thinner than $18{\mu}m$, while that prepared from short nanofibers (length: ${\sim}0.9{\mu}m$) showed reproducible sensor response and resistance regardless of film thickness. Moreover, the shortening of nanofibers enhanced the gas response ~2 times, which can be explained by the increase of chemiresistive fiber-to-fiber contacts. The reproducibility, gas response, and selectivity of $SnO_2$ nanofiber gas sensor could be controlled by tuning nanofiber length, film thickness, and catalyst loading.