• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.96-96
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• 2009

투명전도막은 FPD의 전자부품에서 전극으로 널리 사용되고 있으며 현재 대부분의 투명전도막으로는 ITO가 사용되고 있다. 하지만, ITO에 사용되는 In은 희유금속으로 지속적인 사용량 증가로 가격의 급등과 더불어 수급 불안정으로 인해 In을 대체하고자 하는 연구가 집중적으로 이루어지고 있다. 그러나 $In_2O_3$를 대체한 ZnO계 등은 비저항이 높아 대체 적용이 가능하지 못하고 있다. 이에 In의 양을 줄이면서 상대적으로 저가이면서 광학적 특성이 우수한 ZnO을 첨가하여 기존의 ITO에 상응하는 전기전도도와 광투과율을 얻을 수 있는 새로운 3성분계 TCO 에 대한 연구가 활발히 이루어지고 있다. 따라서, 본 연구그룹은 $In_2O_3$을 기본 조성으로 하는 $In_2O_3-ZnO-SnO_2$계를 선정하여 IZTO target을 제조 후 RF magnetron sputtering 방법으로 투명전도막을 제작하였다. 본 연구에서는 RF 파워와 동작압력, 동작시간 그리고 열처리온도의 증착 조건에 따른 IZTO 박막의 특성을 평가하였다. 박막의 특성 및 표면 미세구조를 관찰하기 위해 AFM(Atomic Force Microscope)을 이용하였으며, XRD(X-ray diffraction)을 이용하여 결정성을 분석하였고, 4 point-prove, Hall effect measurement와 UV/Visible spectrometer를 통해 전기적, 광학적 특성을 평가하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.360-360
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• 2012

Zn-Sn-O (Zinc-Tin-Oxide; ZTO) thin films have been gaining extensive academic and industrial attentions owing to a semiconducting channel materials applicable to large-sized flat-panel displays. Due to the constituent oxides i.e., ZnO and SnO2, the resultant Zn-Sn-O thin films possess artificially controllable bandgaps and transmittances especially effective in the visible regime. The current approach employed RF sputtering in depositing the Zn-Sn-O thin films onto glass substrates at ambient conditions. This work places its main emphases on the electrical/optical features which are closely related to the combinations of processing variables. The electrical characterizations are performed using dc-based current-voltage characteristics and ac-based impedance spectroscopy. The optical constants, i.e., refractive index and extinction coefficient, are calculated through spectroscopic ellipsometry along with the estimation of bandgaps. The charge transport of the deposited ZTO thin films is based on electrons characteristic of n-type conduction. In addition to the basic electrical/optical information, the delicate manipulation of n-type conduction is indispensible in diversifying the industrial applications of the ZTO thin films as active devices in information and energy products. Ultimately, the electrical properties are correlated to the processing variables along with the underlying mechanism which largely determines the electrical and optical properties.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.14-17
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• 2014

In this paper, indium reduced materials for transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) were fabricated and their physical properties were evaluated. Two of materials, indium-zinc-tin oxide (IZTO) and aluminum (Al) were selected as TCE materials. In case of IZTO nanoparticles, composition ratios of In, Zn and Sn is 8:1:1 were synthesized. Size of the synthesized IZTO nanoparticles were less than 10 nm, and specific surface areas were about $90m^2/g$ indicating particle sizes are very fine. Also, the IZTO nanoparticles were well crystallized with (222) preferred orientation despite it was synthesized at the lowered temperature of $300^{\circ}C$. Composition ratios of In, Zn and Sn were very uniform in accordance with those as designed. Meanwhile, Al was deposited onto glass by sputtering in a vacuum chamber for mesh architecture. The Al was well deposited onto the glass, and no pore was observed from the Al surface. The sheet resistance of Al on glass was about $0.3{\Omega}/{\square}$ with small deviation of $0.025{\Omega}/{\square}$, and adhesion was good on the glass substrate since no pelt-off part of Al was observed by tape test. If the Al mesh is combined with ink coated layer which is consistent of IZTO nanoparticles, it is expected that the good and reliable metal mesh architecture for TCE will be formed.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.328-332
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• 2014

Thin film transistors (TFTs) with an amorphous silicon zinc tin oxide (a-2SZTO) channel layer have been fabricated using an RF magnetron sputtering system. The effect of the change of excitation electron on the variation of the total interfacial trap states of a-2SZTO systems was investigated depending on sputtering power, since the interfacial state could be changed by changing sputtering power. It is well known that Si can effectively reduce the generation of the oxygen vacancies. However, The a-2SZTO systems of ZTO doped with 2 wt% Si could be degraded because the Si peripheral electron belonging to a p-orbital affects the amorphous zinc tin oxide (a-ZTO) TFTs of the s-orbital overlap structure. We fabricated amorphous 2 wt% Si-doped ZnSnO (a-2SZTO) TFTs using an RF magnetron sputtering system. The a-2SZTO TFTs show an improvement of the electrical property with increasing power. The a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at a power of 30 W showed many of the total interfacial trap states. The a-2SZTO TFTs at a power of 30 W showed poor electrical property. However, at 50 W power, the total interfacial trap states showed improvement. In addition, the improved total interfacial states affected the thermal stress of a-2SZTO TFTs. Therefore, a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at 50 W power showed a relatively small shift of threshold voltage. Similarly, the activation energy of a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at 50 W power exhibits a relatively large falling rate (0.0475 eV/V) with a relatively high activation energy, which means that the a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at 50 W power has a relatively lower trap density than other power cases. As a result, the electrical characteristics of a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at a sputtering power of 50 W are enhanced. The TFTs fabricated by rf sputter should be carefully optimized to provide better stability for a-2SZTO in terms of the sputtering power, which is closely related to the interfacial trap states.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.203-207
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• 2018

In this work, we investigate the effects of lithium doping on the electric performance of solution-processed n-type zinc tin oxide (ZTO)/p-type silicon carbide (SiC) heterojunction diode structures. The proper amount of lithium doping not only affects the carrier concentration and interface quality but also influences the temperature sensitivity of the series resistance and activation energy. We confirmed that the device characteristics vary with lithium doping at concentrations of 0, 10, and 20 wt%. In particular, the highest rectification ratio of $1.89{\times}107$ and the lowest trap density of $4.829{\times}1,022cm^{-2}$ were observed at 20 wt% of lithium doping. Devices at this doping level showed the best characteristics. As the temperature was increased, the series resistance value decreased. Additionally, the activation energy was observed to change with respect to the component acting on the trap. We have demonstrated that lithium doping is an effective way to obtain a higher performance ZTO-based diode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.215.2-215.2
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• 2015

We fabricated dual active layer (DAL) thin film transistors (TFTs) with indium tin zinc oxide (ITZO) and indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) thin film layers using solution process. The ITZO and IGZO layer were used as the front and back channel, respectively. In order to investigate the bias stress stability of ITZO SAL (single active layer) and ITZO/IGZO DAL TFT, a gate bias stress of 10 V was applied for 1500 s under the dark condition. The SAL TFT composed of ITZO layer shows a poor positive bias stability of ${\delta}VTH$ of 13.7 V, whereas ${\delta}VTH$ of ITZO/IGZO DAL TFT was very small as 2.6 V. In order to find out the evidence of improved bias stress stability, we calculated the total trap density NT near the channel/gate insulator interface. The calculated NT of DAL and SAL TFT were $4.59{\times}10^{11}$ and $2.03{\times}10^{11}cm^{-2}$, respectively. The reason for improved bias stress stability is due to the reduction of defect sites such as pin-hole and pores in the active layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.203.2-203.2
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• 2013

Hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorods were synthesized with various Sn contents on quartz substrates, ranging from 0 to 2.5 at% in increment 0.5 at%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ultraviolet (UV)- visible spectroscopy were used to determine the effect of Sn doping on the structural and optical properties. In the SEM images, the nanorods have hexagonal wurzite structure and the diameter of the nanorods increase with increase in the Sn contents. The optical parameters of the Sn-doped ZnO nanorods such as the absorption coefficients, optical bandgaps, Urbach energies, refractive indices, dispersion parameters, dielectric constants, and optical conductivities were gained from the transmittance and reflectance results. In the PL spectra, the NBE peaks in the UV region decrease and blue-shift with increase in the Sn contents. In addition, the DLE peaks in the visible region of the nanorods shift toward low-energy region when the ZnO nanorods doped with various Sn contents.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.653-659
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• 2009

We have investigated the channel protection layer (PL) effect on the performance of an oxide thin film transistor (TFT) with a staggered top gate ZnO TFT and Al-doped zinc tin oxide (AZTO) TFT. Deposition of an ultra-thin PL on oxide semiconductor films enables TFTs to behave well by protecting the channel from a photo-resist (PR) stripper which removes the depleted surface of the active layer and increases the carrier amount in the channel. In addition, adopting a PL prevents channel contamination from the organic PR and results in high mobility and small subthreshold swings. The PL process plays a critical role in the performance of oxide TFTs. When a plasma process is introduced on the surface of an active layer during the PL process, and as the plasma power is increased, the TFT characteristics degrade, resulting in lower mobility and higher threshold voltage. Therefore, it is very important to form an interface using a minimized plasma process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.104-104
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• 2010

현재 디스플레이 시장은 급변하게 변화하고 있다. 특히, 비정질 실리콘의 경우 디스플레이의 채널층으로 주로 상용화되어 왔다. 비정질 실리콘 기반의 박막 트랜지스터는 제작의 경제성 및 균일성을 가지고 있어서 널리 상용화되고 있다. 하지만 비정질 실리콘의 경우 낮은 전자 이동도(< $1\;cm^2/Vs$)로 인하여 디스플레이의 대면적화에 부적합하며, 광학적으로 불투명한 특성을 갖기 때문에 차세대 디스플레이의 응용에 불리한 점이 있다. 이런 문제점의 대안으로 현재 국내외 여러 연구 그룹에서 산화물 기반의 반도체를 박막 트랜지스터의 채널층으로 사용하려는 연구가 진행중이다. 산화물 기반의 반도체는 밴드갭이 넓어서 광학적으로 투명하고, 상온에서 증착이 가능하며, 비정질 실리콘에 비해 월등히 우수한 이동도를 가짐으로 디스플레이의 대면적화에 유리하다. 특히 Zinc Oxide, Tin Oxide, Titanum Oxide등의 산화물이 연구되고 있으며, indium이나 aluminum등을 첨가하여 전기적인 특성을 향상시키려는 노력을 보이고 있다. Tin oxide의 경우 천연적으로 풍부한 자원이며, 낮은 가격이 큰 이점으로 작용을 한다. 또한, $SnO_2$의 경우 ITO나 ZnO 열적으로 화학적 과정에서 더 안정하다고 알려져 있다. 본 연구에서는 $SnO_2$ 기반의 박막 트랜지스터를 DC magnetron sputtering를 이용하여 상온에서 제작을 하였다. 일반적으로, $SnO_2$의 경우 증착 과정에서 산소 분압 조절과 oxygen vacancy 조절를 통하여 박막의 전도성을 조절할 수 있다. 이렇게 제작된 $SnO_2$의 박막을 High-resolution X-ray diffractometer, photoluminescence spectra, Hall effect measurement를 이용하여 전기적 및 광학적 특성을 알 수 있다. 그리고 후열처리 통하여 박막의 전기적 특성 변화를 확인하였다. gate insulator의 처리를 통하여 thin film의 interface의 trap density를 감소시킴으로써 소자의 성능 향상을 시도하였다. 그리고 semiconductor analyzer로 소자의 출력 특성 및 전이 특성을 평가하였다. 그리고 Temperature, Bias Temperature stability, 경시변화 등의 다양한 조건에서의 안정성을 평가하여 안정성이 확보된다면 비정질 실리콘을 대체할 유력한 후보 중의 하나가 될 것이라고 기대된다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.591-596
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• 2013

Indium Zinc Tin Oxide (IZTO) thin films were developed as an alternative to Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films. ITO material which has been acknowledged with its low resistivity and optical transparency of 85-90% has been used as major transparent conducting oxide (TCO) materials. However, due to the limited source, high price, and instability problems at high temperature of indium, many researches has been focused on indium-saving TCO materials. Mason Group of Northwestern University was reported to expand the solubility limit up to 40% by co-doping with 1:1 ratio of $Zn^{+2}$ and $Sn^{+4}$ ions. In this study, the properties of IZTO thin films corresponding to Zn/Sn different ratio were investigated. In addition, the effect of substrate temperature variable to the structural, optical and electrical properties of IZTO thin films was investigated.