• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.328-332
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• 2014

Thin film transistors (TFTs) with an amorphous silicon zinc tin oxide (a-2SZTO) channel layer have been fabricated using an RF magnetron sputtering system. The effect of the change of excitation electron on the variation of the total interfacial trap states of a-2SZTO systems was investigated depending on sputtering power, since the interfacial state could be changed by changing sputtering power. It is well known that Si can effectively reduce the generation of the oxygen vacancies. However, The a-2SZTO systems of ZTO doped with 2 wt% Si could be degraded because the Si peripheral electron belonging to a p-orbital affects the amorphous zinc tin oxide (a-ZTO) TFTs of the s-orbital overlap structure. We fabricated amorphous 2 wt% Si-doped ZnSnO (a-2SZTO) TFTs using an RF magnetron sputtering system. The a-2SZTO TFTs show an improvement of the electrical property with increasing power. The a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at a power of 30 W showed many of the total interfacial trap states. The a-2SZTO TFTs at a power of 30 W showed poor electrical property. However, at 50 W power, the total interfacial trap states showed improvement. In addition, the improved total interfacial states affected the thermal stress of a-2SZTO TFTs. Therefore, a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at 50 W power showed a relatively small shift of threshold voltage. Similarly, the activation energy of a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at 50 W power exhibits a relatively large falling rate (0.0475 eV/V) with a relatively high activation energy, which means that the a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at 50 W power has a relatively lower trap density than other power cases. As a result, the electrical characteristics of a-2SZTO TFTs fabricated at a sputtering power of 50 W are enhanced. The TFTs fabricated by rf sputter should be carefully optimized to provide better stability for a-2SZTO in terms of the sputtering power, which is closely related to the interfacial trap states.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.08b
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• pp.1220-1224
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• 2007

The effects of plasma damages to the organic thin film transistor (OTFT) during the fabrication process are investigated; metal deposition process on the organic gate insulator by plasma sputtering mainly generates the process induced damages of bottom contact structured OTFTs. For this study, various deposition methods (thermal evaporation, plasma sputtering, and neutral beam based sputtering) and metals (gold and Indium-Tin Oxide) have been tested for their damage effects onto the Poly 4-vinylphenol(PVP) layer surface as an organic gate insulator. The surface damages are estimated by measuring surface energies and grain shapes of organic semiconductor on the gate insulator. Unlike thermal evaporation and neutral beam based sputtering, conventional plasma sputtering process induces serious damages onto the organic surface as increasing surface energy, decreasing grain sizes, and degrading TFT performance.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.1.1-1.1
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• 2011

Printed electronics based on the direct writing of solution processable functional materials have been of paramount interest and importance. In this talk, the synthesis of printable inorganic functional materials (conductors and semiconductors) for thin-film transistors (TFTs) and photovoltaic devices, device fabrication based on a printing technique, and specific characteristics of devices are presented. For printable conductor materials, Ag ink is designed to achieve the long-term dispersion stability and good adhesion property on a glass substrate, and Cu ink is sophisticatedly formulated to endow the oxidation stability in air and even aqueous solvent system. The both inks were successfully printed onto either polymer or glass substrate, exhibiting the superior conductivity comparable to that of bulk one. In addition, the organic thin-film transistor based on the printed metal source/drain electrode exhibits the electrical performance comparable to that of a transistor based on a vacuum deposited Au electrode. For printable amorphous oxide semiconductors (AOSs), I introduce the noble ways to resolve the critical problems, a high processing temperature above $400^{\circ}C$ and low mobility of AOSs annealed at a low temperature below $400^{\circ}C$. The dependency of TFT performances on the chemical structure of AOSs is compared and contrasted to clarify which factor should be considered to realize the low temperature annealed, high performance AOSs. For photovoltaic application, CI(G)S nanoparticle ink for solution processable high performance solar cells is presented. By overcoming the critical drawbacks of conventional solution processed CI(G)S absorber layers, the device quality dense CI(G)S layer is obtained, affording 7.3% efficiency CI(G)S photovoltaic device.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.389.2-389.2
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• 2014

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based electronic devices are widely used for various applications in large area electronics, biomedical wearable interfaces and implantable circuitry where flexibility and/or stretchability are required. A few fabrication methods of electronic devices directly on PDMS substrate have been reported. However, it is well known that micro-cracks appear in the metal layer and in the lithography pattern on a PDMS substrate. To solve the above problems, a few studies for fabrication of stiff platform on PDMS substrate have been reported. Thin-film islands of a stiff region are fabricated on an elastomeric substrate, and electronic devices are fabricated on these stiff islands. When the substrate is stretched, the deformation is mainly accommodated by the substrate, and the stiff islands and electronic devices experience relatively small strains. Here, we report a new method to achieve stiff islands structures on an elastomeric substrate at a various thickness, as the platform for stretchable electronic devices. The stiff islands were defined by conventional photolithography on a stress-free elastomeric substrate. This technique can provide a practical strategy for realizing large-area stretchable electronic circuits, for various applications such as stretchable display or wearable electronic systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.340.2-340.2
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• 2014

최근 비정질 산화물 반도체는 가시광 영역에서의 투명도와 낮은 공정 온도, 그리고 높은 Field-effect mobility로 인해 Thin film transistors의 Active channel layer의 재료로 각광 받고 있다. ZnO, IZO, IGO, ITGO등의 많은 산화물 반도체들이 TFT의 채널층으로의 적용을 위해 활발히 연구되고 있으며, 특히 비정질 IGZO는 비정질임에도 불구하고 Mobility가 $10cm^2/Vs$ 정도로 기존의 a-Si:H 보다 높은 Mobility 특성을 나타내고 있어 대화면 디스플레이와 고속 구동을 위한 LCD에 적용 할 수 있으며 또한 낮은 공정 온도로 인해 플렉서블 디스플레이에 응용될 수 있다는 장점이 있다. 우리는 RF magnetron sputtering법으로 증착한 비정질 IGZO TFT(Thin Film Transistors)의 전기적 특성과 IGZO 박막의 특성에 미치는 RF power의 영향을 연구하였다. 제작한 TFTs의 Active channel layer는 산소분압 1%, Room temperature에서 RF power별(50~150 W)로 Si wafer 기판 위에 30nm로 증착 하였고 100 nm의 $SiO_2$가 절연체로 사용되었다. 또한 박막 특성을 분석하기 위해 같은 Chamber 분위기에서 100 nm로 IGZO 박막을 증착하였다. 비정질 IGZO 박막의 X-ray reflectivity(XRR)을 분석한 결과 RF Power가 50 W에서 150 W로 증가 할수록 박막의 Roughness는 22.7 (${\AA}$)에서 6.5 (${\AA}$)로 감소하고 Density는 5.9 ($g/cm^3$)에서 6.1 ($g/cm^3$)까지 증가하는 경향을 보였다. 또한 제작한 IGZO TFTs는 증착 RF Power가 증가함에 따라 Threshold voltage (VTH)가 0.3~4(V)로 증가하는 경향을 나타내고 Filed-effect mobility도 6.2~19 ($cm^2/Vs$)까지 증가하는 경향을 보인다. 또한 on/off ratio는 모두 > $10^6$의 값을 나타내며 subthreshold slope (SS)는 0.3~0.8 (V/decade)의 값을 나타낸다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.278.1-278.1
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• 2014

Organic materials have been explored as the gate dielectric layers in thin film transistors (TFTs) of backplane devices for flexible display because of their inherent mechanical flexibility. However, those materials possess some disadvantages like low dielectric constant and thermal resistance, which might lead to high power consumption and instability. On the other hand, inorganic gate dielectrics show high dielectric constant despite their brittle property. In order to maintain advantages of both materials, it is essential to develop the alternative materials. In this work, we manufactured nanocomposite gate dielectrics composed of organic material and inorganic nanoparticle and integrated them into organic TFTs. For synthesis of nanocomposite gate dielectrics, polyimide (PI) was explored as the organic materials due to its superior thermal stability. Candidate nanoprticles (NPs) of halfnium oxide, titanium oxide and aluminium oxide were considered. In order to realize NP concentration dependent electrical characteristics, furthermore, we have synthesized the different types of nanocomposite gate dielectrics with varying ratio of each inorganic NPs. To analyze gate dielectric properties like the capacitance, metal-Insulator-metal (MIM) structures were prepared together with organic TFTs. The output and transfer characteristics of organic TFTs were monitored by using the semiconductor parameter analyzer (HP4145B), and capacitance and leakage current of MIM structures were measured by the LCR meter (B1500, Agilent). Effects of mechanical cyclic bending of 200,000 times and thermally heating at $400^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour were investigated to analyze mechanical and thermal stability of nanocomposite gate dielectrics. The results will be discussed in detail.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.05c
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• pp.83-87
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• 2002

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) silicon nitride ($SiN_X$) is widely used as a gate dielectric material for the hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si:H) thin film transistors (TFT's). We investigated $SiN_X$ films were deposited PECVD at low temperature ($300^{\circ}C$). The reaction gases were used pure nitrogen and a helium diluted of silane gas(20% $SiH_4$, 80% He). Experimental investigations were carried out with the variation of $N_2/SiH_4$ flow ratios from 3 to 50 and the rf power of 200 W. This article presents the $SiN_X$ gate dielectric studies in terms of deposition rate, hydrogen content, etch rate and C-V, leakage current density characteristics for the gate dielectric layer of thin film transistor applications. Electrical properties were analyzed through high frequency (1MHz) C-V and current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The thickness and the refractive index on the films were measured by ellipsometry and chemical bonds were determined by using an FT-IR equipment.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.24 no.12A
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• pp.2002-2007
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• 1999

In this paper, the n-channel poly-Si thin-film transistors (poly-Si TFT's) formed by solid phase crystallization (SPC) on glass were investigated by measuring the electrical properties of poly-Si films, such as I-V characteristics, mobility, leakage current, threshold voltage, and subthreshold slope. It is done to decide to be applied on TFT-LCD with large-size and high density. In n-channel poly-Si TFT with 2, 10, 25$\mu\textrm{m}$ of channel length, the field effect mobilities are 111, 126 and 125 $\textrm{cm}^2$/V-s and leakage currents are 0.6, 0.1, and 0.02 pA/$\mu\textrm{m}$, respectively. Low threshold voltage and subthreshold slope, and good ON-OFF ratio are shown, as well. Thus, the poly-Si TFT’s used by SPC are expected to be applied on TFT-LCD with large-size and high density, which can integrate display panel and peripheral circuit on a large glass substrate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.127-127
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• 2011

We investigate the transparent TFTs using a transparent ZnSnO3 (ZTO)/Ag/ZTO multilayer electrode as S/D electrodes with low resistivity of $3.24{\times}10^{-5}$ ohm-cm, and high transparency of 86.29% in ZTO based TFTs. The Transparent TFTs (TTFTs) are prepared on glass substrate coated 100 nm of ITO thin film. On atomic layer deposited $Al_2\;O_3$, 50 nm ZTO layer is deposited by RF magnetron sputtering through a shadow mask for channel layer using ZTO target with 1 : 1 molar ratio of ZnO : $SnO_2$. The power of 100W, the working pressure of 2mTorr, and the gas flow of Ar 20 sccm during the ZTO deposition. After channel layer deposition, a ZTO (35 nm)/Ag (12 nm)/ZTO(35 nm) multilayer is deposited by DC/RF magnetron sputtering to form transparent S/D electrodes which are patterned through the shadow mask. Devices are annealed in air at 300$^{\circ}C$ for 30 min following ZTO deposition. Using UV/Visible spectrometer, the optical transmittances of the TTFT using ZTO/Ag/ ZTO multilayer electrodes are compared with TFT using Mo electrode. The structural properties of ZTO based TTFT with ZTO/Ag/ZTO multilayer electrodes are analyzed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The transfer and output characterization of ZTO TTFTs are examined by a customized probe station with HP4145B system in are.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.208-208
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• 2013

Graphene has emerged as a fascinating material for next-generation nanoelectronics due to its outstanding electronic properties. In particular, graphene-based field effect transistors (GFETs) have been a promising research subject due to their superior response times, which are due to extremely high electron mobility at room temperature. The biggest challenges in GFET applications are control of carrier concentration and opening the bandgap of graphene. To overcome these problems, three approaches to doping graphene have been developed. Here we demonstrate the decoration of Ni nanoparticles (NPs) on graphene films by simple annealing for p-type doping of graphene. Ni NPs/graphene films were fabricated by coating a $NiCl2{\cdot}6H2O$ solution onto graphene followedby annealing. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy revealed that high-density, uniformly sized Ni NPs were formed on the graphene films and the density of the Ni NPs increased gradually with increasing $NiCl2{\cdot}6H2O$ concentration. The formation of Ni NPs on graphene films was explained by heat-driven dechlorination and subsequent particlization, as investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The doping effect of Ni NPs onto graphene films was verified by Raman spectroscopy and electrical transport measurements.