• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.413-416
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• 2004

In this study, zinc oxide(ZnO) having large misfit(18.2%) with sapphire was tried to be grown on very thin nitride buffer layers. For the creation of various kinds of nitride buffer layer, sapphire surface was modified by an irradiation of nitrogen ion beam with low energy generated from stationary plasma thruster(SPT) at room temperature. After the irradiation of ion beam, Al-N and Al-O-N bonding was identified to be formed as nitride buffet layers. Surface morphology was measured by AFM and then ZnO growth was followed by pulsed laser deposition(PLD). Their properties are analyzed by XRD, AFM, TEM, and PL. We observed that surface morphology was improved and deep level emission related to defects was almost vanished in PL spectra from the ZnO grown on nitride buffer layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.3-6
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• 2009

Aluminum nitride (AIN) thin films were deposited on a polycrystalline 3C-SiC intermediate layer by a pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering system. Characteristics of the AIN/SiC heterostructures were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The columnar structure of AIN thin films was observed by FE-SEM. The surface roughness of AlN films on the 3C-SiC buffer layer was measured using AFM. The XRD pattern of AlN films on SiC buffer layers was highly oriented at (002). Full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curve near (002) reflections was $1.3^{\circ}$. The infrared absorbance spectrum indicated that the residual stress of AIN thin films grown on SiC buffer layers was nearly negligible. The 3C-SiC intermediate layers are promising for the realization of nitride based electronic and mechanical devices.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.699-704
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• 2017

Recently, the use of an aluminum nitride(AlN) buffer layer has been actively studied for fabricating a high quality gallium nitride(GaN) template for high efficiency Light Emitting Diode(LED) production. We confirmed that AlN deposition after $N_2$ plasma treatment of the substrate has a positive influence on GaN epitaxial growth. In this study, $N_2$ plasma treatment was performed on a commercial patterned sapphire substrate by RF magnetron sputtering equipment. GaN was grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD). The surface treated with $N_2$ plasma was analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) to determine the binding energy. The XPS results indicated the surface was changed from $Al_2O_3$ to AlN and AlON, and we confirmed that the thickness of the pretreated layer was about 1 nm using high resolution transmission electron microscopy(HR-TEM). The AlN buffer layer deposited on the grown pretreated layer had lower crystallinity than the as-treated PSS. Therefore, the surface $N_2$ plasma treatment on PSS resulted in a reduction in the crystallinity of the AlN buffer layer, which can improve the epitaxial growth quality of the GaN template.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2020

In this research, 50 nm thick AlN thin films were deposited on the patterned sapphire (0001) substrate by using HVPE (Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy) system and then epitaxial layer structure was grown by MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition). The surface morphology of the AlN buffer layer film was observed by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and AFM (atomic force microscope), and then the crystal structure of GaN films of the epitaxial layer structure was investigated by HR-XRC (high resolution X-ray rocking curve). The XRD peak intensity of GaN thin film of epitaxial layer structure deposited on AlN buffer layer film and sapphire substrate was rather higher in case of that on PSS than normal sapphire substrate. In AFM surface image, the epitaxial layer structure formed on AlN buffer layer showed rather low pit density and less defect density. In the optical output power, the epitaxial layer structure formed on AlN buffer layer showed very high intensity compared to that of the epitaxial layer structure without AlN thin film.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.564-569
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• 2002

Heteroepitaxial GaN films were grown on sapphire substrates in order to study the effects of the buffer layer's surface roughness and thermal treatment on the epitaxial layer's quality. For this, GaN buffer layers were grown at $550^{\circ}C$ with various TMGa flow rates and durations of growth, and annealed at $1010^{\circ}C$ for 3 min after the temperature was raised by 23 ~ $92^{\circ}C/min$, and then GaN epitaxial layers were grown at $1000^{\circ}C$. It has been found that the buffer layer's surface roughness and the thermal treatment condition are critical factors on the quality of the epitaxial layer. When a buffer layer was frown with a TMGa flow rate of $24\mu mole/min$ for 30 sec, the surface roughness of the buffer lather was minimum and when the thermal ramping rate was $30.6^{\circ}C/min$ on this layer, the successively grown epitaxial layer's crystalline and optical qualities were optimized with a specular morphology. The minimum full width at half maximum(FWHM) of GaN(0002) x-ray diffraction peak and that of near-band-edge(NBE) peak from a room temperature photoluminescence (PL) were 5 arcmin and 9 nm, respectively.

• Transactions of the Society of Information Storage Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.129-134
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• 2007

Boron nitride (BN) is a highly attractive material for wear resistant applications of mechanical components. BN is super hard and it is the second hardest of all known materials. It also has a high thermal stability, high abrasive wear resistance, and in contrast to diamond, BN does not react with ferrous materials. The motivation of this work is to investigate the tribological properties of BN for potential applications in ultra-precision components for data storage, printing, and other precision devices. In this work, the wear characteristics of BN thin films deposited on DLC or Ti buffer layer with silicon substrate using RF-magnetron sputtering technique were analyzed. Wear tests were conducted by using a pin-on-disk type tester and the wear tracks were measured with a surface profiler. Experimental results showed that wear characteristics were dependent on the sputtering conditions and buffer layer. Particularly, BN coated on DLC layer showed better wear resistant behavior. The range of the wear rates for the BN films tested in this work was about 20 to $100{\mu}m^3$/cycle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.05b
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• pp.82-85
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• 2002

In recent years, the tantalum nitride(TaN) thin-film has been developed for the electronic resistor and capacitor. In this papers, this study presents the surface profile and sheet-resistance property relationship of reactive-sputtered TaN thin film resistor processed by buffer of Ti and Cr on alumina substrate. The TCR properties of the TaN films were discussed in terms of reactive gas ratio, ratio of nitrogen, crystallization and thin films surface morphology due to annealing temperature. It is clear that the TaN thin-films resistor electrical properties are low TCR related with it's buffer layer condition. Ti buffer layer thin film resistor having a good thermal stability and lower TCR properties then Cr buffer expected for the application to the dielectric material of passive component.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.346-347
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• 2007

Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films were deposited on Polycrystalline (poly) 3C-SiC buffer layers using pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering. Characteristics of AlN films were investigated experimentally by means of FE-SEM, X-ray diffraction, and FT-IR, respectively. As a result, highly (002) oriented AlN thin films with almost free residual stress were achieved using 3C-SiC buffer layers. Therefore, AlN thin films grown on 3C-SiC buffer layers can be used for various piezoelectric fields and M/NEMS applications.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.3.2-3.2
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• 2006

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.331-338
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• 2021

Ti-Al-Si target and Cr-Si target are sputtered alternately to develop a multi-layered nitride coating on a steel mold to improve die-casting lifetime. Prior to the multi-layer deposition, a CrN layer is developed as a buffer layer on the mold to suppress the diffusion of reactive elements and enhance the cohesive strength of the multi-layer deposition. Approximately 50 nm CrSiN and TiAlSiN layers are deposited layer by layer, and form about three ㎛-thickness of multi-layered coating. From the observation of the uncoated and coated steel molds after the acceleration experiment of liquid metal injection casting, the uncoated mold is severely eroded by the adhesion of molten metallic glass. On the other hand, the multi-layer coating on the mold prevents element diffusion from the metallic glass and mold erosion during the experiment. The multi-layer structure of the coating transforms the nano-composite structured coating during the acceleration test. Since the nano-composite structure disrupts element diffusion to molten metallic glass, despite microstructure changes, the coating is not eroded by the 1,050 ℃ molten metallic glass.