• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.248-256
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• 2023

Indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent electrode film has been widely adopted for the various applications such as display and electric vehicle. In this paper, we studied how to enhance the thermoforming stability of ITO film by applying the highly conductive Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) thin layer. Based on the change of sheet resistance value, the influence of the additional solvent with different boiling point was investigated for the PEDOT:PSS coating solution. In addition, by analyzing optical transmittance and Raman spectrum, we confirmed the key mechanism which determine the final electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS on ITO film using an ethylene glycol solvent. The final ITO transparent electrode coated with PEDOT:PSS performed the outstanding endurance of electrical conduction even in 126% stretching condition.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.55-60
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• 2024

Two-dimensional (2D) RuO₂ nanosheets with nanometer thickness were synthesized using a chemical exfoliation method. The synthesized 2D-RuO₂ was hybridized with Ag-nanowire (NW), which is attracting attention as a next-generation transparent electrode material. After coating Ag-NW on the substrate, 2D-RuO₂ was subsequently coated on the Ag-NW. Although there was a decrease in optical transmittance, the hybridization of 2D-RuO₂ confirmed the effect of reducing sheet resistance. Furthermore, the flexibility of the fabricated transparent electrodes was also studied. It was confirmed by the change in sheet resistance after bending. The additional coating of 2D-RuO₂ improved the flexibility of the transparent electrodes.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.155-165
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• 2024

A hybrid thin film was prepared by doping reduced graphene oxide (rGO) into a sol-gel solution mixed with aluminum, titanium, and strontium using a brush coating method. The annealing temperature was carried out at 160, 260, and 360℃, and the difference in oxidation reaction was observed. The sol-gel solution created during the membrane manufacturing process generates a contractile force due to the shear stress of the brush bristles, forming a microgroove structure. This structure was confirmed through scanning electron microscopy analysis, and the presence of rGO was clearly revealed. As the annealing temperature increases, the oxidation and reduction reactions on the thin film surface become more active, so the intensity of the surface mixture increases. Moreover, the electro-optical properties were stabilized and improved by increasing the intensity of the mixtures. Likewise, the voltage-capacitance values are also significantly improved. Lastly, the transmittance measurement showed that it was suitable for liquid crystal display application.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.79-84
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• 2017

The solar cells should be protected from the moisture and oxygen in order to sustain the properties and reliability of the devices. In this research, we prepared the protection films on the flexible plastic substrates by spray coating method using organic-inorganic hybrid solutions. The protection characteristics were studied depending on the various process conditions (nozzle distance, thicknesses of the coatings, film structures). The organic-inorganic solutions for the protection film layer were synthesized by addition of $Al_2O_3$ ($P.S+Al_2O_3$) and $SiO_2$ ($P.S+SiO_2$) nano-powders into PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) and SA (sodium alginate) (P.S) organic solution. The optical transmittances of the protection film with the thicknesses of $5{\mu}m$ showed 91%. The optical transmittance decreased from 81.6% to 73.6% with the film thickness increased from $78{\mu}m$ to $178{\mu}m$. In addition, the protective films were prepared on the PEN (polyethylene naphthalate), PC (polycarbonate) single plastic substrates as well as the Acrylate film coated on PC substrate (Acrylate film/PC double layer), and $Al_2O_3$ film coated on PEN substrate ($Al_2O_3$ film/PEN double layer) using the $P.S+Al_2O_3$ organic-inorganic hybrid solutions. The optimum protection film structure was studied by means of the measurements of water vapor transmittance rate (WVTR) and surface morphology. The protective film on PEN/$Al_2O_3$ double layer substrate showed the best water protective property, indicating the WVTR value of $0.004gm/m^2-day$.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.348-353
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• 1997

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon(a-C:H) films were deposited on p-type Si(100) by DC saddle-field plasma enhanced CVD to investigate the effect of substrate bias on optical properties and structural changes. They were deposited using pure methane gas at a wide range of substrate bias at room temperature and 90 mtorr. The substrate bias voltage ($V_s$) was employed from $V_s=0 V$ to $V_s=400 V$. The information of optical properties was investigated by photoluminescence and transmitance. Chemical bondings of a-C:H have been explored from FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. The thickness and relative hydrogen content of the films were measured by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and elastic recoil detection (ERD) technigue. The growth rate of a-C:H film was decreased with the increase of $V_s$, but the hydrogen content of the film was increased with the increase of $V_s$. The a-C:H films deposited at the lowest $V_s$ contain the smallest amount of hydrogen with most of C-H bonds in the of $CH_2$ configuration, whereas the films produced at higher $V_s$ reveal dominant the $CH_3$ bonding structure. The emission of white photoluminescence from the films were observed even with naked eyes at room temperature and the PL intensity of the film has the maximum value at $V_s$=200 V. With $V_s$ lower than 200 V, the PL intensity of the film increased with V, but for V, higher than 200 V, the PL intensity decreased with the increase of $V_s$. The peak energy of the PL spectra slightly shifted to the higher energy with the increase of $V_s$. The optical bandgap of the film, determined by optical transmittance, was increased from 1.5 eV at $V_s$=0V to 2.3 eV at $V_s$=400 V. But there were no obvious relations between the PL peak and the optical gap which were measured by Tauc process.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 1997

In this study, two different types of complementary electrochromic devices using amorphous $WO_{3}$ films as a working electrode, $V_{2}O_{5}$ film and NiO film as counter electrodes respectively were investigated. For the devices using amorphous and crystalline $V_{2}O_{5}$ films of $100{\sim}150nm$ thickness with $ITO/WO_{3}/LiClO_{4}-PC/V_{2}O_{5}/ITO$ structure, an optical modulation of $50{\sim}60%$ were obtained at a potential range of $1{\sim}2V$. It has been shown that transmittance and reflectance of light could be electrically controlled by low applied voltage. For the devices with $ITO/WO_{3}/LiClO_{4}-PC/NiO/ITO$ structure in which NiO film was deposited by a RF reactive sputtering, the optical modulation in visible light region (${\lambda}=550nm$) and in near infrared light region (${\lambda}=850nm$) were 25% and 30%, respectively.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.42.2-42.2
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• 2010

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are of significant importance for their applications in various devices, such as light-emitting diodes, thin-film solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, liquid crystal displays, and so on. In order for TCOs to contribute to the performance improvement of these devices, TCOs should have high transmittance and good electrical properties simultaneously. Sn-doped $In_2O_3$ (ITO) is the most commonly used TCO. However, indium is toxic and scarce in nature. Thus, ZnO has attracted a lot of attention because of the possibility for replacing ITO. In particular, group III impurity-doped ZnO showed the optoelectronic properties comparable to those of ITO electrodes. Al-doped ZnO exhibited the best performance among various doped ZnO films because of the high substitutional doping efficiency. However, in order for the Al-doped ZnO to replace ITO in electronic devices, their electrical and optical properties should further significantly be improved. In this connection, different ways such as a variation of deposition conditions, different deposition techniques, and post-deposition annealing processes have been investigated so far. Among the deposition methods, RF magnetron sputtering has been extensively used because of the easiness in controlling deposition parameters and its fast deposition rate. In addition, when combined with post-deposition annealing in a reducing ambient, the optoelectronic properties of Al-doped ZnO films were found to be further improved. In this presentation, we deposited Al-doped ZnO (ZnO:$Al_2O_3$ = 98:2 wt%) thin films on the glass and sapphire substrates using RF magnetron sputtering as a function of substrate temperature. In addition, the ZnO samples were annealed in different conditions, e.g., rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at $900^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ ambient for 1 min, tube-furnace annealing at $500^{\circ}C$ in $N_2:H_2$=9:1 gas flow for 1 hour, or RTA combined with tube-furnace annealing. It is found that the mobilities and carrier concentrations of the samples are dependent on growth temperature followed by one of three subsequent post-deposition annealing conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.270-275
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• 2013

Single-layer graphene layers have been synthesized by using chemical vapor deposition, subsequently transferred on 300 nm $SiO_2/Si$ and quartz substrates, and doped with $AuCl_3$ by spin coating for various doping concentrations ($n_D$) from 1 to 10 mM. Based on the $n_D$-dependent variations of Raman frequencies/peak-intensity ratios, sheet resistance, work function, and Dirac point, measured by structural, optical, and electrical analysis techniques, the p-type nature of graphene is shown to be strengthened with increasing $n_D$. Especially, as estimated from the drain current-gate voltage curves of graphene field effect transistors, the hole mobility is very little varied with increasing $n_D$, in strong contrast with the $n_D$-dependent large variation of electron mobility. These results suggest that $AuCl_3$ is one of the best p-type dopants for graphene and is promising for device applications of the doped graphene.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.1285-1290
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• 2017

We prepared ITZO thin films with various thicknesses on glass substrates using RF magnetron sputtering and investigated electrical, optical and structural properties of the thin film. Sheet resistance of ITZO thin film showed a decreasing trend on the increase of film thickness, but its resistivity exhibited a substantially constant value of $5.06{\pm}1.23{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}-cm$. Transmittance of ITZO thin film moved to the long-wavelength with the increase of film thickness. Figure of merit in a visible light and an absorption area of P3HT:PCBM organic active layer of the 360nm-thick IZTO thin film was $8.21{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}^{-1}$ and $9.29{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}^{-1}$, respectively. Through XRD and AFM measurements, it was confirmed that all the ITZO thin films have amorphous structure and the surface roughness of films are very smooth in the range of 0.561 to 0.263 nm. In this study, it was found that amorphous ITZO thin film is a very promising material for organic solar cell.