• 한국재료학회지
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.175-180
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• 2010

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films are widely used for optoelectronic applications. Among TCO materials, zinc oxide (ZnO) has been studied extensively for its high optical transmission and electrical conduction. In this study, the effects of $O_2$ plasma pretreatment on the properties of Ga-doped ZnO films (GZO) on polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate were studied. The $O_2$ plasma pretreatment process was used instead of conventional oxide buffer layers. The $O_2$ plasma treatment process has several merits compared with the oxide buffer layer treatment, especially on a mass production scale. In this process, an additional sputtering system for oxide composition is not needed and the plasma treatment process is easily adopted as an in-line process. GZO films were fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering process. To improve surface energy and adhesion between the PEN substrate and the GZO film, the $O_2$ plasma pre-treatment process was used prior to GZO sputtering. As the RF power and the treatment time increased, the contact angle decreased and the RMS surface roughness increased significantly. It is believed that the surface energy and adhesive force of the polymer surfaces increased with the $O_2$ plasma treatment and that the crystallinity and grain size of the GZO films increased. When the RF power was 100W and the treatment time was 120 sec in the $O_2$ plasma pretreatment process, the resistivity of the GZO films on the PEN substrate was $1.05\;{\times}\;10^{-3}{\Omega}-cm$, which is an appropriate range for most optoelectronic applications.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2014년도 제46회 동계 정기학술대회 초록집
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• pp.336.2-336.2
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• 2014

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films are used as the Transparent Conducting Oxide (TCO), such as flat panel display, transparent electrodes, solar cell, touch screen, and various optical devices. ZnO has attracted attention as alternative materials to ITO film due to its resource availability, low cost, and good transmittance at the visible region. Recently, very thin film deposition is important. In order to minimize the damage caused by bending. However, ZnO thin film such as Ga-doped ZnO(GZO) has poor sheet resistance characteristics. To solve this problem, By adding the conductive metal on films can decrease the sheet resistance and increase the mobility of the films. In this study, We analyzed the electrical and optical characteristics of GZO/Ag/GZO (GAG) films by change in Ag and GZO thickness.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.131-135
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• 2020

Silver nanowire (AgNW) networks have been adopted as a front electrode in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells due to their low cost and compatibility with the solution process. When an AgNW network is applied to a CIGS thin film solar cell, reflection loss can increase because the CdS layer, with a relatively high refractive index (n ~ 2.5 at 550 nm), is exposed to air. To resolve the issue, we apply solution-processed ZnO nanorods to the AgNW network as an anti-reflective coating. To obtain high performance of the optical and electrical properties of the ZnO nanorod and AgNW network composite, we optimize the process parameters - the spin coating of AgNWs and the concentration of zinc nitrate and hexamethylene tetramine (HMT - to fabricate ZnO nanorods. We verify that 10 mM of zinc nitrate and HMT show the lowest reflectance and 10% cell efficiency increase when applied to CIGS thin film solar cells.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정보디스플레이학회 2009년도 9th International Meeting on Information Display
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• pp.1575-1577
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• 2009

We have investigated the characteristics of transparent indium zinc oxide(IZO)/Ag/IZO multilayer electrode grown on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates using a specially designed roll-to-roll sputtering system for use in flexible device are described. By the continuous R2R sputtering of the bottom IZO, Ag, and top IZO layers at room temperature, we were able to fabricate an IZO-Ag-IZO multilayer electrode with a sheet resistance of 6.15 ${\Omega}$/square, optical transmittance of 87.4 %, and figure of merit value of 42.03 10-3 ${\Omega}$-1. In addition, the IZO-Ag-IZO multilayer electrode exhibited superior flexibility to the RTR sputter grown single ITO electrode, due to the existence a ductile Ag layer between the IZO layers. This indicates that the RTR sputtered IZO-Ag-IZO multilayer is a promising flexible electrode that can substitute for the conventional single ITO electrode grown by bath type sputtering for use in low cost flexible device, due to its low resistance, high transparency, superior flexibility and fast preparation by the R2R process.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.81-85
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• 2017

$SnO_2/Ag/Nb_2O_5/SiO_2/SnO_2$ multilayer films were prepared on glass substrate by sequential using RF/DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The influence of top $SnO_2$ layer thickness on optical and electrical properties of the multilayer films was investigated. Experimentally measured results exhibit transmittances over 84.3 ~ 85.8% at 550 nm wavelength. As the top $SnO_2$ layer thickness increased from 40 to 55 nm, the sheet resistance (Rs) increased from 5.81 to $6.94{\Omega}/sq$. The Haacke's figure of merit (FOM) calculated for the samples with various $SnO_2$ layer thicknesses was a maximum at 45 nm ($35.3{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}^{-1}$).

• ETRI Journal
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• 제36권4호
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• pp.654-661
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• 2014

We develop accurate finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modeling of polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells containing Ag nanoparticles between the hole-transporting layer and the transparent conducting oxide-coated glass substrate in the wavelength range of 300 nm to 800 nm. The Drude dispersion modeling technique is used to model the frequency dispersion behavior of Ag nanoparticles, the hole-transporting layer, and indium tin oxide. The perfectly matched layer boundary condition is used for the top and bottom regions of the computational domain, and the periodic boundary condition is used for the lateral regions of the same domain. The developed FDTD modeling is employed to investigate the effect of geometrical parameters of Ag nanospheres on electromagnetic fields in devices. Although negative plasmonic effects are observed in the considered device, absorption enhancement can be achieved when favorable geometrical parameters are obtained.

• 한국재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국재료학회 2003년도 추계학술발표강연 및 논문개요집
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• pp.128-128
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• 2003

Electrochromism (EC) is defined as a phenomenon in which a change in color takes place in the presence of an applied voltage. Because of their low power consumption, high coloration efficiency, EC devices have a variety of potential applications in smart windows, mirror, and optical switching devices. An EC devices generally consist of a transparent conducting layer, electrochromic cathodic and anodic coloring materials and an ion conducting electrolyte. EC has been widely studied in transition metal oxides(e.g., WO$_3$, NiO, V$_2$O$\sub$5/) Among these materials, WO$_3$ is a most interesting material for cathodic coloration materials due to its lush coloration efficiency (CE), large dynamic range, cyclic reversibility, and low cost material. WO$_3$ films have been prepared by a variety of methods including vacuum evaporation, chemical vapor deposition, electrodeposition process, sol-gel synthesis, sputtering, and laser ablation. Sol-gel process is widely used for oxide film at low temperature in atmosphere and requires lower capital investment to deposit large area coating compared to vacuum deposition process.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.39-43
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• 2011

This study has lowered the specific resistance by coating a thin film layer of Ag, playing the role of the electron donor on the ZnO that is used usefully for the transparent conductive oxides. Presently, this study has examined the transmittance and electric characteristics according to the thickness of the Ag thin film layer. Also, this study has observed the transmittance and electric characteristics according to the uppermost ZnO thin film layer of ZnO/Ag/ZnO symmetric film and has conducted the theoretical investigation. In order to observe the transmittance and electric characteristics according to the thickness of the Ag thin film layer and the uppermost ZnO thin film layer, this study conducted the film deposition at room temperature while making use of the DC magnetron sputtering system. In order to see the changes in the thickness of the Ag thin film layer, this study coated a thin film while increasing by 4nm; and, in order to see the changes in the thickness of uppermost ZnO thin film layer, it performed the thin film coating by increasing by 5nm. From the experimental result, the researchers observed that the best transmittance could be obtained when the thickness of the Ag thin film layer was 8nm, but the resistance and mobility increased as the thickness got larger. On the other hand, when the thickness of the uppermost ZnO thin film layer was 20nm, the experiment yielded the best transmittance with excellent electric characteristics. Also, when compared the ZnO/Ag asymmetric film with the ZnO/Ag/ZnO symmetric film, the ZnO/Ag asymmetric film showed better transmittance and electric characteristics.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2011년도 제41회 하계 정기 학술대회 초록집
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• pp.125-125
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• 2011

In this study, we investigated the electrical, optical, structural, and surface properties of indium zinc oxide (IZO)/Ag/IZO multilayer electrode grown by specially designed roll-to-roll sputtering system using the flexible substrate. By the continuous roll-to-roll sputtering of the bottom IZO, Ag, and top IZO layers at room temperature, they were able to fabricate a high quality IZO/Ag/IZO multilayer electrode. At optimized conditions, the bottom IZO layer (40 nm) was deposited on a flexible substrate. After deposition of the Bottom IZO layer, Ag layer was deposited onto the bottom IZO film as a function of DC power (200~500 W). Subsequently, the top IZO layer was deposited onto the Ag layer at identical deposition conditions to the bottom IZO layer (40 nm). We investigated the characteristics of IZO/Ag/IZO multilayer electrode as a function of Ag thickness. It was found that the electrical and optical properties of IZO/Ag/IZO multilayer electrode was mainly affected thickness of the Ag layer at optimized condition. In case of IZO/Ag/IZO multilayer electrode with the Ag power (350W), it exhibited a low sheet resistance of 7.1 ohm/square and a high transparency of 86.4%. Furthermore, we fabricated the touch screen panel using the IZO/Ag/IZO multilayer electrode, which demonstrate the possibility of the IZO/Ag/IZO multilayer electrode grown by roll-to-roll sputtering system as a transparent conducting layer in the touch screen panel.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2006년도 하계학술대회 논문집 Vol.7
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• pp.450-450
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• 2006

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) as pixels for flat panel displays are being actively pursued because of their relatively simple structure, high brightness, and self-emitting nature [1, 2]. The top-emitting diode structure is preferred because of their geometrical advantage allowing high pixel resolution [3]. To enhance the performance of TOLEDs, it is important to deposit transparent top cathode films, such as transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), which have high transparency as well as low resistance. In this work, we report on investigation of the characteristics of an indium tin oxide (ITO) cathode electrode, which was deposited on organic films by using a radio-frequency magnetron sputtering method, for use in top-emitting organic light emitting diodes (TOLED). The cathode electrode composed of a very thin layer of Mg-Ag and an overlaying ITO film. The Mg-Ag reduces the contact resistivity and plasma damage to the underlying organic layer during the ITO sputtering process. Transfer length method (TLM) patterns were defined by the standard shadow mask for measuring specific contact resistances. The spacing between the TLM pads varied from 30 to $75\;{\mu}m$. The electrical properties of ITO as a function of the deposition and annealing conditions were investigated. The surface roughness as a function of the plasma conditions was determined by Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM).