• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.307.1-307.1
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• 2016

Amorphous zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin films are being widely studied for a variety electronic applications such as the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) in the field of photoelectric elements and thin film transistors (TFTs). Thin film transistors (TFTs) with transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors (TAOS) represent a major advance in the field of thin film electronics. Examples of TAOS materials include zinc tin oxide (ZTO), indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), indium zinc oxide, and indium zinc tin oxide. Among them, ZTO has good optical and electrical properties (high transmittance and larger than 3eV band gap energy). Furthermore ZTO does not contain indium or gallium and is relatively inexpensive and non-toxic. In this study, ZTO thin films were formed by UHV RF magnetron co-sputter deposition on silicon substrates and sapphires. The films were deposited from ZnO and SnO2 target in an RF argon and oxygen plasma. The deposition condition of ZTO thin films were controlled by RF power and post anneal temperature using rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The deposited and annealed films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), ultraviolet and visible light (UV-VIS) spectrophotometer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.433-438
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• 2015

Zinc tin oxide transparent thin film transistors (ZTO TTFTs) were fabricated by using $n^+$ Si wafers as gate electrodes. Indium (In), aluminum (Al), indium tin oxide (ITO), silver (Ag), and gold (Au) were employed for source and drain electrodes, and the mobility and the threshold voltage of ZTO TTFTs were observed as a function of electrode. The ZTO TTFTs adopting In as electrodes showed the highest mobility and the lowest threshold voltage. It was shown that Ag and Au are not suitable for the electrodes of ZTO TTFTs. As the results of this study, it is considered that the interface properties of electrode/ZTO are more influential in the properties of ZTO TTFTs than the conductivity of electrode.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.433-437
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• 2014

Transparent thin film transistors were fabricated on $n^+$-Si wafers coated by $Al_2O_3/SiO_2$. Zinc tin oxide (ZTO) films deposited by rf magnetron sputtering were employed for active layers. The mobility (${\mu}s$), threshold voltage ($V_T$), and subthreshold swing (SS) dependances on ZTO thickness were analyzed. The $V_T$ decreased with increasing ZTO thickness. The ${\mu}s$ raised from $5.1cm^2/Vsec$ to $27.0cm^2/Vsec$ by increasing ZTO thickness from 7 nm to 12 nm, and then decreased with ZTO thickness above 12 nm. The SS was proportional to ZTO thickness.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.346.2-346.2
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• 2014

To use the GaN based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as solid state lighting sources, the improvement of light extraction and internal quantum efficiency is essential factors for high brightness LEDs. In this study, we suggested the new materials system of a zinc tin oxide (ZTO) layer formed on blue LED epi-structures to improve the light extraction. ZTO is a representative n-type oxide material consisted of ZnO and SnO system. Moreover, ZTO is one of the promising oxide semiconductor material. Even though ZTO has higher chemical stability than IGZO owing to its SnO2 content this has high mobility and high reliability. After formation of ZTO layer on p-GaN layer by using the spin coating method, structural and optical properties are investigated. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement results show the successful formation of ZTO. The photoluminescence (PL) and absorption spectrum shows that it has 3.6-4.1eV band gap. Finally, the light extraction properties of ZTO/LED chip using electroluminescence (EL) measurement were investigated. The experimental and theoretical analyses were simultaneously conducted.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.609-614
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• 2014

We fabricated amorphous zinc tin oxide (ZTO) transparent thin-film transistors (TTFTs). The effects of Al electrode on the mobility and threshold voltage of the ZTO TTFTs were investigated. It was found that the aluminum (Al)-ZTO contact decreased the mobility and increased the threshold voltage. Traps, originating from $AlO_x$, were assumed to be the cause of degradation. An indium tin oxide film was inserted between Al and ZTO as a buffer layer, forming an ohmic contact, which was revealed to improve the performance of ZTO TTFTs.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.676-680
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• 2016

We have investigated the properties of thin film transistors(TFT) fabricated using zinc tin oxide(ZTO) thin films deposited via on-axis sputtering and FTS methods. ZTO thin films deposited by FTS showed lower root-mean-square(RMS) roughness and more uniformity than those deposited via on-axis sputtering. We observed enhanced electrical properties of ZTO TFT deposited via FTS. The ZTO films were deposited at room temperature via on-axis sputtering and FTS. The as-deposited ZTO films were annealed at $400^{\circ}C$. The TFT using the ZTO films deposited via FTS process exhibited a high mobility of $12.91cm^2/V.s$, a low swing of 0.80 V/decade, $V_{th}$ of 5.78 V, and a high $I_{on/off}$ ratio of $2.52{\times}10^6$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.365-370
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• 2015

Zinc tin oxide transparent thin film transistors (ZTO TTFTs) were fabricated on oxidized $n^+$ Si wafers. The thickness of ~30 nm $Al_2O_3$ films were deposited on the oxidized Si wafers by atomic layer deposition, which acted as the gate insulators of ZTO TTFTs. The $Al_2O_3$ films were rapid-annealed at $400^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$, $800^{\circ}C$, and $1,000^{\circ}C$, respectively. Active layers of ZTO films were deposited on the $Al_2O_3/SiO_2$ coated $n^+$ Si wafers by rf magnetron sputtering. Mobility and threshold voltage were measured as a function of the rapid-annealing temperature. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were carried out to observe the chemical bindings of $Al_2O_3$ films. The annealing effects of gate-insulator on the properties of TTFTs were analyzed based on the results of XPS.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.44-44
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• 2011

Unipolar 구조의 양자점 발광소자는 소자에 주입되는 전자로 구동 가능하게 설계되어 bipolar 구조와 달리 직류뿐만 아니라 교류로도 구동이 가능하다. 소자의 구조는 패턴된 ITO 유리기판 위에 Radio frequency magnetron sputter로 성장시킨 투명한 금속산화층 사이에 콜로이드로 분산된 양자점이 포함되어 있다. 본 연구에서는, 전하 수송층으로 사용되는 Zinc Tin Oxide (ZTO)가 전압 인가 시 발생하는 과부하로 인해 낮은 전계발광(electroluminescence, EL)특성이 나타나는 문제점이 있다. 이를 해결하고자 ZTO층의 비저항과 EL특성 사이의 관계를 알아보고, ZTO의 비저항 값을 변화시키기 위해 sputter 공정 중 인가 전력과 작업압력, 산소 분압 등의 성장 조건을 변화시켰다. ZTO의 조성비에 따른 비저항 및 전기적 특성을 홀 측정 장비로 측정하였다. 인가전력이 낮고 작업압력이 낮을수록 비저항 값이 낮았으며, 그에 따라 소자의 동작전압이 낮아지고 EL특성 또한 우수하게 나타났다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.409-409
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• 2012

모바일 및 TV, 모니터 부분에서 AMOLED의 비약적인 시장 점유율 확대와 더불어 TFT 소자 부문에서도 많은 집중과 연구개발이 이루어지고 있다. 높은 이동도를 필요로 하는 AMOLED의 구동 회로에 채널층으로서 a-Si이 낮은 이동도로 인한 한계에 부딪히며 더 이상 쓰일 수 없게 되었고, 현재 우수한 이동도와 균일성, 제조 원가 절감의 효과 등 많은 장점을 보유한 산화물 TFT가 접목되고 있다. 현재까지 IGZO, ZnO 등이 많이 연구되며 실제로 AMOLED 용 TFT 소자에 적용 되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 산화물질인 ZTO (Zinc-Tin-Oxide)를 이용하여 TFT를 제작하였다. n-type 웨이퍼에 PECVD를 이용하여 $SiO_2$를 100 nm 증착한 뒤 spin coater로 ZTO용액을 30 nm 증착하였다. ZTO의 최적화된 열처리 온도인 $450^{\circ}C$에서 annealing을 해준 다음에 thermal evaporator로 source와 drain을 증착하였다. Gate 컨택을 위하여 웨이퍼 후면에 silver paste를 이용해 소자를 완성하였다. 산화물질 특성상 환경변화에 민감한 경향성을 보이기 때문에 현재 산화물 TFT는 신뢰성 분석에 많은 연구가 진행되고 있다. 완성된 ZTO TFT 소자를 빛과 수분에 일정한 시간 노출시킨 뒤 I-V 측정을 통하여 소자 열화를 분석하였다.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.225-228
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• 2017

In this study, zinc tin oxide (ZTO) films were prepared on indium tin oxide (ITO) glasses and annealed at different temperatures under vacuum to investigate the correlation between the Ohmic/Schottky contacts, electrical properties, and bonding structures with respect to the annealing temperatures. The ZTO film annealed at $150^{\circ}C$ exhibited an amorphous structure because of the electron-hole recombination effect, and the current of the ZTO film annealed at $150^{\circ}C$ was less than that of the other films because of the potential barrier effect at the Schottky contact. The drift current as charge carriers was similar to the leakage current in a transparent thin-film device, but the diffusion current related to the Schottky barrier leads to the decrease in the leakage current. The direction of the diffusion current was opposite to that of the drift current resulting in a two-fold enhancement of the cut-off effect of leakage drift current due to the diffusion current, and improved performance of the device with the Schottky barrier. Hence, the thin film with an amorphous structure easily becomes a Schottky contact.