• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.577-582
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• 2013

AZO (aluminum-doped zinc oxide) is one of the best candidate materials to replace ITO (indium tin oxide) for TCOs (transparent conductive oxides) used in flat panel displays, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and organic solar cells (OSCs). In the present study, to apply an AZO thin film to the transparent electrode of an organic solar cell, a low-temperature selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) process was adopted to deposit an AZO thin film on a flexible poly-ethylene-naphthalate (PEN) substrate. The reactive gases for the ALD process were di-ethyl-zinc (DEZ) and tri-methyl-aluminum (TMA) as precursors and H2O as an oxidant. The structural, electrical, and optical characteristics of the AZO thin film were evaluated. From the measured results of the electrical and optical characteristics of the AZO thin films deposited on the PEN substrates by ALD, it was shown that the AZO thin film appeared to be comparable to a commercially used ITO thin film, which confirmed the feasibility of AZO as a TCO for flexible organic solar cells in the near future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.65-66
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• 2006

Solubility of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been determined in various dispersing media by using the solvent parameters such as Kamlet-Taft parameter and 3-dimensional parameters. Nitric acid-treated SWNTs exhibit significantly improved solubility in hydrogen bondable solvents as well as in solvent mixtures. The forming bucky gel with ionic liquid allows for the new group of dissolving solvent. The dissolution behavior of SWNTs provides a route for SWNT dispersion/exfoliation in preparing electrically conductive films such as transparent electrode.

• 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.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.807-812
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• 2016

Transparent film heaters (TFHs) based on Joule heating are currently an active research area. However, TFHs based on an indium tin oxide (ITO) monolayer have a number of problems. For example, heating is concentrated in only part of the device. Also, heating efficiency is low because it has high sheet resistance ($R_s$). To address these problems, this study introduced hybrid layers of ITO/Ag/ITO deposited by magnetron sputtering, and the electrical, optical, and thermal properties were estimated for various thicknesses of the metal interlayer. The $R_s$ of ITO(40)/Ag/ITO(40 nm) hybrid TFHs were 5.33, 3.29 and $2.15{\Omega}/{\Box}$ for Ag thicknesses of 10, 15, and 20 nm, respectively, while the $R_s$ of an ITO monolayer (95 nm) was $59.58{\Omega}/{\Box}$. The maximum temperatures of these hybrid TFHs were 92, 131, and $145^{\circ}C$, respectively, under a voltage of 3 V. And that of the ITO monolayer was only $32^{\circ}C$. For the same total thickness of 95 nm, the heat generation rate (HGR) of the hybrid produced a temperature approximately $100^{\circ}C$ higher than the ITO monolayer. It was confirmed that the film with the lowest $R_s$ of the samples had the highest HGR for the same applied voltage. Overall, hybrid layers of ITO/Ag/ITO showed excellent performance for HGR, uniformity of heat distribution, and thermal response time.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.50.1-50.1
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• 2009

Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) play an important role in thin-film solar cells in terms of low cost and performance improvement. Al-doped ZnO (AZO) is a very promising material for thin-film solar cellfabrication because of the wide availability of its constituent raw materials and its low cost. In this study, AZO films were prepared by low pressurechemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) using trimethylaluminum (TMA), diethylzinc(DEZ), and water vapor. In order to improve the absorbance of light, atypical surface texturing method is wet etching of front electrode using chemical solution. Alternatively, LPCVD can create a rough surface during deposition. This "self-texturing" is a very useful technique, which can eliminate additional chemical texturing process. The introduction of a TMA doping source has a strong influence on resistivity and the diffusion of light in a wide wavelength range.The haze factor of AZO up to a value of 43 % at 600 nm was achieved without an additional surface texturing process by simple TMA doping. The use of AZO TCO resulted in energy conversion efficiencies of 7.7 % when it was applied to thep-i-n a-Si:H thin film solar cell, which was comparable to commercially available fluorine doped tin oxide ($SnO_2$:F).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.368-368
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• 2007

Zinc oxide (ZnO) has drawn much interest as a potential transparent conducting oxide (TCO) for applying to solar cell and front electrode of electro-luminescent devices. For the enhancement of electrical property of TCOs, dopant introduction and hybridization with conductive nanoparticles have been investigated. In this work, ZnO films were formed on glass substrate by using photochemical solution deposition of Ag nanoparticles dispersed or various metal (Ag, Cd, In, or Sn) contained photosensitive ZnO solutions. The usage of photosensitive solution permits us to obtain a micron-sized direct patterning of ZnO film without using conventional dry etching procedure. The structural, optical, and electrical characteristics of ZnO films with the introduction of metal dopants with/without Ag nanoparticles have been investigated to check whether there is a combined effect between metal dopants and Ag nanoparticles on the characteristics of ZnO film. The phase formation and crystallinity of ZnO film were monitored with X-ray diffractometer. The optical transmittance measurement was carried out using UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer and the electrical properties such as sheet resistance and conductivity were observed by using four-point probe.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.483-485
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• 2014

Transparent amorphous In-Si-O (ISO)/Ag/In-Si-O (ISO) has been reported for low emissivity (low-e) applications. Effective Si doping into the $In_2O_3$ matrix led to a completely amorphous ISO film as well as a low resistivity and a high optical transmittance. The optical and electrical performances were examined by measuring transmittance with a UV-VIS spectrophotometer and resistivity with a Hall effect measurement. Consequently, low-e glass with ISO/Ag/ISO showed a high transparency in the visible region and low emissivity in the infrared region, indicating that ISO is a promising amorphous transparent electrode for low-e glass.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.8-16
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• 1976

The conductive transparent film is prepared by spraying thin salt solution. In stannic chloride solution as a base solution, various dopants such as Al, Co, Cu and Ni were dissolved respectively as a chloride state and then the films were made by spraying solutions on hot glass plates. The properties of them were compared with those of the stannic salt single component film. The films doped with copper oxide and nickle oxide were improved by decreasing their sheet resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistivity. In comparison with the sheet resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistivity of stannic oxide single component film, being 2.5 K ohm/$\textrm{cm}^2$ and -1650ppm/$^{\circ}C$ respectively, its values of the film containing 15 mol % of copper oxide and formed at 40$0^{\circ}C$ were 2.5K ohm/$\textrm{cm}^2$ and -920ppm/$^{\circ}C$ respectively. The film containing 15 mol % of nickel oxide and formed at 50$0^{\circ}C$ has shown its sheet resistivity and temperature coefficient 0.7 K ohm/$\textrm{cm}^2$ and -940ppm/$^{\circ}C$ respectively.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.48-49
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• 2006

Highly conductive and transparent films of Ga-doped ZnO have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition using a ZnO target with 3 wt% ${Ga_2}{O_3}$ dopant. Films with the resistivity as low as $3.3{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ and the transmittance above 80 % at the wavelength of 400 to 800 nm can be fabricated on glass substrate at room temperature. It is shown that a stable resistivity for the use in oxidation ambient at high temperature can be obtained for the films. Heat treatments were performed to examine the thermal stability of ZnO and GZO films at ptemperature range from $100^{\circ}C$ to $400^{\circ}C$ in $O_2$ ambient for 30 minutes. The resistivity of ZnO film annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ increased by two orders of magnitude, in case of GZO film was relatively stable up to at $400^{\circ}C$. For practical applications at high temperatures the thermal stability of resistivity of GZO thin films might become an advantage for transparent electrodes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.404-405
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• 2007

Tin-doped indium thin film is outstanding material among transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) materials. ITO thin films show a low electrical resistance(<$10^{-4}\;[{\Omega}{\cdot}m]$) and high transmittance(>80%) in the visible range. ITO thin films usually have been deposited on the glass substrate. In order to apply flexible display, the substrate should have the ability to bend and be deposited without substrate heat. Also properties of ITO thin film depend on what kind of substrate. In this study, we prepared ITO thin film on the polycarbonate (PC) substrate by using Facing Target Sputtering (FTS) system. Before deposition of ITO thin film, PC substrate took plasma surface treatment. The electrical and surface properties of as-deposited thin films were investigated by Hall Effect measurement, UV/VIS spectrometer and the surface property of substrate is investigated by Contact angle measurement.