• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

Recent industrialization has led to a high demand for the use of fossil fuels. Therefore, the need for producing hydrogen and its utilization is essential for a sustainable society. For an eco-friendly future technology, photoelectrochemical water splitting using solar energy has proven promising amongst many other candidates. With this technique, semiconductors can be used as photocatalysts to generate electrons by light absorption, resulting in the reduction of hydrogen ions. The photocatalysts must be chemically stable, economically inexpensive and be able to utilize a wide range of light. From this perspective, cuprous oxide($Cu_2O$) is a promising p-type semiconductor because of its appropriate band gap. However, a major hindrance to the use of $Cu_2O$ is its instability at the potential in which hydrogen ion is reduced. In this study, gold is used as a bottom electrode during electrodeposition to obtain a preferential growth along the (111) plane of $Cu_2O$ while imperfections of the $Cu_2O$ thin films are removed. This study investigates the photoelectrochemical properties of $Cu_2O$. However, severe photo-induced corrosion impedes the use of $Cu_2O$ as a photoelectrode. Two candidates, $TiO_2$ and $SnO_2$, are selected for the passivation layer on $Cu_2O$ by by considering the Pourbaix-diagram. $TiO_2$ and $SnO_2$ passivation layers are deposited by atomic layer deposition(ALD) and a sputtering process, respectively. The investigation of the photoelectrochemical properties confirmed that $SnO_2$ is a good passivation layer for $Cu_2O$.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.191-210
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• 2021

To compare the antifungal effect of two nanomaterials (NMs), nanoparticles of zinc oxide were synthesized by a chemical route and zinc oxide-based nanobiohybrids were obtained using green synthesis in an extract of garlic (Allium sativum). The techniques of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Infrared (IR) and Ultraviolet Visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectroscopies and Scanning (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopies (TEM) were used to determine the characteristics of the nanomaterials synthesized. The results showed that the samples obtained were of nanometric size (< 100 nm). To compare their antifungal capacity, their effect on Cercospora sp. was evaluated. Test results showed that both nanomaterials had an antifungal capacity. The nanobiohybrids (green route) gave an inhibition of fungal growth of ~72.4% while with the ZnO-NPs (chemical route), inhibition was ~87.1%. Microstructural studies using High Resolution Optical Microscopy (HROM) and ultra-structural analysis using TEM carried out on the treated strains demonstrated the effect of the nanofungicides on the vegetative and reproductive structures, as well as on their cell wall. To account for the antifungal effect presented by ZnO-NPs and ZnO nanobiohybrids on the fungi tested, effects reported in the literature related to the action of nanomaterials on biological entities were considered. Specifically, we discuss the electrical interaction of the ZnO-NPs with the cell membrane and the biomolecules (proteins) present in the fungi, taking into account the n-type nature of the ZnO semiconductor and the electrical behavior of the fungal cell membrane and that of the proteins that make up the protein crown.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.102-119
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• 2022

Gold plating is used as a coating of connecter in printed circuit boards, ceramic integrated circuit packages, semiconductor devices and so on, because the film has excellent electric conductivity, solderability and chemical properties such as durability to acid and other chemicals. As increasing the demand for miniaturization of printed circuit boards and downsizing of electronic devices, several types of electroless gold plating solutions have been developed. Most of these conventional gold plating solutions contain cyanide compounds as a complexing agent. The gold film obtained from such baths usually satisfies the requirements for electronic parts mentioned above. However, cyanide bath is highly toxic and it always has some possibility to cause serious problems in working environment or other administrative aspects. The object of this investigation was to develop a cyanide-free electroless gold plating process that assures the high stability of the solution and gives the excellent solderability of the deposited film. The investigation reported herein is intended to establish plating bath composition and plating conditions for electroless gold plating, with thiomalic acid as a complexing agent. At the same time, we have investigated the solution stability against nickel ion and pull strength of solder ball. Furthermore, by examining the characteristics of the plated Au plating film, the problems of the newly developed electroless Au plating solution were improved and the applicability to various industrial fields was examined. New type electroless gold-plating bath which containing thiomalic acid as a complexing agent showing so good solution stability and film properties as cyanide bath. And this bath shows the excellent stability even if the dissolved nickel ion was added from under coated nickel film, which can be used at the neutral pH range.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.202-207
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• 2024

In this study, we undertook detailed experiments to increase hydrogen production efficiency by optimizing the thickness of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) thin films. TiO₂ films were deposited on p-type silicon (Si) wafers using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology. The main goal was to identify the optimal thickness of TiO₂ film that would maximize hydrogen production efficiency while maintaining stable operating conditions. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of the TiO₂ films of different thicknesses were evaluated using open circuit potential (OCP) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) analysis. These techniques play a pivotal role in evaluating the electrochemical behavior and photoactivity of semiconductor materials in PEC systems. Our results showed photovoltage tended to improve with increasing thickness of TiO₂ deposition. However, this improvement was observed to plateau and eventually decline when the thickness exceeded 1.5 nm, showing a correlation between charge transfer efficiency and tunneling. On the other hand, LSV analysis showed bare Si had the greatest efficiency, and that the deposition of TiO₂ caused a positive change in the formation of photovoltage, but was not optimal. We show that oxide tunneling-capable TiO₂ film thicknesses of 1~2 nm have the potential to improve the efficiency of PEC hydrogen production systems. This study not only reveals the complex relationship between film thickness and PEC performance, but also enabled greater efficiency and set a benchmark for future research aimed at developing sustainable hydrogen production technologies.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.210-219
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• 2005

We report on a low-cost V-band wireless transceiver with no use of any local oscillator in the receiver block using a self-heterodyne architecture. V-band millimeter-wave monolithic IC (MMIC) modules were developed to demonstrate the wireless transceiver using coplanar waveguide (CPW) and GaAs PHEMT technologies. The MMIC modules such as the MMIC low noise amplifier (LNA), medium power amplifier (MPA) and the up/down-mixer were installed in the transceiver system. To interface the MMIC chips with the component modules for the transceiver system, CPW-to-waveguide fin-line transition modules of WR-15 type were designed and fabricated. The fabricated LNA modules showed a $S_{21}$ gain of 8.4 dB and a noise figure of 5.6 dB at 58 GHz. The MPA modules exhibited a gain of 6.9 dB and a $P_{1dB}$ of 5.4 dBm at 58 GHz. The conversion losses of the up-mixer and the down-mixer module were 14.3 dB at a LO power of 15 dBm, and 19.7 dB at a LO power of 0 dBm, respectively. From the measurement of V-band wireless transceiver, a conversion gain of 0.2 dB and a $P_{1dB}$ of 5.2 dBm were obtained in the transmitter block. The receiver block showed a conversion gain of 2.1 dB and a $P_{1dB}$ of -18.6 dBm. The wireless transceiver system demonstrated a successful data transfer within a distance of 5 meters.

• Korean Journal of Crystallography
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.44-56
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• 1996

CuInTe2 synthesised in a horizontal electric furnace was found to be polycrystalline. Single crystals of CuInTe2 were grown with the vertical Bridgman technique. The structure, Hall effect of the crystals were measured in the temperature range 30 to 293K. Both the polycrystals and single crystals of CuInTe2 were tetragonal in structure. The lattice constants of the polycrytals were measured as a=6.168Å and c=12.499Å, with c/a=2.026, these of the single crystals were measured as a=6.186Å and c=12.453Å, with c/a=2.013. The growth plane of the oriented single crystals was confirmed to be a (112) plane from the back-reflection Laue patterns. The Hall effect of the CuInTe2 single crystals was measured with the method of van der Pauw The Hall data of the samples measured at room temperature showed a carrier concentration of 2.14×1023holes/m3, a conductivity of 739.58Ω-1m-1, and a mobility of 2.16×10 -2m 2/V·s for the sample perpendicular to the c-axis. Values of 1.51×1023holes/m3, 717.55Ω-1m-1, and 2.97×10-2 m2/V·s were obtained for the sample parallel to the c-axis. The Hall coefficients for the samples both perpendicular and parallel to the c-axis in the temperature range 30K to 293K were always positive values. Thus the CuInTe2 single crystal was determined to be a p-type semiconductor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.406-406
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• 2016

To get high efficiency n-type crystalline silicon solar cells, passivation is one of the key factor. Tunnel oxide (SiO2) reduce surface recombination as a passivation layer and it does not constrict the majority carrier flow. In this work, the passivation quality enhanced by different chemical solution such as HNO3, H2SO4:H2O2 and DI-water to make thin tunnel oxide layer on n-type crystalline silicon wafer and changes of characteristics by subsequent annealing process and firing process after phosphorus doped amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposition. The tunneling of carrier through oxide layer is checked through I-V measurement when the voltage is from -1 V to 1 V and interface state density also be calculated about $1{\times}1012cm-2eV-1$ using MIS (Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor) structure . Tunnel oxide produced by 68 wt% HNO3 for 5 min on $100^{\circ}C$, H2SO4:H2O2 for 5 min on $100^{\circ}C$ and DI-water for 60 min on $95^{\circ}C$. The oxide layer is measured thickness about 1.4~2.2 nm by spectral ellipsometry (SE) and properties as passivation layer by QSSPC (Quasi-Steady-state Photo Conductance). Tunnel oxide layer is capped with phosphorus doped amorphous silicon on both sides and additional annealing process improve lifetime from $3.25{\mu}s$ to $397{\mu}s$ and implied Voc from 544 mV to 690 mV after P-doped a-Si deposition, respectively. It will be expected that amorphous silicon is changed to poly silicon phase. Furthermore, lifetime and implied Voc were recovered by forming gas annealing (FGA) after firing process from $192{\mu}s$ to $786{\mu}s$. It is shown that the tunnel oxide layer is thermally stable.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.111-114
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• 2011

As a growth-template of ZnO nanorods (NR), a hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ nanosheet (NS) was synthesized with the low temperature hydrothermal process and its microstructure was investigated using a high resolution scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. Zinc nitrate hexahydrate was hydrolyzed by hexamethylenetetramine with the same mole ratio and various temperatures, growth times and total concentrations. The optimum hydrothermal processing condition for the best crystallinity of hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS was determined to be with 3.5 mM at $95^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. The prepared $Ni(OH)_2$ NSs were two dimensionally arrayed on a substrate using an air-water interface tapping method, and the quality of the array was evaluated using an X-ray diffractometer. Because of the similarity of the lattice parameter of the (0001) plane between ZnO (wurzite a = 0.325 nm, c = 0.521 nm) and hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ (brucite a = 0.313 nm, c = 0.461 nm) on the synthesized hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS, ZnO NRs were successfully grown without seeds. At 35 mM of divalent Zn ion, the entire hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NSs were covered with ZnO NRs, and this result implies the possibility that ZnO NR can be grown epitaxially on hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS by a soluble process. After the thermal annealing process, $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ changed into NiO, which has the property of a p-type semiconductor, and then ZnO and NiO formed a p-n junction for a large area light emitting diode.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1988.11a
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• pp.372-375
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• 1988

The III-V ternary alloy semiconductor $In_{l-x}Ga_{x}As$ were grown by the temperature Gradient of $0.60{\leq}x{\leq}0.98$. The electrical properties were investigated by the Hall effect measurement with the Van der Pauw method in the temperature range of $90{\sim}300K$. $In_{l-x}Ga_{x}As$ were revealed n-type and the carrier concentration at 300K were in the range of $9.69{\times}10^{16}cm^{-3}{\sim}7.49{\times}10^{17}cm^{-3}$. The resistivity was increased and the carrier mobility was decreased with increasing the composition ratio. The optical energy gap determined by optical transmission were $20{\sim}30meV$ lower than theoretical valves on the basis of absorption in the conduction band tail and it was decreased with increasing the temperature by the Varshni rule. In the photoluminescence of undoped $In_{l-x}Ga_{x}As$ at 20K, the main emission was revealed by the radiative recombination of shallow donor(Si) to acceptor(Zn) and the peak energy was increased with increasing the composition, X. The diffusion depth of Zn increases proportionally with the square root of diffusion time, and the activation energy for the Zn diffusion into $In_{0.10}Ga_{0.90}As$ was 2.174eV and temperatures dependence of diffusion coefficient was D = 87.29 exp(-2.174/$K_{B}T$). The Zn diffusion p-n $In_{x}Ga_{x}As$ diode revealed the good rectfying characteristics and the diode factor $\beta{\approx}2$. The electroluminescence spectrum for the Zn-diffusion p-n $In_{0.10}Ga_{0.90}As$ diode was due to radiative recombation between the selectron trap level(${\sim}140meV$) and Zn acceptor level(${\sim}30meV$). The peak energy and FWHM of electroluminescence spectrum at 77K were 1.262eV and 81.0meV, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 1986

Electrical conductivities of NiO-$Y_2O_3$ systems containing 0.8, 1.6, and 3.2 mol% NiO have been measured in the temperature range of 400 to 1100$^{\circ}$C at $PO_2$'s of 1 ${\times}10^{-5}$ to 2 ${\times}10^{-1}$ atm. Plots of $log\sigma$ vs 1/T at constant $PO_2$'s are found to be linear with an inflection at temperature around 650$^{\circ}$C. The slopes are steeper in the high temperature region above 650$^{\circ}$C than in the low temperature region below 650$^{\circ}$C. The average activation energies are 41.8kcal/mol in the high temperature region and 12.5kcal/mol in the low temperature region. $PO_2$'s dependence value, 1/n, is 1/5.1~1/5.4 in the high temperature region and 1/5.9~1/6.2 in the low temperature region. The NiO-$Y_2O_3$ systems are found to be an electronic p-type semiconductor. The predominant defects in the systems are believed to be triply ionized yttrium vacancy in the high temperature region and doubly ionized oxygen interstitial in the low temperature region. Ionic contribution to the total conductivity is found from ${\sigma}^{\propto}PO_2$ in the temperatures below 650$^{\circ}$C.