• Journal of Information Display
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.52-60
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• 2001

The electrical and mechanical properties in indium-tin-oxide films deposited on polymer substrate were examined. The materials of substrates were polyethersulfone (PES) which have gas barrier layer and anti-glare coating for plastic-based devices. The experiments were performed by rf-magnetron sputtering using a special instrument and buffer layers. Therefore, we obtained a very flat polymer substrate deposited ITO film and investigated the effects of buffer layers, and the instrument. Moreover, the influences of an oxygen partial pressure and post-deposition annealing in ITO films deposited on polymer substrates were clarified. X-ray diffraction observation, measurement of electrical property, and optical microscope observation were performed for the investigation of micro-structure and electro-mechanical properties, and they indicated that as-deposited ITO thin films are amorphous and become quasi-crystalline after adjusting oxygen partial pressure and thermal annealing above $180^{\circ}C$. As a result, we obtained 20-25 ${\Omega}/sq$ of ITO films with good transmittance (above 80 %) of oxygen contents with under 0.2 % and vacuum annealing. Furthermore, using organic buffer layer, we obtained ITO films which have a rather high electrical resistance (40-45 ${\Omega}/sq$) but have improved optical (more than 85 %) and mechanical characteristics compared to the counterparts. Consequently, a prototype reflective color plastic film LCD was fabricated using the PES polymer substrates to confirm whether the ITO films could be realized in accordance with our experimental results.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.45-49
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• 1999

A flammable gas sensor based on the $SnO_2$thin film deposited by the reactive ion assisted deposition was fabricated and ultra-thin Pd layer as catalyst was adsorbed at surface by ion beam sputtering. The initial oxidation states of Pd catalyst were controlled to investigate the role of Pd in the sensing process of inflammale gas sensor through annealing in air and vacuum respectively. The Pd catalyst existing in pure metallic state showed the sensitivity higher than that of PdO. The result might be closely related to the fact that PdO as a surface acceptor would receive electrons via Pd sub-channel from $SnO_2$, and thus which reduces the sensitivity and delay the response time.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.231-240
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• 1998

We investigated that the fabrication and reproducing signal characteristics of tri-layered magnetoresistance (MR) element for the high density magnetic thin film heads and sensors. Magnetoresistance curve of tri-layered MR element predicted by computer modeling was saturated above external field of -15 Oe~+22 Oe, and it was shifted to linearized region as large as 4 Oe. In the case of fabricated real device, magnetoresistance curve was saturated above external field of $\pm$15 Oe, and it was shifted to linearized region as large as 4 Oe. As shown in real device, MR response curve was in good agreement with the simulation results. As a result of experimental data of reproducing output signal in real device, it retained normal sinusoidal waveforms in 1~4 Oe external magnetic field. In this magnetic field region, the fabricated heads with tri-layered MR element can be operated with good reproduced characteristics. This will be beneficial to the use of efficient processes of manufacturing elements and the vacuum deposition techniques which control thin film properties.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.82-86
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• 2017

The IrMn based GMR-SV films with three different buffer layers were prepared on Corning glass by using ion beam deposition and DC magnetron sputtering method. The major and minor magnetoresistance curves for three different buffer layers beneath the structure of NiFe(15 nm)/CoFe(5 nm)/Cu(2.5 nm)/CoFe(5 nm)/NiFe(7 nm)/IrMn(10 nm)/Ta(5 nm) at room temperature have shown different magnetoresistance properties. When the samples were annealed at $250^{\circ}C$ in vacuum, the magnetoresistance ratio, the coercivity of pinned ferromagnetic layer, and the interlayer coupling field of free ferromagnetic layer were enhanced while the exchange bias coupling field did not show noticeable changes.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.251-266
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• 2011

This work deals with the use of High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (HRSEM) to verify ultrafiltration membrane selectivity at the end of the production line as well as membrane ageing. The first part of this work is focused on new membranes. It is shown that it is better to use sputtering metallization than vacuum deposition, as this latter technique entails thermal damage to the skin layer. Moreover, the impact of the metallization layer on the determination of the membrane pore size is studied and it is observed that no impact of the metallization step can be clearly defined for a metallization layer ranging from 3 to 12 nm. For example, an average pore size of 16.9 nm and a recovery rate of 6.5 % are observed for a 150 kDa cellulose acetate membrane. These results are in agreement with those given by the manufacturer: pore size ranging from 10 to 15 nm and recovery rate ranging from 5 to 10 %. The second part of this work focuses on the study of membrane ageing. A PVDF hollow fibre membrane is studied. It is shown that a 65 % decrease in the permeate flux can be linked to a decrease in the number of pores at the surface of the membrane and a decrease in the recovery rate. In conclusion, a mapping of the pores is performed for several new hollow fibre membranes used to produce drinking water, made of different materials, with different geometries and molecular weight cut-off. These results provide reference data that will help better understand the phenomena of membrane fouling and membrane ageing.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.24.2-24.2
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• 2009

Nanostuctures such as nanodot and nanowire have been extensively studied as building blocks for nanoscale devices. However, the direct growth of the nanostuctures at the desired position is one of the most important requirements for realization of the practical devices with high integrity. Self-assembled nanotemplate is one of viable methods to produce highly-ordered nanostructures because it exhibits the highly ordered nanometer-sized pattern without resorting to lithography techniques. And selective epitaxial growth (SEG) can be a proper method for nanostructure fabrication because selective growth on the patterned openings obtained from nanotemplate can be a proper direction to achieve high level of control and reproducibility of nanostructucture fabrication. Especially, SiGe has led to the development of semiconductor devices in which the band structure is varied by the composition and strain distribution, and nanostructures of SiGe has represented new class of devices such nanowire metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and photovoltaics. So, in this study, various shaped SiGe nanostructures were selectively grown on Si substrate through ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition (UHV-CVD) of SiGe on the hexagonally arranged Si openings obtained using nanotemplates. We adopted two types of nanotemplates in this study; anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) and diblock copolymer of PS-b-PMMA. Well ordered and various shaped nanostructure of SiGe, nanodots and nanowire, were fabricated on Si openings by combining SEG of SiGe to self-assembled nanotemplates. Nanostructure fabrication method adopted in this study will open up the easy way to produce the integrated nanoelectronic device arrays using the well ordered nano-building blocks obtained from the combination of SEG and self-assembled nanotemplates.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.16.1-16.1
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• 2009

We have fabricated solution processed oxide semiconductor active layer for thin film transistors (TFTs). The oxide semiconductor layers were prepared by ink-jet printing the sol-gel precursor solution based on doped-ZnO. Inorganic ZnO-based thin films have drawn significant attention as an active channel layer for TFTs applications alternative to conventional Si-based materials and organic semiconducting materials, due to their wide energy band gap, optical transparency, high mobility, and better stability. However, in spite of such excellent device performances, the fabrication methods of ZnO related oxide active layer involve high cost vacuum processes such as sputtering and pulsed laser deposition. Herein we introduced the ink-jet printing technology to prepare the active layers of oxide semiconductor. Stable sol-gel precursor solutions were obtained by controlling the composition of precursor as well as solvents and stabilizers, and their influences on electrical performance of the transistors were demonstrated by measuring electrical parameters such as off-current, on-current, mobility, and threshold voltage. Microstructure and thermal behavior of the doped ZnO films were investigated by SEM, XRD, and TG/DTA. Furthermore, we studied the influence of the ink-jet printing conditions such as substrate temperature and surface treatment on the microstructure of the ink-jet printed active layers and electrical performance. The mobility value of the device with optimized condition was about 0.1-1.0 $cm^2/Vs$ and the on/off current ratio was about $10^6$. Our investigations demonstrate the feasibility of the ink-jet printed oxide TFTs toward successful application to cost-effective and mass-producible displays.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.248-253
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• 2014

Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) is one of several technologies that can be used to solve problems fresh water availability. AGMD exhibits several advantages, including low conductive heat loss and higher thermal efficiency, due to the presence of an air gap between the membrane and condensation wall. A previous study by Bhardwaj found that the condensation surface properties (materials and contact angle) affected the total collected fresh water in the solar distillation process. However, the process condition differences between solar distillation and AGMD might result in different condensation phenomena. In contrast, N. Miljkovic showed that a hydrophobic surface has higher condensation heat transfer. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study that investigates the effect of condensation surface properties in AGMD to overall process performance (i.e. flux and thermal efficiency). Thus, in this study, we treated the AGMD condensation surface to make it hydrophobic or hydrophilic. The condensation surface could be made hydrophilic by immersing and boiling plate in deionized (DI) water, which caused the formation of hydrophilic aluminum hydroxide (AlOOH) nanostructures. Afterwards, the treated plate was coated using hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) through plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The result indicated that condensation surface properties do not affect the permeate flux or thermal efficiency significantly. In general, the permeate flux and thermal efficiency for the treated plates were lower than those of the non-treated plate (pristine). However, at a 1 mm and 3 mm air gap, the treated plate outperformed the non-treated plate (pristine) in terms of permeate flux. Therefore, although surface wettability effect was not significant, it still provided a little influence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.192-193
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• 2007

An evaporated Ti/Pd/Ag contact system is most widely used to make high-efficiency silicon solar cells, however, the system is not cost effective due to expensive materials and vacuum techniques. Commercial solar cells with screen-printed contacts formed by using Ag paste suffer from a low fill factor and a high shading loss because of high contact resistance and low aspect ratio. Low-cost Ni and Cu metal contacts have been formed by using electro less plating and electroplating techniques to replace the Ti/Pd/Ag and screen-printed Ag contacts. Ni/Cu alloy is plated on a silicon substrate by electro-deposition of the alloy from an acetate electrolyte solution, and nickel-silicide formation at the interface between the silicon and the nickel enhances stability and reduces the contact resistance. It was, therefore, found that nickel-silicide was suitable for high-efficiency solar cell applications. Cu was electroplated on the Ni layer by using a light induced plating method. The Cu electroplating solution was made up of a commercially available acid sulfate bath and additives to reduce the stress of the copper layer. In this paper, we investigated low-cost Ni/Cu contact formation by electro less and electroplating for crystalline silicon solar cells.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.79-85
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• 2017

The crack-free AlGaN template has been successfully grown by using selective area growth with triangular GaN facet. The triangular GaN stripe structure was obtained by vertical growth rate enhanced mode with low growth temperature of $950^{\circ}C$ and high growth pressure of 500 torr. The lateral growth rate enhanced mode of AlGaN for crack-free and flat surface was also investigated. Low pressure of 30 torr and high V/III ratio of 4400 were favorable for lateral growth of AlGaN. It was confirmed that the $4{\mu}m$ -thick $Al_{0.2}Ga_{0.8}N$ was crack-free over entire 2-inch wafer. The dislocation density of $Al_{0.2}Ga_{0.8}N$ was as low as ${\sim}7.6{\times}10^8/cm^2$ measured by cathodoluminescence. Based on the high quality AlGaN with low dislocation density, the ultraviolet laser diode epitaxy with cladding, waveguide and GaN/AlGaN multiple quantum well (MQW) was grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The stimulated emission at 349 nm with full width at half maximum of 1.8 nm from the MQW was observed through optical pumping experiment with 193 nm KrF laser. We also have fabricated the deep ridge type ultraviolet laser diode (UV-LD) with $5{\mu}m-wide$ and $700{\mu}m-long$ cavity for electrical properties. The turn on voltage was below 5 V and the resistance was ${\sim}55{\Omega}$ at applied voltage of 10 V. The amplified spontaneous emission spectrum of UV-LD was also observed from pulsed current injection.