• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

A transparent oxide thin film transistors (Transparent Oxide-TFT) have been fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature using amorphous indium zinc oxide (a-IZO) as both of active channel and source/drain, gate electrodes and co-sputtered $HfO_2-Al_2O_3$ (HfAIO) as gate dielectric. In spite of its high dielectric constant > 20), $HfO_2$ has some drawbacks including high leakage current and rough surface morphologies originated from small energy band gap (5.31eV) and microcrystalline structure. In this work, the incorporation of $Al_2O_3$ into $HfO_2$ was obtained by co-sputtering of $HfO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ without any intentional substrate heating and its structural and electrical properties were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and spectroscopic ellipsometer (SE) analyses. The XRD studies confirmed that the microcrystalline structures of $HfO_2$ were transformed to amorphous structures of HfAIO. By AFM analysis, HfAIO films (0.490nm) were considerably smoother than $HfO_2$ films (2.979nm) due to their amorphous structure. The energy band gap ($E_g$) deduced by spectroscopic ellipsometer was increased from 5.17eV ($HfO_2$) to 5.42eV (HfAIO). The electrical performances of TFTs which are made of well-controlled active/electrode IZO materials and co-sputtered HfAIO dielectric material, exhibited a field effect mobility of more than $10cm^2/V{\cdot}s$, a threshold voltage of ~2 V, an $I_{on/off}$ ratio of > $10^5$, and a max on-current of > 2 mA.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.55-71
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• 2017

Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO), especially Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) films are almost prepared by DC magnetron sputtering because of the advantage of obtaining homogeneous large area coatings with high reproducibility. The purpose of this report is describe a detailed investigation of key factors dominating electrical and structural properties of sputtered ITO films. It was confirmed that crystallinity and electrical properties of ITO films were strongly depend on the sputtering pressure and kinetic energy of sputtered particles which are expected to have a close relation with the transport processes between target and substrate. And also, nodule formation on the ITO target was suppressed by both $CaCO_3$ addition and decreasing micro-pore in the target. On the other hand, we focused on the characteristics of amorphous TCO film to use as transparent electrode for various applications. To realize high thermoelectric performance, it was tried to control both high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity for the amorphous IZO:Sn films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.262-262
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• 2016

최근 고해상도 디스플레이가 주목받으면서 기존 비정질 실리콘(a-Si)을 대체할 수 있는 재료에 관한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. a-Si의 경우 간단한 공정 과정, 적은 생산비용, 대면적화가 가능하다는 장점이 있지만 전자 이동도가 매우 낮은 단점이 있다. 반면, 산화물 반도체는 비정질 상태에서 전자 이동도가 높으며 큰 밴드갭을 가지고 있어 투명한 특성을 나타낼 뿐만 아니라, 저온공정이 가능하여 기판의 제한이 없는 장점을 가지고 있다. 대표적으로 가장 널리 연구되고 있는 산화물 반도체는 a-IGZO(amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide)이다. 그러나 InZnO(IZO) 기반의 산화물 반도체에서 carrier suppressor 역할을 하는 Ga(gallium)은 수요에 대한 공급이 원활하지 못하여 비싸다는 단점이 있다. 그러므로 경제적이면서 a-IGZO와 유사한 전기적 특성을 나타낼 수 있는 suppressor 물질이 필요하다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 IZO 기반의 산화물 반도체에서 Ga을 Hf(hafnium), Zr(zirconium), Si(silicon)으로 대체하여 용액증착(solution-deposition) 공정으로 각각의 채널층을 형성한 back-gate type의 박막 트랜지스터(thin-film transistor, TFT) 소자를 제작하였다. 용액증착 공정은 물질의 비율을 자유롭게 조절할 수 있고, 대기압의 조건에서도 공정이 가능하기 때문에 짧은 공정시간과 저비용의 장점이 있다. 제작된 소자는 p-type Si 위에 게이트 절연막으로 100 nm의 열산화막이 성장된 기판을 사용하였다. 표준 RCA 클리닝 후에 각 solution 물질을 spin coating 방식으로 증착하였다. 이후, photolithography, develop, wet etching의 과정을 거쳐 채널층 패턴을 형성하였다. 또한, 산화물 반도체의 전기적 특성을 향상시키기 위해서 후속 열처리 과정(post deposition annealing, PDA)은 필수적이다. CTA 방식은 높은 열처리 온도와 긴 열처리 시간의 단점이 있다. 따라서, 본 연구에서는 $100^{\circ}C$ 이하의 낮은 온도와 짧은 열처리 시간의 장점을 가지는 MWI (microwave irradiation)를 후속 열처리로 진행하였다. 그 결과, 각 물질로 구현된 소자들은 기존 a-IGZO와 비교하여 적은 양의 carrier suppressor로도 우수한 전기적 특성 및 안정성을 얻을 수 있었다. 따라서, Si, Hf, Zr 기반의 산화물 반도체는 기존의 Ga을 대체하여 저비용으로 디스플레이를 구현할 수 있는 IZO 기반 재료로 기대된다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.205-205
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• 2015

최근, 비정질 산화물 반도체를 이용한 TFT는 투명성, 유연성, 저비용, 저온공정이 가능하기 때문에 차세대 flat-panel 디스플레이의 back-plane TFT로써 다양한 방면에서 연구되고 있다. 산화물 반도체 In-Zn-O-시스템에서는 Gallium (Ga)을 suppressor로 사용한 a-In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) 뿐만 아니라, Magnesium (Mg), Hafnium (Hf), Tin (Sn), Zirconium (Zr) 등의 다양한 물질이 연구되었다. 그 중 Silicon (Si)은 Ga, Hf, Sn, Zr, Mg과 같은 suppressor에 비해 구하기 쉬우며 가격적인 측면에서도 저렴하다는 장점이 있다. solution 공정으로 제작한 산화물 반도체 TFT는 진공 시스템을 사용한 공정보다 공정시간이 짧고, 저비용, 대면적화가 가능하다는 장점이 있다. 하지만, 투명하고 유연한 device를 제작하기 위해서는 저온 공정과 low thermal budget은 필수적이다. 이러한 측면에서 MWI (Microwave Irradiation)는 저온공정이 가능하며, 짧은 공정 시간에도 불구하고 IZO 시스템의 산화물 반도체의 전기적 특성 향상을 기대할 수 있는 효율 적인 열처리 방법이다. 본 연구에서는 In-Zn-O 시스템의 TFT에서 silicon (Si)를 Suppressor로 사용한 a-Si-In-Zn-O (SIZO) TFT를 제작하여 두 가지 열처리 방법을 사용하여 TFT의 전기적 특성을 확인하였다. 첫 번째 방법은 Box Furnace를 사용하여 N2 분위기에서 $600^{\circ}C$의 온도로 30분간 열처리 하였으며, 두 번째는 MWI를 사용하여 1800 W 출력 (약 $100^{\circ}C$)에 2분간 열처리 하였다. MWI 열처리는 Box Furnace 열처리에 비해 저온 공정 및 짧은 시간에도 불구하고 향상된 전기적 특성을 확인 할 수 있었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.12-12
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• 2010

Time dependence of the shift of the threshold voltage of amorphous hafnium-indium-zinc oxide (a-HIZO) has been reported under on-current stress condition. a-HIZO thin films were deposited on $SiO_2$/Si (100) by rf magnetron sputtering. XPS measurement indicates that the Hf metal cations in a-HIZO system after annealing process reduce oxygen vacancies by binding oxygen. It was found that the Hf metal cation can be effectively incorporated in the IZO thin films as a suppressor against both the oxygen deficiencies and the carrier generation in the ZnO-based system.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.120-124
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• 2016

In this study, we fabricate transparent and bendable a-IGZO (amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide) TFTs (thin-film transistors) with a-IZO (amorphous indium zinc oxide) transparent electrodes on plastic substrates and investigate their electrical characteristics under bending states. Our a-IGZO TFTs show a high transmittance of 82% at a wavelength of 550 nm. And these TFTs have an $I_{on}/I_{off}$ ratio of $1.8{\times}10^8$, a field effect mobility of $15.4cm^2/V{\cdot}s$, and a subthreshold swing of 186 mV/dec. The good electrical characteristics are retained even after bending with a curvature radius of 18 mm corresponding to a strain of 0.5% owing to mechanical durability of the transparent electrodes used in this study.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.674-677
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• 2011

The dependency of sputtering power on the electrical performances in amorphous HIZO-TFT (hafnium-indium-zinc-oxide thin film transistors) has been investigated. The HIZO channel layers were prepared by using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method with different sputtering power at room temperature. TOF-SIMS (time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry) was performed to confirm doping of hafnium atom in IZO film. The field effect mobility (${\mu}FE$) increased and threshold voltage ($V_{th}$) shifted to negative direction with increasing sputtering power. This result can be attributed to the high energy particles knocking-out oxygen atoms. As a result, oxygen vacancies generated in HIZO channel layer with increasing sputtering power resulted in negative shift in Vth and increase in on-current.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.1044-1046
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• 2009

Here we report the architecture for a non-volatile n-type memory paper field-effect transistor. The device is built using the hybrid integration of natural cellulose fibers (pine and eucalyptus fibers embedded in an ionic resin), which act simultaneously as substrate and gate dielectric, with amorphous GIZO and IZO oxides as gate and channel layers, respectively. This is complemented by the use of continuous patterned metal layers as source/drain electrodes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.208-208
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• 2010

Indium zinc tin oxide (IZTO) thin films were studied as a possible alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO) films for providing low-cost transparent conducting oxide (TCO) for thin film photovoltaic devices. IZTO films were deposited onto glass substrates at room temperature. A dc/rf magnetron co-sputtering system equipped with a ceramic target of the same composition was used to deposit TCO films. Earlier studies showed that the resistivity value of $In_{0.6}Zn_{0.2}Sn_{0.2}O_{1.5}$ (IZTO20) films could be lowered to approximately $6{\times}10^{-4}ohm{\cdot}cm$ without sacrificing optical transparency and still maintaining amorphous structure through the optimization of process variables. The growth rate was kept at about 8 nm/min while the oxygen-to-argon pressure ratio varied from 0% to 7.5%. As-deposited films were always amorphous and showed strong oxygen pressure dependence of electrical resistivity and electron concentration values. Influence of forming gas anneal (FGA) at medium temperatures was also studied and proven effective in improving electrical properties. In this study, the chemical composition of the targets and the films varied around the $In_{0.6}Zn_{0.2}Sn_{0.2}O_{1.5}$ (IZTO20). It was the main objective of this paper to investigate how off-stoichiometry affected TCO characteristics including electrical resistivity and optical transmission. In addition to the composition effect, we have also studied how film properties changed with processing variables. IZTO thin films have shown their potential as a possible alternative to ITO thin films, in such way that they could be adopted in some applications where currently ITO and IZO thin films are being used. Our experimental results are compared to those obtained for commercial ITO thin films from solar cell application view point.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2021

We have investigated the effect of the substrate temperature and hydrogen flow rate on the characteristics of AZO thin films for the TCO (transparent conducting oxide). For this purpose, AZO thin films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature and 300℃ with various H2 flow rate. Experiments were carried out while varying the hydrogen gas flow rate from 0sccm to 5.0sccm in order to see how the hydrogen gas affects the AZO thin films. AZO thin films deposited at 300℃ showed amorphous structure, whereas IZO thin films deposited at room temperature showed crystalline structure having an (222) preferential orientation. The electrical resistivity of the AZO films deposited at 300℃ was 4.388×10-3Ωcm, the lowest value. As the hydrogen gas flow rate increased, the resistivity tended to decrease.