• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.351-355
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• 2010

Transparent conducting aluminum-doped ZnO thin films were deposited using a sol-gel process. In this study, the important deposition parameters were investigated thoroughly to determine the appropriate procedures to grow large area thin films with low resistivity and high transparency at low cost for device applications. The doping concentration of aluminum was adjusted in a range from 1 to 4 mol% by controlling the precursor concentration. The annealing temperatures for the pre-heat treatment and post-heat treatment was $250^{\circ}C$ and 400-$600^{\circ}C$, respectively. The SEM images show that Al doped and undoped ZnO films were quite uniform and compact. The XRD pattern shows that the Al doped ZnO film has poorer crystallinity than the undoped films. The crystal quality of Al doped ZnO films was improved with an increase of the annealing temperature to $600^{\circ}C$. Although the structure of the aluminum doped ZnO films did not have a preferred orientation along the (002) plane, these films had high transmittance (> 87%) in the visible region. The absorption edge was observed at approximately 370 nm, and the absorption wavelength showed a blue-shift with increasing doping concentration. The ZnO films annealed at $500^{\circ}C$ showed the lowest resistivity at 1 mol% Al doping.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.376-381
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• 2007

Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) thin film was coated on aluminosilicate glass at $450^{\circ}C$ by spray pyrolysis method. In the range of 0-2.7 molar ratio of F/Sn, the variations of electrical conductivity and visible light transmission were investigated. At the F/Sn ratio of 1.765, the film showed the lowest electrical resistivity value of $3.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}\;cm$, the highest carrier concentration of $2.404{\times}10^{21}/cm^3$, and about $8\;cm^2/V{\cdot}sec$ of electronic mobility. The FTO film showed a preferred orientation of (200) plane parallel to the substrate. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis results indicated that the contents of $Sn^{4+}-O$ bonding are the highest at 1.765 of F/Sn molar ratio.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.368-368
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• 2007

Zinc oxide (ZnO) has drawn much interest as a potential transparent conducting oxide (TCO) for applying to solar cell and front electrode of electro-luminescent devices. For the enhancement of electrical property of TCOs, dopant introduction and hybridization with conductive nanoparticles have been investigated. In this work, ZnO films were formed on glass substrate by using photochemical solution deposition of Ag nanoparticles dispersed or various metal (Ag, Cd, In, or Sn) contained photosensitive ZnO solutions. The usage of photosensitive solution permits us to obtain a micron-sized direct patterning of ZnO film without using conventional dry etching procedure. The structural, optical, and electrical characteristics of ZnO films with the introduction of metal dopants with/without Ag nanoparticles have been investigated to check whether there is a combined effect between metal dopants and Ag nanoparticles on the characteristics of ZnO film. The phase formation and crystallinity of ZnO film were monitored with X-ray diffractometer. The optical transmittance measurement was carried out using UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer and the electrical properties such as sheet resistance and conductivity were observed by using four-point probe.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.1985-1988
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• 2014

$Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ (CZTSe) thin films were synthesized on transparent conducting oxide glass substrates via a simple, non-toxic, and low-cost process using a precursor solution paste. A three-step heating process (oxidation, sulfurization, and selenization) was employed to synthesize a CZTSe thin film as an absorber layer for use in thin-film solar cells. In particular, we focused on the effects of sulfurization conditions on CZTSe film formation. We found that sulfurization at $400^{\circ}C$ involves the formation of secondary phases such as $CuSe_2$ and $Cu_2SnSe_3$, but they gradually disappeared when the temperature was increased. The formed CZTSe thin films showed homogenous and good crystallinity with grain sizes of approximately 600 nm. A solar cell device was tentatively fabricated and showed a power conversion efficiency of 2.2% on an active area of 0.44 $cm^2$ with an open circuit voltage of 365 mV, a short current density of 20.6 $mA/cm^2$, and a fill factor of 28.7%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.78-84
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• 2009

In this paper, ZnO:Al thin film was deposited on polyethylene terephthalate(PET) substrate by capacitively coupled r. f. magnetron sputtering method from a ZnO target mixed with 2wt[%] Al2O3 to investigate the possible application of ZnO:Al film as a transparent conducting electrode for film typed DSCs. The effect of substrate bias on the electrical properties and film structure were studied. The results showed that a positive bias applied to the substrate during sputtering contributed to an improvement of electrical properties of the film by attracting electrons in the plasma to bombard the growing films. These bombardments provided additional energy to the growing ZnO:Al film on the substrate, resulting in significant variations in film structure and electrical properties. Electrical resistivity of the film decreases significantly as the positive bias increases up to +30[V] However, as the positive bias increases over +30[V], the resistivity decreases. The transmittance varies little as the substrate bias is increased from 0 to +60[V], and as r. f. powers increases from 160[W] to 240[W]. The film with electrical resistivity as low as $1.8{\times}10^{-3}[{\Omega}-cm]$ and optical transmittance of about 87.8[%] were obtained for 1,012[nm] thick film deposited with a substrate bias of +30[V].

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.111.1-111.1
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• 2012

Interest in flexible transparent conducting films (TCFs) has been growing recently mainly due to the demand for electrodes incorporated in flexible or wearable displays in the future. 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. 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 sodium 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. 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 was doped with Au-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. This was confirmed and discussed on the XPS and UPS studies. We show that 87 ${\Omega}/{\Box}$ sheet resistances with 81% transmittance at the wavelength of 550nm. The changes in electrical and optical conductivity of SWNT film before and after Au-ionic doping treatments were discussed. The effect of Au-ion treatment on the electronic structure change of SWNT films was investigated by Raman and XPS.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.165-168
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• 2009

Transparent and conducting ITO/Cu/ITO multilayered films were deposited by magnetron sputtering on unheated polycarbonate (PC) substrates. The thickness of the Cu intermediate film was varied from 5 to 20 nm. Changes in the microstructure and optoelectrical properties of ITO/Cu/ITO films were investigated with respect to the thickness of the Cu intermediated layer. The optoelectrical properties of the films were significantly influenced by the thickness of the Cu interlayer. The sandwich structure of ITO 50 nm/Cu 5 nm/ITO 45 nm films had a sheet resistance of $36{\Omega}$/Sq. and an optical transmittance of 67% (contain substrate) at a wavelength of 550 nm, while the ITO 50 nm/Cu 20 nm/ITO 30 nm films had a sheet resistance of $70{\Omega}$/Sq. and an optical transmittance of 36%. The electrical and optical properties of ITO/Cu/ITO films were determined mainly by the Cu film properties. From the figure of merit, it is concluded that the ITO/Cu/ITO films with a 5 nm Cu interlayer showed the better performance in transparent conducting electrode applications than the conventional ITO films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.211.1-211.1
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• 2013

We fabricate the conductive zinc oxide(ZnO) thin film using UV-enhanced atomic layer deposition. ZnO is semiconductor with a wide band gap(3.37eV) and transparent in the visible region. ZnO can be deposited with various method, such as metal organic chemical vapour deposition, magnetron sputtering and pulsed laser ablation deposition. In this experiment, ZnO thin films was deposited by atomic layer deposition using diethylzinc (DEZ) and D.I water as precursors with UV irradiation during water dosing. As a function of UV exposure time, the resistivity of ZnO thin films decreased dramatically. We were able to confirm that UV irradiation is one of the effective way to improve conductivity of ZnO thin film. The resistivity was investigated by 4 point probe. Additionally, we confirm the thin film composition is ZnO by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. We anticipate that this UV-enhanced ZnO thin film can be applied to electronics or photonic devices as transparent electrode.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.43.2-43.2
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• 2011

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are transparent in the visible and show conductivity comparable to copper, and are environmentally stable. SWCNT films have high flexibility, conductivity and transparency approaching that indium tin oxide (ITO), and can be prepared inexpensively without vacuum equipment. Transparent conducting Films (TCF) of SWCNTs has the potential to replace conventional transparent conducting oxides (TCO, e.g. ITO) in a wide variety of optoelectronic devices, energy conversion and photovoltaic industry. However, the sheet resistance of SWCNT films is still higher than ITO films. A decreased in the resistivity of SWCNT-TCFs would be beneficial for such an application. We fabricated SWCNT sheet with $KAuBr_4$ on PET substrate. Arc-discharge SWCNTs were dispersed in deionized water by adding sodum dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant and sonicated, followed by the centrifugation. The dispersed SWCNT 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 AuBr4-, 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. $HNO_3$ treated SWCNT films with Au nano-particles have the lowest 61 ${\Omega}$/< sheet resistance in the 80% transmittance. Sheet resistance was decreased due to the increase of the hole concentration at the washed SWCNT surface by p-type doping of $AuBr_4{^-}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.1039-1042
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• 2001

A method for designing antireflection (AR) and antistatic (AS) films by the use of conducting polymer as an electrically conductive transparent layer is proposed. The conducting AR film is composed of four-layer with alternating high and low refractive index layer: silicon dioxide (n=1.44) and titanium dioxide (n=2.02) prepared at low temperature by sol-gel method are used as the low and high refractive index layer, respectively. The 3,4-polyethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) which has the sheet resistance of 10$^4$$\Omega$/$\square$ is used as a conductive layer. Optical constant of ARAS film was measured by the spectroscopic ellipsometer and from the measured optical constants the spectral properties such as reflectance and transmittance were simulated in the visible region. The reflectance of ARAS films on glass substrate was below 0.8 %R and the transmittance was higher than 95 % in the visible wavelength (400-700 nm). The measured AR spectral properties was very similar to its simulated results.