• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.90-95
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• 2008

We studied the effect of thermal annealing and hydrofluoric (HF) acid treatment on the field emission properties of carbon nanotube field emitter arrays (CNT-FEAs) grown with the resist-assisted patterning (RAP) process. After thermal and HF treatment, it was observed that the electron emission properties were remarkably improved. The enhanced electron emission was also found to depend strongly on the sequence of the treatments; the electronemission current density is 656 $mA/cm^2$ with the process of thermal treatment prior to HF treatment while the current density is reduced by 426 $mA/cm^2$ with the reversal processes. This is due to the increased crystalline structure by thermal annealing and then strong fluorine bond was formed by HF treatment.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.497-501
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• 2011

The CdS thin film used as a window layer in the CdTe thin film solar cell transports photo-generated electrons to the front contact and forms a p-n junction with the CdTe layer. This is why the electrical, optical, and surface properties of the CdS thin film influence the efficiency of the CdTe thin film solar cell. When CdTe thin film solar cells are fabricated, a heat treatment is done to improve the qualities of the CdS thin films. Of the many types of heat treatments, the $CdCl_2$ heat treatment is most widely used because the grain size in CdS thin films increases and interdiffusion between the CdS and the CdTe layer is prevented by the heat treatment. To investigate the changes in the electrical, optical, and surface properties and the crystallinity of the CdS thin films due to heat treatment, CdS thin films were deposited on FTO/glass substrates by the rf magnetron sputtering technique, and then a $CdCl_2$ heat treatment was carried out. After the $CdCl_2$ heat treatment, the clustershaped grains in the CdS thin film increased in size and their boundaries became faint. XRD results show that the crystallinity improved and the crystalline size increased from 15 to 42 nm. The resistivity of the CdS single layer decreased from 3.87 to 0.26 ${\Omega}cm$, and the transmittance in the visible region increased from 64% to 74%.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.604-610
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• 2016

We report on the fabrication and characterization of a novel $Cu_2O/CuO$ heterojunction structure with CuO nanorods embedded in $Cu_2O$ thin film as an efficient photocathode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) solar water splitting. A CuO nanorod array was first prepared on an indium-tin-oxide-coated glass substrate via a seed-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method; then, a $Cu_2O$ thin film was electrodeposited onto the CuO nanorod array to form an oxide semiconductor heterostructure. The crystalline phases and morphologies of the heterojunction materials were examined using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, as well as Raman scattering. The PEC properties of the fabricated $Cu_2O/CuO$ heterojunction photocathode were evaluated by photocurrent conversion efficiency measurements under white light illumination. From the observed PEC current density versus voltage (J-V) behavior, the $Cu_2O/CuO$ photocathode was found to exhibit negligible dark current and high photocurrent density, e.g. $-1.05mA/cm^2$ at -0.6 V vs. $Hg/HgCl_2$ in $1mM\;Na_2SO_4$ electrolyte, revealing the effective operation of the oxide heterostructure. The photocurrent conversion efficiency of the $Cu_2O/CuO$ photocathode was estimated to be 1.27% at -0.6 V vs. $Hg/HgCl_2$. Moreover, the PEC current density versus time (J-T) profile measured at -0.5 V vs. $Hg/HgCl_2$ on the $Cu_2O/CuO$ photocathode indicated a 3-fold increase in the photocurrent density compared to that of a simple $Cu_2O$ thin film photocathode. The improved PEC performance was attributed to a certain synergistic effect of the bilayer heterostructure on the light absorption and electron-hole recombination processes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.837-842
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• 1999

The Ta/TaN multilayer structure with repeating layers of a poly-crystalline Ta layer of high ductility and a TaN layer of high hardness is expected to exhibit toughness. This paper reports the results on the hardness and the adhesion strength of Ta/TaN multilayers and compositional gradient Ta/TaN layers deposited on the high speed steel substrate by reactive sputtering as a function of annealing temperature. The TaN film deposited with the $N_2$/Ar ratio of 0.4 in the reactive sputtering process exhibits the highest crystallinity, and the highest hardness and the results of scratch test of the Ta/TaN multilayers. The hardness and adhesion strength of the Ta/TaN multilayers becomes deteriorated with increasing the annealing temperature in the heat treatment right after depositing the layers. Therefore, post-annealing treatments are not desirable in the case of the Ta/TaN multilayers from the standpoint of mechanical properties. Also the hardness of Ta/TaN multilayers increases with decreasing the compositional modulation wavelength, but the adhesion property of the layers is nearly independent of the wavelength. On the other hand, the compositional gradient Ta/TaN film exhibits the highest hardness and the value of scratch test for the post-annealing temperatures of 20$0^{\circ}C$ and 40$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. This tendency of the compositional gradient Ta/TaN films differs from that of the Ta/TaN multilayers.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.484-490
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• 1999

$(Pb,La)TiO_3$(PLT) thin films were prepared on Pt/SiO$_2$/Si substrates by the sol-gel method and investigated the crystalline and electrical properties according to La concentration and post-annealing temperatures. The PLT films annealed at above $600^{\circ}C$ were exhibited the typical perovskite structures regardless of La contents. When the $(Pb,La)TiO_3$(PT) films were doped with La concentration up to 10mol%(PLT-10), the degree of z-axis orientation was greatly decreased from 63% to 26%. From AES depth profiles for the PLT-10 samples, no remarkable inter-reaction between PLT film and lower Pt electrode was found. The remanent polarization$(2Pr,Pr_+-Pr_-)$ were increased from $4\muC\textrm{cm}^2 to 16\muC\textrm{cm}^2$ as the annealing temperature increased from $600^{\circ}C to 700^{\circ}C$. This result may be ascribed to the improvement of crystallinity by the high temperature post-annealing. The dielectric constant$({\varepsilon}r)$ and tangent loss(tan$\delta$) of the PLT-10 films annealed at $650^{\circ}C$ were about 193 and 0.02, respectively with the pyroelectric coefficient($\gamma$) of around $4.0nC/\textrm{cm}^2{\cdot}^{\circ}C at 30^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.753-759
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• 1999

The microstructure and electrical properties of ZNR that W $O_3$ is added in the range 0.5~4.0mol%, were investigated. The major part of W $O_3$ were segregated at the nodal point and W-rich phase was formed. Three crystalline phases, such as W-rich phase (W $O_3$), Bi-rich phase (B $i_2$W $O_{6}$ ), and spinel phase (Z $n_{2.33}$S $b_{0.67}$ $O_4$) were confirmed to be co-existed at the nodal point The average grain size increased in the range 15.5~29.9$\mu\textrm{m}$ with increasing W $O_3$ additive content. Consequently. W $O_3$ acted as a promotion additive of grain growth. As the W $O_3$ additive content increases. the varistor voltage and the nonlinear exponent decreased in the range 186.82~35.87V/mm and 20.90~3.34, respectively, and the leakage current increased in the range of 22.39~83.01 uh. With increasing W $O_3$ additive content, the barrier height and the density of interface states decreased in the range 1.93~0.43eV and (4.38~1.22)$\times$10$^{12}$ $\textrm{cm}^2$, respectively. W $O_3$ acted as an acceptor additive due to the donor concentration increasing in the range (1.06~0.38)$\times$10$^{18}$ /㎤with increasing W $O_3$ additive content.t.t.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.991-997
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• 2003

The effect of A1$_4$C$_3$ additive on the thermoelectric properties of SiC ceramics were studied. Porous SiC ceramics with 47∼59% relative density were fabricated by sintering the pressed $\alpha$-SiC powder compacts with A1$_4$C$_3$at 2100∼220$0^{\circ}C$ for 3 h in Ar atmosphere. Crystalline phases of the sintered bodies were identified by powder X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and their microstructures were observed with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). In the case of A1$_4$C$_3$ addition, the phase transformation of 6H-SiC to 4H-SiC could be observed during sintering. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity were measured at 550∼95$0^{\circ}C$ in Ar atmosphere. In the case of undoped specimens, the Seebeck coefficients were positive (p-type semiconducting) possibly due to a dominant effect of the acceptor impurities (Al, Fe) contained in the starting powder and electrical conductivity increased as increasing sintering temperature. Electrical conductivity of A1$_4$C$_3$doped specimen is larger than that of undoped specimen under the same condition, which might be due to the reverse phase transformation and increasing of carrier density. And the Seebeck coefficient of A1$_4$C$_3$ doped specimen is also larger than that of undoped specimen. The density of specimen, the amount of addition and sintering atmosphere had significant effects on the thermoelectric property.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2013

In this study, the influence on the surface passivation properties of crystalline silicon according to silicon wafer thickness, and the correlation with a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cell performances were investigated. The wafers passivated by p(n)-doped a-Si:H layers show poor passivation properties because of the doping elements, such as boron(B) and phosphorous(P), which result in a low minority carrier lifetime (MCLT). A decrease in open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) was observed when the wafer thickness was thinned from $170{\mu}m$ to $50{\mu}m$. On the other hand, wafers incorporating intrinsic (i) a-Si:H as a passivation layer showed high quality passivation of a-Si:H/c-Si. The implied $V_{oc}$ of the ITO/p a-Si:H/i a-Si:H/n c-Si wafer/i a-Si:H/n a-Si:H/ITO stacked layers was 0.715 V for $50{\mu}m$ c-Si substrate, and 0.704 V for $170{\mu}m$ c-Si. The $V_{oc}$ in the heterojunction solar cells increased with decreases in the substrate thickness. The high quality passivation property on the c-Si led to an increasing of $V_{oc}$ in the thinner wafer. Short circuit current decreased as the substrate became thinner because of the low optical absorption for long wavelength light. In this paper, we show that high quality passivation of c-Si plays a role in heterojunction solar cells and is important in the development of thinner wafer technology.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.39-42
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• 2017

E-glass (electrical glass) fiber is the widely used as a reinforced composite material of PCBs (printed circuit boards). However, E-glass fiber is not stable because it has a dielectric constant of 6~7. On the other hand, D-glass (dielectric glass) fiber has a low dielectric constant of 3~4.5. Thus, it is adaptable for use as a reinforcing material of PCBs. In this study, we fabricated D-glass compositions with low dielectric constant, and measured the electrical and optical properties. In the glass composition, the boron content was changed from 9 to 31 wt%. To confirm the dependence of the dielectric constant on melting properties, D-glass with 22 wt% boron was melted at $1550^{\circ}C$ and $1650^{\circ}C$ for 2hrs. The glass melted at $1650^{\circ}C$ had a lower dielectric constant than the glass melted at $1550^{\circ}C$. Therefore, the D-glass with boron of 9~31 wt% was fabricated by melting at $1650^{\circ}C$ for 2hrs, and transparent clear glass was obtained. We identified the non-crystalline nature of the glass using an XRD (x-ray diffractometer) graph. The visible light transmittance values depending on the boron contents were measured and found to be 88.6 % ~ 82.5 %. Finally, the dielectric constant of the D-glass with 31 wt% boron was found to have decreased from 4.18 to 3.93.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.254-262
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• 2009

Nine kinds of hydroxypropyl celluloses (HPCs) with degree of substitution (DS) and molar substitution (MS) ranging from 2.10 to 2.71 and 2.3 to 6.7, respectively and seven kinds of fully butanoated HPCs (BPCs) based on the HPCs with $2.3\;{\le}\;MS\;{\le}\;6.7$ were synthesized, and the molecular characteristics of HPCs and the thermotropic liquid crystalline properties of the derivatives were investigated. MS was nearly equal to DS for small value of DS, but it became exceedly larger than DS for $DS{\gtrsim}1$, showing that in the later stages of reaction, propylene oxide preferentially adds to the side chains rather than the main chain. All the derivatives formed enantiotropic cholesteric phases with right-handed helical structures. The glass and clearing transition temperatures of both HPCs and BPCs were decreased with increasing MS. The optical pitches (${\lambda}_m'S$) of BPCs, as well as HPCs themselves, increased with increasing temperature. However, the ${\lambda}_m'S$ of both HPCs and BPCs at the same temperature increased with increasing MS. Moreover, the temperature dependence of ${\lambda}_m$ of HPCs was weaker than that of BPCs, suggesting that the helical twisting power of the cellulose chain highly depends on the length and chemical structure of the side chain introduced in cellulose chain.