• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.307.1-307.1
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• 2016

Amorphous zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin films are being widely studied for a variety electronic applications such as the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) in the field of photoelectric elements and thin film transistors (TFTs). Thin film transistors (TFTs) with transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors (TAOS) represent a major advance in the field of thin film electronics. Examples of TAOS materials include zinc tin oxide (ZTO), indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), indium zinc oxide, and indium zinc tin oxide. Among them, ZTO has good optical and electrical properties (high transmittance and larger than 3eV band gap energy). Furthermore ZTO does not contain indium or gallium and is relatively inexpensive and non-toxic. In this study, ZTO thin films were formed by UHV RF magnetron co-sputter deposition on silicon substrates and sapphires. The films were deposited from ZnO and SnO2 target in an RF argon and oxygen plasma. The deposition condition of ZTO thin films were controlled by RF power and post anneal temperature using rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The deposited and annealed films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), ultraviolet and visible light (UV-VIS) spectrophotometer.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.50.1-50.1
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• 2009

Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) play an important role in thin-film solar cells in terms of low cost and performance improvement. Al-doped ZnO (AZO) is a very promising material for thin-film solar cellfabrication because of the wide availability of its constituent raw materials and its low cost. In this study, AZO films were prepared by low pressurechemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) using trimethylaluminum (TMA), diethylzinc(DEZ), and water vapor. In order to improve the absorbance of light, atypical surface texturing method is wet etching of front electrode using chemical solution. Alternatively, LPCVD can create a rough surface during deposition. This "self-texturing" is a very useful technique, which can eliminate additional chemical texturing process. The introduction of a TMA doping source has a strong influence on resistivity and the diffusion of light in a wide wavelength range.The haze factor of AZO up to a value of 43 % at 600 nm was achieved without an additional surface texturing process by simple TMA doping. The use of AZO TCO resulted in energy conversion efficiencies of 7.7 % when it was applied to thep-i-n a-Si:H thin film solar cell, which was comparable to commercially available fluorine doped tin oxide ($SnO_2$:F).

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.131-135
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• 2020

Silver nanowire (AgNW) networks have been adopted as a front electrode in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells due to their low cost and compatibility with the solution process. When an AgNW network is applied to a CIGS thin film solar cell, reflection loss can increase because the CdS layer, with a relatively high refractive index (n ~ 2.5 at 550 nm), is exposed to air. To resolve the issue, we apply solution-processed ZnO nanorods to the AgNW network as an anti-reflective coating. To obtain high performance of the optical and electrical properties of the ZnO nanorod and AgNW network composite, we optimize the process parameters - the spin coating of AgNWs and the concentration of zinc nitrate and hexamethylene tetramine (HMT - to fabricate ZnO nanorods. We verify that 10 mM of zinc nitrate and HMT show the lowest reflectance and 10% cell efficiency increase when applied to CIGS thin film solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1144-1148
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• 2006

We have investigated liquid crystal (LC) aligning capabilities and electro-optical (EO) characteristics of transparent electrodes as Al-doped ZnO (AZO) substituting indium tin oxide (ITO). The experiment results show that a uniform vertical LC alignment on AZO electrodes based on a rubbed polyimide (PI) surface were achieved. A high pretilt angle of about $88^{\circ}$ was obtained. EO performances of the VA cell on rubbed PI surfaces with AZO electrodes are almost the same as that of the VA cell with ITO electrodes. These results appeared that AZO electrodes as transparent electrodes of LCDs could substitute ITO electrodes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.458.1-458.1
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• 2014

An effective light-managing structure has been achieved by using a nano-imprint method. A transparent conductor of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) was periodically nanodome-shaped to have a height of 200 nm with a diameter of 340 nm on a p-type Si substrate. This spontaneously formed a heterojunction between the ITO layer and Si substrate and effectively reduced the light-reflection. The ITO nanodome device response was significantly enhanced to 6010 from the value of 72.9 of a planar ITO film. The transparent conducting ITO nanodome structure efficiently manipulates the incident light driving into the light-absorber and can be applied in various photoelectric applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.103-104
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• 2006

Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) are necessary as front electrode for increased efficiency of LED. In our paper, transparent conducting alminum-doped Zinc oxide films (AZO) were prepared by rf magnetron sputtering on glass (corning 1737) substrate, were then annealed at temperature $400^{\circ}C$ for 2hr. The smooth AZO films were etched in diluted HCL (0.5%) to examine the surface morphology properties as a variation of the time. The surface morphology of AZO films increased as a time. We observed texture structure of AZO thin film etched for 1min.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.159-159
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• 2008

투명전도체 (transparent conducting oxides: TCOs) 는 일반적으로 $10^3\Omega^{-1}Cm^{-1}$의 전도도, 가시광 영역에서 80%이상의 투명성을 가지는 재료로서, 액정 박막 표시 장치(TFT-LCD), 광기전성 소자, 유기 발광 소자, 에너지 절약 창문, 태양전지(sollar cell) 등 전극으로 사용되고 있다. 최근에는 TCO의 전도도특성을 조절하여 반도성특성을 가진 투명 산화물 반도체(transparent oxide semiconductor: TOS) 을 이용한 박막 트랜지스터 연구가 활발히 진행 중이다. 기존의 실리콘을 기반으로 하는 박막 트랜지스터의 낮은 이동도, 불투명성의 특성을 가지고 있지만, 산화물 박막트랜지스터는 높은 이동도를 발현 할 수 있을 뿐만 아니라, 넓은 밴드갭 에너지를 갖는 산화물을 이용하므로 투명한 특성도 발현 할 수 있어 차세대 디스플레이의 구동소자로서 응용연구가 되고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 박막트랜지스터 channel layer로서의 Indium-Tin-Zinc oxide 적용특성을 조사하였다. Indium, Tin, Zinc 의 혼합비율을 다양하게 조절하여 타겟을 제작하였다. 이를 RF magnetron sputtering 를 이용하여 박막으로 성장시켰으며, 기판으로는 glass 기판을 사용하였다. 박막 성장시 아르곤과 산소의 비율을 다양하게 조절하였다. 성장시킨 박막은 Hall effect, Transmittance, Work function, XRD등을 이용하여 전기적, 광학적, 구조특성을 평가하였다. Indium-Tin-Zinc Oxide(ITZO) 을 channel layer로 사용하여 Thin-film transistor 을 제작하여, TFT의 I-V 및 stability특성을 평가하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.458.2-458.2
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• 2014

We have demonstrated that simple brush-painted Ti-doped $In_2O_3$(TIO) films can be used as a cost effective transparent anodes for organic solar cells (OSCs). We examined the RTA effects on the electrical, optical, and structural properties of the brush painted TIO electrodes. By the direct brushing of TIO nanoparticle ink and rapid thermal annealing (RTA), we can simply obtain TIO electrodes with a low sheet resistance of 28.25 Ohm/square and a high optical transmittance of 85.48% under atmospheric ambient conditions. Furthermore, improvements in the connectivity of the TIO nano-particles in the top region during the RTA process play an important role in reducing the resistivity of the brush-painted TIO anode. In particular, the brush painted TIO films showed a much higher mobility ($33.4cm^2/V-s$) than that of previously reported solution-process transparent oxide films ($1{\sim}5cm^2/V-s$) due to the effects of the Ti dopant with higher Lewis acid strength (3.06) and the reduced contact resistance of TIO nanoparticles. The OSCs fabricated on the brush-painted TIO films exhibited cell-performance with an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.61 V, shot circuit current (Jsc) of $7.90mA/cm^2$, fill factor (FF) of 61%, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.94%. This indicates that brush-painted TIO film is a promising cost-effective transparent electrode for printing-based OSCs with its simple process and high performance.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.65-65
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• 2011

Single-well carbon nanotubes (SWNT) have been proposed as a promising candidate for various applications owing to their excellent properties. In particular, their fascinating electrical and mechanical properties could provide a new area for the development of advanced engineering materials. A transparent conductive thin film (TCF) has increased for applications such as liquid crystal displays, touch panels, and flexible displays. Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films, which have been traditionally used as the TCFs, have a serious obstacle in TCFs applications. SWNTs are the most appropriate materials for conductive films for displays due to their excellent high mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. But, a bundle of CNTs has different electrical properties than their individual counterparts. In this work, the fabrication by the spraying process of transparent SWNT films and reduction of its sheet resistance on PET substrates is researched. Arc-discharge SWNTs were dispersed in deionized water by adding sodum dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant and sonicated, followed by the centrifugation. The dispersed SWNT was spray-coated on PET substrate and dried on a hotplate at $100^{\circ}C$. When the spray process was terminated, the TCF was immersed into deionized water to remove the surfactant and then it was dried on hotplate. The TCF film was then treated with ionic doping treatment, rinsed with deionized water and dried. The surface morphology of TCF was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The sheet resistance and optical transmission properties of the TCF were measured with a four-point probe method and a UV-visible spectrometry, respectively. Results, we show that 97 ${\Omega}$/> sheet resistance can be achieved with 81% transmittance at the wavelength of 550 nm. The changes in electrical and optical conductivity of SWNT film before and after ionic doping treatments were discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.17-17
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• 2009

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have attracted much attention as promising materials for transparent conducting films (TCFs), thanks to their superior electrical conductivity, high mechanical strength, and complete flexibility. The CNT-based TCFs can be used in a variety of application fields as flexible, transparent electrodes, including touch panel screens, flexible electronics, transparent heaters, etc. First of all, this study investigated the effect of a variety of surfactants on the dispersion of SWCNTs in an aqueous solution. Following the optimization of the dispersion by surfactants, flexible TCFs were fabricated by spraying the CNT suspension onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrates. The sheet resistances of the TCFs having different surfactants were investigated with treatment in nitric acid ($HNO_3$) whose concentration and period of treatment time were varied. It seems that the $HNO_3$ removes the surfactants from and is simultaneously doped into the SWCNT network, reducing the contact resistance between CNTs. TCFs were characterized by UV-VIS spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and four-point probe.