• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.158-163
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• 2012

In this work, we have fabricated the $TiO_2$ thin films on Si and glass, polymer insulator substrates as the self-cleaning coating of polymer insulator. $TiO_2$ films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering method with $TiO_2$ ceramic target and $TiO_2$ films of 100 nm thickness were fabricated with various RF powers. We have investigated the optical and surface, and structural properties of $TiO_2$ films prepared with various RF powers. As a result, the value of the contact angle of $TiO_2$ thin film is increased with increasing RF power and the value of the rms surface roughness is increased. The transmittance is decreased with increasing RF power. These results indicate that the variation of the surface and optical properties of $TiO_2$ thin films is related to the sputtering effects by increasing RF power.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.70-76
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• 2011

High-quality double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) were synthesized by catalytic decomposition method at $800^{\circ}C$ using Tetrahydrofuran. The as-synthesized DWCNTs typically have catalytic impurities and amorphous carbon, which were removed by two-step purification process, consisting of thermal oxidation and H2O2, HNO3, HCl treatment. The DWCNT suspension was prepared by dispersing the purified DWCNTs in an aqueous sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate solution with horn-type sonication. This was then sprayed on ITO glass to fabricate CNT field emitters. The quality of purified DWCNTs was estimated with X-ray diffraction and Thermal Gravity Analysis. The field emission properties were improved by increasing the process time of HCl treatment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.230-230
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• 2013

In amorphous or microcrystalline thin-film silicon solar cells, p-i-n structure is used instead of p/n junction structure as in wafer-based Si solar cells. Hence, these p-i-n structured solar cells inevitably consist of many interfaces and the cell efficiency critically depends on the effective control of these interfaces. In this study, in-situ plasma treatment process of the interfaces was developed to improve the efficiency of a-Si:H solar cell. The p-i-n cell was deposited using a single-chamber VHF-PECVD system, which was driven by a pulsed-RF generator at 80 MHz. In order to solve the cross-contamination problem of p-i layer, high RF power was applied without supplying SiH4 gas after p-layer deposition, which effectively cleaned B contamination inside chamber wall from p-layer deposition. In addition to the p-i interface control, various interface control techniques such as thin layer of TiO2 deposition to prevent H2 plasma reduction of FTO layer, multiple applications of thin i-layer deposition and H2 plasma treatment, H2 plasma treatment of i-layer prior to n-layer deposition, etc. were developed. In order to reduce the reflection at the air-glass interface, anti-reflective SiO2 coating was also adopted. The initial solar cell efficiency over 11% could be achieved for test cell area of 0.2 $cm^2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.538-539
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• 2013

여러 장점으로 인해 OLED는 디스플레이 및 조명 등 적용분야가 넓어지고 있지만, 수분 및 산소에 취약하여 그 수명이 제한되는 단점이 있다. 이를 해결하고자 현재까지는 glass cap을 이용한 encapsulation 기술이 적용되고 있지만, flexible 기판에 적용하지 못하는 문제가 있다. 이러한 문제를 해결하고자 여러 가지 thin film encapsulation 기술이 적용되고 있으나 보다 신뢰성이 높은 기술의 개발이 절실한 때이다. Encapsulation 무기 박막 물질로서 $Si_3N_4$ 박막은 PE-CVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) 등의 박막 증착법을 사용한 많은 연구가 진행되어, 저온에서의 좋은 품질의 박막 증착이 가능하지만, 100도 이하의 thermal budget을 갖는 OLED Encapsulation에 사용하기에는 충분하지 않았다. CVD 박막의 특성을 더욱 개선하기 위해 최근 ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) 방법을 통한 $Al_2O_3$ film 증착 방법이 연구되고 있지만, 낮은 증착 속도로 인해 양산에 걸림돌이 되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 또 다른 해결책으로서 Digital CVD 방법을 이용한 양질의 $Si_3N_4$ 박막의 증착을 연구하였다. 이것은 ALD 증착법과 유사하며, 1st step에서 PECVD 방법으로 4~5 ${\AA}$의 얇은 silicon 박막을 증착하고, 2nd step에서 nitrogen plasma를 이용하여 질화 반응을 진행하고, 이러한 cycle을 원하는 두께가 될 때까지 반복적으로 진행된다. 이 때 1 cycle 당 증착속도는 7 ${\AA}$/cycle 정도였다. 최적의 증착 방법과 조건으로 기존의 CVD $Si_3N_4$ 박막 대비 1/5 이하로 pinhole을 최소화 할 수는 있지만 완벽하게 제거하기는 힘든 문제가 있고, 이를 해결하기 위한 개선을 위한 접근 방법이 필요하다고 판단하였다. 본 연구에서는 무기물 박막인 carbon nitride를 이용한 SiN/C:N multilayer 증착 연구를 진행하였다. Fig. 1은 CVD 조건으로 증착된 두께 750 nm SiN film에서 여러 층의 C:N film layer를 삽입했을 때, 38 시간의 85%/$85^{\circ}C$ 가속실험에 따라 OLED의 발광 사진이다. 그림에서 볼 수 있듯이 C:N 층을 삽입하고 또한 그 박막의 수가 증가함에 따라서 OLED에 대한 encapsulation 특성이 크게 개선됨을 확인할 수 있다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.314-314
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• 2013

Recently, flexibility is one of the hottest issues in the field of electronic devices. For flexible displays or solar cells, a development of transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) with flexibility, bendability and foldability is an essential element. Hundreds of nanometers indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films have been widely used and commercialized as a transparent electrode, but their brittleness make them difficulty to apply flexible electronics. Many researchers have been studying for flexible TCEs such as a few layers of graphene sheets, carbon nanotube networks, conductive polymer films and combinations among them. Although gained flexibility, their transmittance and resistivity have not reached those of commercialized ITO films. Metal grids electrode cannot act as TCEs only, but they can be used to lower the resistance of TCEs with few losses of transmittance. However, the possibility of device shortage will be rise at the devices with metal grids because a surface flatness of TCEs may be deteriorated when metal grids are introduced using conventional methods. In our research, we have developed hybrid TCEs, which combined tens of nanometers ITO film and metal grids which are embedded in flexible substrate. They show $13{\Omega}$/${\Box}f$ sheet resistance with 94% of transmittance. Moreover, the sheet resistance was maintained up to 1 mm of bending radius. Also, we have verified that flexible organic light emitting diodes and organic solar cells with the TCEs showed similar performances compared to commercial ITO (on glass substrate) devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.475-475
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• 2013

Cuprous oxide ($Cu_2O$)는 밴드갭이 2.17 eV p-type 산화물 반도체로써 태양에너지 변환기, photocatalysis (광촉매작용), 센서, 스위칭 메모리 등 응용이 다양한 재료이다. 산화물 반도체의 기본 특성은 나노/마이크로 범위 안에서 재료의 표면형태, 크기, 구조와 형상 공간방향등에 크게 영향을 받는다. 그렇기 때문에 원하는 $Cu_2O$ 특성을 얻기 위해서 성장 거동을 아는 것은 매우 중요하다. RF 마그네트론 스퍼터법으로 rod 성장 사례는 잘 알려지지 않았다. 그래서 RF 마그네트론 스퍼터법 $Cu_2O$ rod 형성 실험을 통하여 $Cu_2O$ 형성과 성장 거동을 알아보았다. RF 마그네트론 스퍼터법으로 $Cu_2O$ rod를 glass 기판 위에 Cu metal target을 이용하여 형성시켰다. $Cu_2O$ rod 합성을 위해 기판온도 및 산소분압 O2/(Ar+O2)=3%, 5%, 7% 증착시간 등을 변화시켜 실험하였다. 성장된 rod의 분석은 XRD, SEM으로 확인하였다. 성장 거동은 증착온도와 증착시간에 차이를 보였다. 증착온도 $550^{\circ}C$에서 rod가 생성되는 것을 관찰하였다. 증착시간이 길어질수록 rod 길이가 길어지고 일정 시간이 지나면 rod의 길이 성장보다는 두께(폭)가 성장하는 것을 확인하였다. 증착온도 $550^{\circ}C$ 그리고 산소분압 3%, 5%, 7% 조건에서 rod 합성 실험을 하였을 때 3%, 5% 조건에서 rod의 성장을 확인하였다. 이때 3%, 5% 산소분압에 따라 rod의 모양이 변화하였다. 하지만 7% 조건에서는 rod가 성장하지 않았다. 이유는 3%, 5%에서는 Cu metal peak을 확인하였지만, 7% 조건에서는 Cu metal peak이 없었다. 이로부터 Cu metal이 $Cu_2O$ rod 생성에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요소임을 예상할 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.122-129
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• 2000

Field emission behavior from vitreous carbon powders deposited on Mo coated glass by electro-phoretic method was investigated. Although the vitreous carbon has only $sp^2$ hybridized carbon bond, we could observe an excellent field emission behavior. Reproducible electron emission was observed without initiation process which is known to be needed in most carbon cathode materials. Critical electric field for electron emission was in the range from 3 to 4 MV/m. The effective work function was estimated to be about 0.06 eV, as obtained from the slope of Fowler-Nordheim plot. The stability of the emission behavior characterized by repeated I-V measurements, was much superior to the Si tips. We observed the possibility of full area light emission in vitreous carbon materials. This results showed that the field emission is not intimately related to the $sp^3$ hybridization of carbon, but the electrical properties of cathod/electrode interface or the conductivity of the cathode materials which required for the electron transport to the cathode surface.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 1996

Transparent and conducting Sb-doped $SnO_2$ thin films were prepared by rf magnetron sputtering technology. But it showed a serious damage phenomenon on the surface of as-deposited films. In order to avoid a damage caused in the substrate center and location facing to target erosion, a ring plate of masking glass was installed at 1.5 cm above target surface. The uniformity and electrical characteristic of $SnO_2$ thin films were evaluated by the control of optimal conditions in the magnetron sputtering operation such as rf power, sputtering gas pressure, and substrate temperature. In the experimental results using the operating conditions, the optimum temperature, which produced uniform and damageless films, shifted with the change of gas pressure. The rate was about $100^{\circ}C$/5 mTorr at rf power of 50 W Similarly, the optimum temperature in compensation for an increase of rf power shifted down to a proper rate.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.72-76
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• 2015

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were grown on soda-lime glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering method at room temperature (RT), and they were post-annealed at the temperatures of $100^{\circ}C$, $200^{\circ}C$, $300^{\circ}C$ and $400^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes in vacuum. The electronic structure, optical and electrical properties of NiO thin films were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), reflection electron energy spectroscopy (REELS), UV-spectrometer and Hall Effect measurements, respectively. XPS results showed that the NiO thin films grown at RT and post annealed at temperatures below $300^{\circ}C$ had the NiO phase, but, at $400^{\circ}C$, the nickel metal phase became dominant. The band gaps of NiO thin films post annealed at temperatures below $300^{\circ}C$ were about 3.7 eV, but that at $400^{\circ}C$ should not be measured clearly because of the dominance of Ni metal phase. The NiO thin films post-annealed at temperatures below $300^{\circ}C$ showed p-type conductivity with low electrical resistivity and high optical transmittance of 80% in the visible light region, but that post-annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ showed n-type semiconductor properties, and the average transmittance in the visible light region was less than 42%. Our results demonstrate that the post-annealing plays a crucial role in enhancing the electrical and optical properties of NiO thin films.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2012

Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films for application as transparent conducting oxide film were deposited on the glass substrate by using rf-magnetron sputtering system. The effects of working pressure on electrical and optical characteristics of GZO films were investigated. Regardless of the working pressure, all films were oriented along with the c-axis, perpendicular to the substrate. The electrical resistivity was about $8.68{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm\sim2.18{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and the average transmittance of all films including substrates was over 90% in the visible range. The good transparents and conducting properties were obtained due to controle the working pressure. The obtained results have acceptable for application as transparent conductive electrodes in LCDs and solar cells.