• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.356-360
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• 2017

Indium tin oxide (ITO) provides high electrical conductivity and transparency at visible and near-IR wavelengths. ITO is widely used as a transparent electrode for the fabrication of LCDs, OLEDs, and many kinds of optical applications. It is widely employed for electrodes in various electric and display sectors because of its transparency in the visible range and high conductivity. Therefore, one issue is removing a specific area of a layer of material such as ITO or metallic film on a substrate, without affecting the properties of the substrate. ITO-on-glass removal using a laser is friendlier to the environment than traditional methods. In this study, ablation of ITO film on glass using a femtosecond-laser micromachining system (wavelength 1026 nm, pulse duration 150 fs) and a nanosecond-laser micromachining system (wavelength 1027 nm, pulse duration 5 ns) are described, compared, and analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.344-344
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• 2014

Transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors such as a In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) have advantages for large area electronic devices; e.g., uniform deposition at a large area, optical transparency, a smooth surface, and large electron mobility >10 cm2/Vs, which is more than an order of magnitude larger than that of hydrogen amorphous silicon (a-Si;H).1) Thin film transistors (TFTs) that employ amorphous oxide semiconductors such as ZnO, In-Ga-Zn-O, or Hf-In-Zn-O (HIZO) are currently subject of intensive study owing to their high potential for application in flat panel displays. The device fabrication process involves a series of thin film deposition and photolithographic patterning steps. In order to minimize contamination, the substrates usually undergo a cleaning procedure using deionized water, before and after the growth of thin films by sputtering methods. The devices structure were fabricated top-contact gate TFTs using the a-IGZO films on the plastic substrates. The channel width and length were 80 and 20 um, respectively. The source and drain electrode regions were defined by photolithography and wet etching process. The electrodes consisting of Ti(15 nm)/Al(120 nm)/Ti(15nm) trilayers were deposited by direct current sputtering. The 30 nm thickness active IGZO layer deposited by rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The deposition condition is as follows: a rf power 200 W, a pressure of 5 mtorr, 10% of oxygen [O2/(O2+Ar)=0.1], and room temperature. A 9-nm-thick Al2O3 layer was formed as a first, third gate insulator by ALD deposition. A 290-nm-thick SS6908 organic dielectrics formed as second gate insulator by spin-coating. The schematic structure of the IGZO TFT is top gate contact geometry device structure for typical TFTs fabricated in this study. Drain current (IDS) versus drain-source voltage (VDS) output characteristics curve of a IGZO TFTs fabricated using the 3-layer gate insulator on a plastic substrate and log(IDS)-gate voltage (VG) characteristics for typical IGZO TFTs. The TFTs device has a channel width (W) of $80{\mu}m$ and a channel length (L) of $20{\mu}m$. The IDS-VDS curves showed well-defined transistor characteristics with saturation effects at VG>-10 V and VDS>-20 V for the inkjet printing IGZO device. The carrier charge mobility was determined to be 15.18 cm^2 V-1s-1 with FET threshold voltage of -3 V and on/off current ratio 10^9.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.348-348
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• 2011

Carbon nanotube (CNT) field effect transistors and sensors use CNT as a current channel, of which the resistance varies with the gate voltage or upon molecule adsorption. Since the performance of CNT devices depends very much on the CNT/metal contact resistance, the CNT/electrode contact must be stable and the contact resistance must be small. Depending on the geometry of CNT/electrode contact, it can be categorized into the end-contact, embedded-contact (top-contact), and side-contact (bottom-contact). Because of difficulties in the sample preparation, the end-contact CNT device is seldom practiced. The embedded-contact in which CNT is embedded inside the electrode is desirable due to its rigidness and the low contact resistance. Fabrication of this structure is complicated, however, because each CNT has to be located under a high-resolution microscope and then the electrode is patterned by electron beam lithography. The side-contact is done by depositing CNT electrophoretically or by precipitating on the patterned electrode. Although this contact is fragile and the contact resistance is relatively high, the side-contact by far has been widely practiced because of its simple fabrication process. Here we introduce a simple method to embed CNT inside the electrode while taking advantage of the bottom-contact process. The idea is to utilize a eutectic material as an electrode, which melts at low temperature so that CNT is not damaged while annealing to melt the electrode to embed CNT. The lowering of CNT/Au contact resistance upon annealing at mild temperature has been reported, but the electrode in these studies did not melt and CNT laid on the surface of electrode even after annealing. In our experiment, we used a eutectic Au/Al film that melts at 250$^{\circ}C$. After depositing CNT on the electrode made of an Au/Al thin film, we annealed the sample at 250$^{\circ}C$ in air to induce eutectic melting. As a result, Au-Al alloy grains formed, under which the CNT was embedded to produce a rigid and low resistance contact. The embedded CNT contact was as strong as to tolerate the ultrasonic agitation for 90 s and the current-voltage measurement indicated that the contact resistance was lowered by a factor of 4. By performing standard fabrication process on this CNT-deposited substrate to add another pair of electrodes bridged by CNT in perpendicular direction, we could fabricate a CNT cross junction. Finally, we could conclude that the eutectic alloy electrode is valid for CNT sensors by examine the detection of Au ion which is spontaneously reduced to CNT surface. The device sustatined strong washing process and maintained its detection ability.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.161-169
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• 2000

In the case of photocatalytic hydrogen production from water, the performance-property relationships of CdS-TiO2 film type composite catalysts were investigated. To control the physical properties of the primary particles, the mixture of CdS and TiO2 nano-sols prepared by the sol-gel method at room temperature was hydrothermally treated at 240oC for 12hr. The film electrodes were prepared by the casting method. The photocurrents measured by a photoelectrochemical method and the hydrogen production rates measured by a photochemical method were closely dependent on the physical properties such as crystalline form, primary particle size and CdS/TiO2 mole ratio, and these varied in the range of 1.2~2.6 mA/cm2 and $1.0{\sim}1.6{\times}10-3mol/hr$, respectively.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.79-85
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• 2022

Recently, a smartphone manufactured on a flexible substrate has been released as an electronic device, and research on a stretchable electronic device is in progress. In this paper, a silicon-based stretchable material is made and used as a substrate to implement and evaluate an optical sensor device using oxide semiconductor. To this end, a substrate that stretches well at room temperature was made using a silicone-based solution rubber, and the elongation of 350% of the material was confirmed, and optical properties such as reflectivity, transmittance, and absorbance were measured. Next, since the surface of these materials is hydrophobic, oxygen-based plasma surface treatment was performed to clean the surface and change the surface to hydrophilicity. After depositing an AZO-based oxide film with vacuum equipment, an Ag electrode was formed using a cotton swab or a metal mast to complete the photosensor. The optoelectronic device analyzed the change in current according to the voltage when light was irradiated and when it was not, and the photocurrent caused by light was observed. In addition, the effect of the optical sensor according to the folding was additionally tested using a bending machine. In the future, we plan to intensively study folding (bending) and stretching optical devices by forming stretchable semiconductor materials and electrodes on stretchable substrates.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 1998

Circular metal electrodes were vacuum-deposited with chromium on the both sides of Teflon-FEP and PET film characteristic of electret and the physical properties of the two polymers were observed during an irradiation by gamma-ray from $\^$60/Co. With the onset of irradiation of output 25.0 cGy/min the induced current increased rapidly for 2 sec, reached a maximum, and subsequently decreased. A steady-state induced current was reached about in 60 second. The dielectric constant and conductivity of Teflon-FEP were changed from 2.15 to 18.0 and from l${\times}$l0$\^$-17/ to 1.57${\times}$10$\^$-13/ $\Omega$-$\^$-1/cm$\^$-1/, respectively. For PET the dielectric constant was changed from 3 to 18.3 and the conductivity from 10$\^$-17/ to 1.65${\times}$10$\^$-13/ $\Omega$-$\^$-1/cm$\^$-1/. The increase of the radiation-induced steady state current I$\^$c/, permittivity $\varepsilon$ and conductivity $\sigma$ with output(4.0 cGy/min, 8.5 cGy/min, 15.6 cGy/min, 19.3 cGy/min) was observed. A series of independent measurements were also performed to evaluate reproducibility and revealed less than 1% deviation in a day and 3% deviation in a long term. Charge and current showed the dependence on the interval between measurements, the smaller the interval was, the bigger the difference between initial reading and next reading was. At least in 20 minutes of next reading reached an initial value. It may indicate that the polymers were exhibiting an electret state for a while. These results can be explained by the internal polarization associated with the production of electron-hole pairs by secondary electrons, the change of conductivity and the equilibrium due to recombination etc. Heating to the sample made the reading value increase in a short time, it may be interpreted that the internal polarization was released due to heating and it contributed the number of charge carriers to increase when the samples was again irradiated. The linearity and reproducibility of the samples with the applied voltage and absorbed dose and a large amount of charge measured per unit volume compared with the other chambers give the feasibility of a radiation detector and make it possible to reduce the volume of a detector.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2010

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems are promising methods of producing H2 gas using solar energy in an aqueous solution. The photoelectrochemical properties of numerous metal oxides have been studied. Among them, the PEC systems based on TiO2 have been extensively studied. However, the drawback of a PEC system with TiO2 is that only ultraviolet (UV) light can be absorbed because of its large band gap (3.2 - 3.4 eV). Two approaches have been introduced in order to use PEC cells in the visible light region. The first method includes doping impurities, such as nitrogen, into TiO2, and this technique has been extensively studied in an attempt to narrow the band gap. In comparison, research on the second method, which includes visible light water splitting in molecular photosystems, has been slow. Mallouk et al. recently developed electrochemical water-splitting cells using the Ru(II) complex as the visible light photosensitizer. the dye-sensitized PEC cell consisted of a dye-sensitized TiO2 layer, a Pt counter electrode, and an aqueous solution between them. Under a visible light (< 3 eV) illumination, only the dye molecule absorbed the light and became excited because TiO2 had the wide band gap. The light absorption of the dye was followed by the transfer of an electron from the excited state (S*) of the dye to the conduction band (CB) of TiO2 and its subsequent transfer to the transparent conducting oxide (TCO). The electrons moved through the wire to the Pt, where the water reduction (or H2 evolution) occurred. The oxidized dye molecules caused the water oxidation because their HOMO level was below the H2O/O2 level. Organic dyes have been developed as metal-free alternatives to the Ru(II) complexes because of their tunable optical and electronic properties and low-cost manufacturing. Recently, organic dye molecules containing multi-branched, multi-anchoring groups have received a great deal of interest. In this work, tri-branched tri-anchoring organic dyes (Dye 2) were designed and applied to visible light water-splitting cells based on dye-sensitized TiO2 electrodes. Dye 2 had a molecular structure containing one donor (D) and three acceptor (A) groups, and each ended with an anchoring functionality. In comparison, mono-anchoring dyes (Dye 1) were also synthesized. The PEC response of the Dye 2-sensitized TiO2 film was much better than the Dye 1-sensitized or unsensitized TiO2 films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.287.1-287.1
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• 2016

Three-dimensional (3-D) semiconductor nanoarchitectures, including nano- and micro- rods, pyramids, and disks, are emerging as one of the most promising elements for future optoelectronic devices. Since these 3-D semiconductor nanoarchitectures have many interesting unconventional properties, including the use of large light-emitting surface area and semipolar/nonpolar nano- or micro-facets, numerous studies reported on novel device applications of these 3-D nanoarchitectures. In particular, 3-D nanoarchitecture devices can have noticeably different current spreading characteristics compared with conventional thin film devices, due to their elaborate 3-D geometry. Utilizing this feature in a highly controlled manner, color-tunable light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were demonstrated by controlling the spatial distribution of current density over the multifaceted GaN LEDs. Meanwhile, for the fabrication of high brightness, single color emitting LEDs or laser diodes, uniform and high density of electrical current must be injected into the entire active layers of the nanoarchitecture devices. Here, we report on a new device structure to inject uniform and high density of electrical current through the 3-D semiconductor nanoarchitecture LEDs using metal core inside microtube LEDs. In this work, we report the fabrications and characteristics of metal-cored coaxial $GaN/In_xGa_{1-x}N$ microtube LEDs. For the fabrication of metal-cored microtube LEDs, $GaN/In_xGa_{1-x}N/ZnO$ coaxial microtube LED arrays grown on an n-GaN/c-Al2O3 substrate were lifted-off from the substrate by wet chemical etching of sacrificial ZnO microtubes and $SiO_2$ layer. The chemically lifted-off layer of LEDs were then stamped upside down on another supporting substrates. Subsequently, Ti/Au and indium tin oxide were deposited on the inner shells of microtubes, forming n-type electrodes of the metal-cored LEDs. The device characteristics were investigated measuring electroluminescence and current-voltage characteristic curves and analyzed by computational modeling of current spreading characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2003

The electrode for a supercapacitor was prepared using an amorphous ruthenium oxide, which was synthesized from ruthenium trichloride hydrate$(RuO_2{\cdot}nH_2O)$. A supercapacitor was assembled with an electrode of ruthenium oxide material on a current collector of tantalum, and an electrolyte of 4.8 M sulfuric acid. The result of the AC impedance analyses on $Ta/H_2SO_4(4.8 M)/Pt$ cell showed that tantalum was stable at the potential range of $0.0\~1.1V(vs. SCE)$. Therefore, Ta film could be used the supercapacitor as a current collector. The irreversible hydrolysis in the supercapacitor occurred over ca. 1.0V(vs.SCE) when the supercapacitor was protonated to 0.5V(vs. SCE). The supercapacitor protonated to 0.5V(vs.SCE) showed good electrochemical properties when it was tested at the potential range of 1.0V in the charge-discharge test. The potential range of the electrodes including the positive and the negative electrode was varied between -0.004 and 0.995V(vs. SCE). The potential ranges of the positive and the negative electrode were $-0.004\~0.515V(vs.\;SCE)\;and\; 0.515\~0.995V(vs.\;SCE)$, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.345-346
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• 2013

InGaN material is being studied increasingly as a prospective material for solar cells. One of the merits for solar cell applications is that the band gap energy can be engineered from 0.7 eV for InN to 3.4 eV for GaN by varying of indium composition, which covers almost of solar spectrum from UV to IR. It is essential for better cell efficiency to improve not only the crystalline quality of the epitaxial layers but also fabrication of the solar cells. Fabrication includes transparent top electrodes and surface texturing which will improve the carrier extraction. Surface texturing is one of the most employed methods to enhance the extraction efficiency in LED fabrication and can be formed on a p-GaN surface, on an N-face of GaN, and even on an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer. Surface texturing method has also been adopted in InGaN-based solar cells and proved to enhance the efficiency. Since the texturing by direct etching of p-GaN, however, was known to induce the damage and result in degraded electrical properties, texturing has been studied widely on ITO layers. However, it is important to optimize the ITO thickness in Solar Cells applications since the reflectance is fluctuated by ITO thickness variation resulting in reduced light extraction at target wavelength. ITO texturing made by wet etching or dry etching was also revealed to increased series resistance in ITO film. In this work, we report a new way of texturing by deposition of thickness-optimized ITO films on ITO nano dots, which can further reduce the reflectance as well as electrical degradation originated from the ITO etching process.