• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.187-187
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• 2012

Solution-processed metal-alloy oxides such as indium zinc oxide (IZO), indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) has been extensively researched due to their high electron mobility, environmental stability, optical transparency, and solution-processibility. In spite of their excellent material properties, however, there remains a challenging problem for utilizing IZO or IGZO in electronic devices: the supply shortage of indium (In). The cost of indium is high, what is more, indium is becoming more expensive and scarce and thus strategically important. Therefore, developing an alternative route to improve carrier mobility of solution-processable ZnO is critical and essential. Here, we introduce a simple route to achieve high-performance and low-temperature solution-processed ZnO thin film transistors (TFTs) by employing alkali-metal doping such as Li, Na, K or Rb. Li-doped ZnO TFTs exhibited excellent device performance with a field-effect mobility of $7.3cm^2{\cdot}V-1{\cdot}s-1$ and an on/off current ratio of more than 107. Also, in case of higher drain voltage operation (VD=60V), the field effect mobility increased up to $11.45cm^2{\cdot}V-1{\cdot}s-1$. These all alkali metal doped ZnO TFTs were fabricated at maximum process temperature as low as $300^{\circ}C$. Moreover, low-voltage operating ZnO TFTs was fabricated with the ion gel gate dielectrics. The ultra high capacitance of the ion gel gate dielectrics allowed high on-current operation at low voltage. These devices also showed excellent operational stability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.252-253
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• 2011

ZnO-based thin film transistors (TFTs) are of great interest for application in next generation flat panel displays. Most research has been based on amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) TFTs, rather than single binary oxides, such as ZnO, due to the reproducibility, uniformity, and surface smoothness of the IGZO active channel layer. However, recently, intrinsic ZnO-TFTs have been investigated, and TFT- arrayss have been demonstrated as prototypes of flat-panel displays and electronic circuits. However, ZnO thin films have some significant problems for application as an active channel layer of TFTs; it was easy to change the electrical properties of the i-ZnO thin films under external conditions. The variable electrical properties lead to unstable TFTs device characteristics under bias stress and/or temperature. In order to obtain higher performance and more stable ZnO-based TFTs, HZO thin film was used as an active channel layer. It was expected that HZO-TFTs would have more stable electrical characteristics under gate bias stress conditions because the binding energy of Hf-O is greater than that of Zn-O. For deposition of HZO thin films, Hf would be substituted with Zn, and then Hf could be suppressed to generate oxygen vacancies. In this study, the fabrication of the oxide-based TFTs with HZO active channel layer was reported with excellent stability. Application of HZO thin films as an active channel layer improved the TFT device performance and bias stability, as compared to i-ZnO TFTs. The excellent negative bias temperature stress (NBTS) stability of the device was analyzed using the HZO and i-ZnO TFTs transfer curves acquired at a high temperature (473 K).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.208.1-208.1
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• 2015

최근, 차세대 투명 디스플레이 구동소자로서 산화물 반도체를 이용한 Transparent Amorphous Oxide Semiconductor (TAOS) 기술이 큰 주목을 받고 있다. 산화물 반도체는 기존의 a-Si에 비해 우수한 전기적인 특성과 낮은 구동전압 그리고 넓은 밴드 갭으로 인한 투명성의 장점들이 있다. 그리고 낮은 공정 온도에서도 제작이 가능하기 때문에 유리나 플라스틱과 같은 다양한 기판에서도 박막 증착이 가능하다. 하지만 기존의 furnace를 이용한 열처리 방식은 낮은 온도에서 우수한 전기적인 특성을 내기 어려우며, 공정 시간이 길어지는 단점들이 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 산화물 반도체중 In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO)와 In-Sn-O(ITO)를 각각 채널 층과 게이트 전극으로 이용하였다. 또한 마이크로웨이브 열처리 기술을 이용하여 기존의 열처리 방식에 비해 에너지 전달 효율이 높고 짧은 시간동안 저온 공정이 가능하며 우수한 전기적인 특성을 가지는 투명 박막 트랜지스터를 구현 하였다. 본 실험은 glass 기판위에서 진행되었으며, RF sputter를 이용하여 ITO를 150 nm 증착한 후, photo-lithography 공정을 통하여 하부 게이트 전극을 형성하였다. 이후에 RF sputter를 이용하여 SiO2 와 IGZO 를 각각 300, 50 nm 증착하였고, patterning 과정을 통하여 채널 영역을 형성하였다. 또한 소자의 전기적인 특성 향상을 위해 마이크로웨이브 열처리를 1000 Watt로 2 분간 진행 하였고, 비교를 위하여 기존 방식인 furnace 를 이용하여 N2 분위기에서 $400^{\circ}C$로 30분간 진행한 소자도 병행하였다. 그 결과 마이크로웨이브를 통해 열처리한 소자는 공정 온도가 $100^{\circ}C$ 이하로 낮기 때문에 glass 기판에 영향을 주지 않고 기존 furnace 열처리 한 소자보다 전체적으로 전기적인 특성이 우수한 것을 확인 하였다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.345-349
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• 2017

The effects of electron beam(EB) irradiation on the electrical and optical properties of InGaZnO(IGZO) thin films fabricated using a sol-gel process were investigated. As the EB dose increased, the electrical characteristic of the IGZO TFTs changed from semiconductor to conductor, and the threshold voltage values shifted to the negative direction. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the O 1s core level showed that the relative area of oxygen vacancies increased from 14.68 to 19.08 % as the EB dose increased from 0 to $1.5{\times}10^{16}electrons/cm^2$. In addition, spectroscopic ellipsometer analysis showed that the optical band gap varied from 3.39 to 3.46 eV with increasing EB dose. From the result of band alignment, it was confirmed that the Fermi level($E_F$) of the sample irradiated with $1.5{\times}10^{16}electrons/cm^2$ was located at the closest position to the conduction band minimum(CBM) due to the increase of electron carrier concentration.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.721-726
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• 2017

We fabricated stretchable thin-film transistors(TFTs) on a polydimethylsiloxane substrate with patterned polyimide island structures by using an amorphous InGaZnO semiconductor and parylene gate insulator. The TFTs exhibited a field- effect mobility of $5cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ and a current on/off ratio of $10^5$ at a relatively low operating voltage. Furthermore, the fabricated transistors showed no noticeable changes in their electrical performance for large strains of up to 50 %.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.192.1-192.1
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• 2015

We demonstrated the nonvolatile memory functionality of nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) and InGaZnOxide (IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) using mobile protons that are generated by very short time hydrogen neutral beam (H-NB) treatment in gate insulator (SiO2). The whole memory fabrication process kept under $50^{\circ}C$ (except SiO2 deposition process; $300^{\circ}C$). These devices exhibited reproducible hysteresis, reversible switching, and nonvolatile memory behaviors in comparison with those of the conventional FET devices. We also executed hydrogen treatment in order to figure out the difference of mobile proton generation between PECVD and H-NB CVD that we modified. Our study will further provide a vision of creating memory functionality and incorporating proton-based storage elements onto a probability of next generation flexible memorable electronics such as low power consumption flexible display panel.

• 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 the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.146-150
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• 2014

As a method of simple patterning of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films deposited on flexible substrates, laser direct etching was carried out on TCO films sputtered on polycarbonate (PC) substrates. As a result of different binding energies in TCO films, indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) were more easily etched than zinc oxide with different $Nd:YVO_4$ laser beam conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.100-101
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• 2012

The plasma damage free and room temperature processedthin film deposition technology is essential for realization of various next generation organic microelectronic devices such as flexible AMOLED display, flexible OLED lighting, and organic photovoltaic cells because characteristics of fragile organic materials in the plasma process and low glass transition temperatures (Tg) of polymer substrate. In case of directly deposition of metal oxide thin films (including transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS)) on the organic layers, plasma damages against to the organic materials is fatal. This damage is believed to be originated mainly from high energy energetic particles during the sputtering process such as negative oxygen ions, reflected neutrals by reflection of plasma background gas at the target surface, sputtered atoms, bulk plasma ions, and secondary electrons. To solve this problem, we developed the NBAS (Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering) process as a plasma damage free and room temperature processed sputtering technology. As a result, electro-optical properties of NBAS processed ITO thin film showed resistivity of $4.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}m$ and high transmittance (>90% at 550 nm) with nano- crystalline structure at room temperature process. Furthermore, in the experiment result of directly deposition of TCO top anode on the inverted structure OLED cell, it is verified that NBAS TCO deposition process does not damages to the underlying organic layers. In case of deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin film on the plastic polymer substrate, the room temperature processed sputtering coating of high quality TCO thin film is required. During the sputtering process with higher density plasma, the energetic particles contribute self supplying of activation & crystallization energy without any additional heating and post-annealing and forminga high quality TCO thin film. However, negative oxygen ions which generated from sputteringtarget surface by electron attachment are accelerated to high energy by induced cathode self-bias. Thus the high energy negative oxygen ions can lead to critical physical bombardment damages to forming oxide thin film and this effect does not recover in room temperature process without post thermal annealing. To salve the inherent limitation of plasma sputtering, we have been developed the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process as the high quality oxide thin film deposition process at room temperature. The MFSS process is effectively eliminate or suppress the negative oxygen ions bombardment damage by the plasma limiter which composed permanent magnet array. As a result, electro-optical properties of MFSS processed ITO thin film (resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, transmittance 95% at 550 nm) have approachedthose of a high temperature DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) ITO thin film were. Also, AOS (a-IGZO) TFTs fabricated by MFSS process without higher temperature post annealing showed very comparable electrical performance with those by DMS process with $400^{\circ}C$ post annealing. They are important to note that the bombardment of a negative oxygen ion which is accelerated by dc self-bias during rf sputtering could degrade the electrical performance of ITO electrodes and a-IGZO TFTs. Finally, we found that reduction of damage from the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment drives improvement of crystalline structure in the ITO thin film and suppression of the sub-gab states in a-IGZO semiconductor thin film. For realization of organic flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates, gas barrier coatings are required to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency flexible AMOLEDs needs an extremely low water vapor transition rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$. The key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required (under ${\sim}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$) is the suppression of nano-sized defect sites and gas diffusion pathways among the grain boundaries. For formation of high quality single inorganic gas barrier layer, we developed high density nano-structured Al2O3 single gas barrier layer usinga NBAS process. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to a nano- crystalline phase with various grain sizes in a single inorganic thin film. As a result, the water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film have improved order of magnitude compared with that of conventional $Al_2O_3$ layers made by the RF magnetron sputteringprocess under the same sputtering conditions; the WVTR of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film was about $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2/day$ by just single layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.63-64
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• 2009

The TFTs have been fabricated with 3 different geometry SID electrodes which have the same channel W/L ratio (W/L = 5) due to constant channel resistance, The 3 samples have different channel widths (350, 150, and $25\;{\mu}m$) and channel lengths (70, 30, and $5\;{\mu}m$) by fixed channel W/L ratio simultaneously on one chip for reliable comparisons. Resultant on-current and field effect mobility are proportional to the channel width, while the subthreshold swing is inversely proportional to the channel width mainly due to the change of contact resistance. These results show that the contact resistance strongly affects the device performances and should be considered in the applications.