• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.55-71
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• 2013

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is vital for detecting the onset of damage and for preventing catastrophic failure of civil infrastructure systems. In particular, piezoelectric transducers have the ability to excite and actively interrogate structures (e.g., using surface waves) while measuring their response for sensing and damage detection. In fact, piezoelectric transducers such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) have been used for various laboratory/field tests and possess significant advantages as compared to visual inspection and vibration-based methods, to name a few. However, PZTs are inherently brittle, and PVDF films do not possess high piezoelectricity, thereby limiting each of these devices to certain specific applications. The objective of this study is to design, characterize, and validate piezoelectric nanocomposites consisting of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles assembled in a PVDF copolymer matrix for sensing and SHM applications. These films provide greater mechanical flexibility as compared to PZTs, yet possess enhanced piezoelectricity as compared to pristine PVDF copolymers. This study started with spin coating dispersed ZnO- and PVDF-TrFE-based solutions to fabricate the piezoelectric nanocomposites. The concentration of ZnO nanoparticles was varied from 0 to 20 wt.% (in 5 % increments) to determine their influence on bulk film piezoelectricity. Second, their electric polarization responses were obtained for quantifying thin film remnant polarization, which is directly correlated to piezoelectricity. Based on these results, the films were poled (at 50 $MV-m^{-1}$) to permanently align their electrical domains and to enhance their bulk film piezoelectricity. Then, a series of hammer impact tests were conducted, and the voltage generated by poled ZnO-based thin films was compared to commercially poled PVDF copolymer thin films. The hammer impact tests showed comparable results between the prototype and commercial samples, and increasing ZnO content provided enhanced piezoelectric performance. Lastly, the films were further validated for sensing using different energy levels of hammer impact, different distances between the impact locations and the film electrodes, and cantilever free vibration testing for dynamic strain sensing.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2012

In this research, we prepared Ga doped zinc oxide(ZnO:Ga, GZO) targets each difference sintering temperature $700^{\circ}C$, $800^{\circ}C$, and doping rate 1 wt.%, 2 wt.%, 3 wt.%. The characteristics of thin film on glass substrates which deposited by facing target sputtering in pure Ar atmosphere are reported. Ga doped zinc oxide film is attracted material through low resistivity, high transmittance, etc. When prepared target powder's structure was investigated by scanning electron microscope, densification and coarsening by driving force was observed. For each ZnO:Ga films with a $Ga_2O_3$ content of 3 wt.% at input power of 45W, the lowest resistivity of $9.967{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ ($700^{\circ}C$) and $9.846{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ ($800^{\circ}C$) was obtained. the carrier concentration and mobility were $4.09{\times}10^{20}cm^{-3}$($700^{\circ}C$), $4.12{\times}10^{20}cm^{-3}$($800^{\circ}C$) and $15.31cm^2/V{\cdot}s(700^{\circ}C)$, $12.51cm^2/V{\cdot}s(800^{\circ}C)$, respectively. And except 1 wt.% Ga doped ZnO thin film, average transmittance of these samples in the range 350-800 nm was over 80%.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.375-379
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• 2019

$ZnO-SnO_2(ZTO)$ was deposited by RF magnetron sputtering using a ceramic target whose Zn atomic ratio to Sn is 2:1 as a target, and the crystal structure variation with thermal treats was investigated. Transparent thin film transistors (TTFT) were fabricated using the ZTO films as active layers. About 100 nm-thick $Si_3N_4$ film grown on 100 nm-thick $SiO_2$ film was adopted as gate dielectrics. The mobility, threshold voltage, $I_{on}/I_{off}$, and interface trap density were obtained from the transfer characteristics of ZTO TTFTs. The effects of substrate temperature, and post-annealing on the property variation of ZTO TTFT were analyzed.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.33-36
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• 2016

In the present work, a Ni-doped indium zinc oxide (NIZO) film and its multilayers with Ag layers were investigated as transparent conducting electrodes for liquid crystal display (LCD) applications, as a substitute for indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes. By interposing the Ag layer between the NIZO layers, the loss of the optical transmittance occurred; however, the Ag layer brought enhancement of electrical sheet resistance to the NIZO/Ag/NIZO multilayer electrode. The twisted nematic cell based on the NIZO/Ag/NIZO multilayer electrode exhibited superior electro-optical characteristics than those based on single NIZO electrode and was competitive compared to those based on the conventional ITO electrode. An LCD-based NIZO/Ag/NIZO multilayer electrode may allow new approaches to conventional ITO electrodes in display technology.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.351-359
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• 2015

Next-generation displays should be transparent and flexible as well as having high resolution and frame number. The main factor for active matrix organic light emitting diode and next-generation displays is the development of TFTs (thin-film transistors) with high mobility and large area uniformity. The TFTs used for transparent displays are mainly oxide TFT that has oxide semiconductor as channel layer. Zinc-oxide based substances such as indium-gallium-zinc-oxide has attracted attention in the display industry. In this paper, the mobility improvement of low cost oxide TFT is studied for fast operating next-generation displays by overcoming disadvantages of amorphous silicon TFT that has low mobility and poly silicon TFT that requires expensive equipment for complex process and doping process.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.1105-1106
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• 2008

Staggered type self-aligned transparent-oxide-semiconductor transistors with indium-zinc-oxide as a semiconductor have studied. In this device fabrication, successive sputtering of oxide semiconductor and insulator without breaking of vacuum and without exposing in air, humidity and oxygen can be realized because oxide semiconductor is transparent. As a result of fabrication, transistor characteristics with mobility of $30cm^2/Vs$ and on-off ratio of $10^5$ could be obtained for the newly developed self-alignment device structure.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.103-105
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• 2015

Effect of silicon doping into ZnSnO systems was investigated using solution process. Addition of silicon was used to suppress oxygen vacancy generation. The transfer characteristics of the device showed threshold voltage shift toward the positive direction with increasing Si content due to the high binding energy of silicon atoms with oxygen. As a result, the carrier concentration was decreased with increasing Si content.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.26.1-26.1
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• 2007

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.579-580
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• 2011

• 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 $2.52{\times}10^6$.