The conductive polymer composites have attracted considerable attention in the field of industry due to their electrical properties. To understand electrical properties of the composites, their volume specific resistance was measured. Electrical conductivity results showed percolation phenomena. Percolation theories are frequently applied to describe the insulator-to-conductor transitions in the composites composed of conductive filler and insulating matrix. It was found that the percolation threshold strongly depends on the aspect ratio of filler particles. The critical concentration of percolation formed is defined as the percolation threshold. The purpose of this study was to examine electrical properties of the epoxy resins filled with nickel. The sample was prepared using vehicle such as epoxy resin replenished with nickel powder, and the evaluation on their practical use was performed in order to apply them to electric and electronic industry as well as general field. The volume specific resistance of epoxy resin composites was 4.666~13.074 when using nickel powder. Weight loss of the conductive composites took place at 350℃~470℃.

Solution-based Sb-doped SnO2 (ATO) transparent conductive oxides using a low-temperature process werefabricated by an electrospray technique followed by spin coating. We demonstrated their structural, chemical, morphological,electrical, and optical properties by means of X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field-emission scanningelectron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Hall effect measurement system, and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. In order toinvestigate optimum electrical and optical properties at low-temperature annealing, we systemically coated two layer, four layer,and six layers of ATO sol-solution using spin-coating on the electrosprayed ATO thin films. The resistivity and opticaltransmittance of the ATO thin films decreased as the thickness of ATO sol-layer increased. Then, the ATO thin films with twosol-layers exhibited superb figure of merit compared to the other samples. The performance improvement in a low temperatureprocess (300oC) can be explained by the effect of enhanced carrier concentration due to the improved densification of the ATOthin films causing the optimum sol-layer coating. Therefore, the solution-based ATO thin films prepared at 300oC exhibitedthe superb electrical (~7.25×10−3Ω·cm) and optical transmittance (~83.1%) performances.

A stoichiometric mixture of evaporating materials for ZnAl2Se4 single-crystal thin films was prepared in a horizontalelectric furnace. These ZnAl2Se4 polycrystals had a defect chalcopyrite structure, and its lattice constants were a0=5.5563Åand c0=10.8897Å.To obtain a single-crystal thin film, mixed ZnAl2Se4 crystal was deposited on the thoroughly etched semi-insulating GaAs(100) substrate by a hot wall epitaxy (HWE) system. The source and the substrate temperatures were 620oCand 400oC, respectively. The crystalline structure of the single-crystal thin film was investigated by using a double crystal X-ray rocking curve and X-ray diffraction ω-2θ scans. The carrier density and mobility of the ZnAl2Se4 single-crystal thin filmwere 8.23×1016cm−3 and 287m2/vs at 293K, respectively. To identify the band gap energy, the optical absorption spectra ofthe ZnAl2Se4 single-crystal thin film was investigated in the temperature region of 10-293K. The temperature dependence ofthe direct optical energy gap is well presented by Varshni's relation: Eg(T)=Eg(0)−(αT2/T+β). The constants of Varshni'sequation had the values of Eg(0)=3.5269eV, α=2.03×10−3eV/K and β=501.9K for the ZnAl2Se4 single-crystal thin film.The crystal field and the spin-orbit splitting energies for the valence band of the ZnAl2Se4 were estimated to be 109.5meVand 124.6meV, respectively, by means of the photocurrent spectra and the Hopfield quasicubic model. These results indicatethat splitting of the ∆so definitely exists in the Γ5 states of the valence band of the ZnAl2Se4/GaAs epilayer. The threephotocurrent peaks observed at 10K are ascribed to the A1-, B1-exciton for n=1 and C21-exciton peaks for n=21.

The electrical and optical properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide films grown on polyethylene terephthalate film witha hardness of 3 using electron cyclotron resonance plasma with linear microwave of 2.45GHz of high ionization energy wereinvestigated. Fluorine-doped tin oxide films with a magnetic field of 875 Gauss and the highest resistance uniformity wereobtained. In particular, the magnetic field could be controlled by varying the distribution in electron cyclotron depositionpositions. The films were deposited at various gas flow rates of hydrogen and carrier gas of an organometallic source. Thesurface morphology, electrical resistivity, transmittance, and color in the visible range of the deposited film were examined usingSEM, a four-point probe instrument, and a spectrophotometer. The electromagnetic field for electron cyclotron resonancecondition was uniformly formed in at a position 16cm from the center along the Z-axis. The plasma spatial distribution ofmagnetic current on the roll substrate surface in the film was considerably affected by the electron cyclotron systems. Therelative resistance uniformity of electrical properties was obtained in film prepared with a magnetic field in the current rangeof 180~200A. SEM images showing the surface morphologies of a film deposited on PET with a width of 50cm revealedthat the grains were uniformly distributed with sizes in the range of 2~7nm. In our experimental range, the electrical resistivityof film was able to observe from 1.0×10−2 to 1.0×10−1Ωcm where optical transmittance at 550nm was 87~89%. Theseproperties were depended on the flow rate of the gas, hydrogen and carrier gas of the organometallic source, respectively.

Mo-based thin films are frequently used as back electrode materials because of their low resistivity and high crystallinity in CIGS chalcopyrite solar cells. Mo:Na/Mo bilayer thin films with 1μm thickness were deposited on soda lime glass by varying the thickness of each layer using dc-magnetron sputtering. The effects of the Mo:Na layer on morphology and electrical property in terms of resistivity were systematically investigated. The resistivity increased from 159μΩcm to 944μΩcm; this seemed to be caused by increased surface defects and low crystallinity as the thickness of Mo:Na layer increased from 100 nm to 500 nm. The surface morphologies of the Mo thin films changed from a somewhat coarse fibrous structures to irregular and fine celled structures with increased surface cracks along the cell boundaries as the thickness of Mo:Na layer increased. Na contents varied drastically from 0.03 % to 0.52 % according to the variation of Mo:Na layer thickness. The change in Na content may be ascribed to changes in surface morphology and crystallinity of the thin films.

The conductive polymer composites recently became increasingly to many fields of industry due to their electrical properties. To understand these properties of composites, electrical properties were measured and were studied relatively. Electrical conductivity measurements showed percolation phenomena. Percolation theories are frequently applied to describe the insulator-to-conductor transitions in composites made of a conductive filler and an insulating matrix. It has been showed both experimentally and theoretically that the percolation threshold strongly depends on the aspect ratio of filler particles. The critical concentration of percolation formed is defined as the percolation threshold. This paper was to study epoxy resin filled with copper. The experiment was made with vehicle such as epoxy resin replenished with copper powder and the study about their practical use was performed in order to apply to electric and electronic industry as well as general field. The volume specific resistance of epoxy resin composites was 3.065~13.325 in using copper powder. The weight loss of conductive composites happened from 350℃~470℃.

Use of low bandgap polymers is the most suitable way to harvest a broader spectrum of solar radiations for solar cells. But, still there is lack of most efficient low bandgap polymer. In order to solve this problem, we have synthesised a new low bandgap polymer and investigated its interaction with the ILs to enhance its conductivity. ILs may undergo almost unlimited structural variations; these structural variations have attracted extensive attention in polymer studies. In addition to this, UV-Vis spectroscopy, confocal Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR spectroscopy results have revealed that all studied ILs (tributylmethylammonium methyl sulfate [N1444] MeSO4] from ammonium family) and 1-methylimidazolium chloride ([MIM]Cl, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [Bmim]Cl from imidazolium family) has potential to interact with polymer. Further, protic ILs shows enhanced conductivity than aprotic ILs with low bandgap polymer. This study provides the combined effect of low bandgap polymer and ILs that may generate many theoretical and experimental opportunities.

Al-doped ZnO(AZO) thin films were synthesized using atomid layer deposition(ALD), which acurately controlledthe uniform film thickness of the AZO thin films. To investigate the electrical and optical properites of the AZO thin films,AZO films using ALD was controlled to be three different thicknesses (50nm, 100nm, and 150nm). The structural, chemical,electrical, and optical properties of the AZO thin films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,field-emssion scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Hall measurement system, and UV-Visspectrophotometry. As the thickness of the AZO thin films increased, the crystallinity of the AZO thin films gradually increased,and the surface morphology of the AZO thin films were transformed from a porous structure to a dense structure. The averagesurface roughnesses of the samples using atomic force microscopy were ~3.01nm, ~2.89nm, and ~2.44nm, respectively. Asthe thickness of the AZO filmsincreased, the surface roughness decreased gradually. These results affect the electrical and opticalproperties of AZO thin films. Therefore, the thickest AZO thin films with 150nm exhibited excellent resistivity (~7.00×10−4Ω·cm), high transmittance (~83.2%), and the best FOM (5.71×10−3Ω−1). AZO thin films fabricated using ALD may be usedas a promising cadidate of TCO materials for optoelectronic applications.

Effects of the amount of nickel powder (Ni) in Ni-carbon fiber (CF) hybrid filler systems on the conductivity(or resistivity) and thermal coefficient of resistance (TCR) of filled high density polyethylene were studied. Increases of the resistivity and TCR with increasing Ni concentration at a given hybrid filler content were observed. Using the fiber contact model, we showed that the main role of Ni in the hybrid filler system is to decrease the interfiber contact resistance when Ni concentration is less than the threshold point. The formation of structural defects leading to reduced reinforcing effect resulted in both a reduction of strength and an increase of the coefficient of thermal expansion in the composite film; these changes are responsible for the increases of both resistivity and TCR with increasing Ni concentration in the hybrid filler system.

The relationship the between electrical properties and surface roughness (Ra) of a wet-etched silicon wafer were studied. Ra was measured by an alpha-step process and atomic force microscopy (AFM) while varying the measuring range 10×10, 40×40, and 1000×1000μm. The resistivity was measured by assessing the surface resistance using a four-point probe method. The relationship between the resistivity and Ra was explained in terms of the surface roughness. The minimum error value between the experimental and theoretical resistivities was 4.23% when the Ra was in a range of 10×10μm according to AFM measurement. The maximum error value was 14.09% when the Ra was in a range of 40×40μm according to AFM measurement. Thus, the resistivity could be estimated when the Ra was in a narrow range.

In this study we aimed to examine the co-doping effects of 1/6mol% Co3O4 and 1/4mol% Cr2O3 (Co:Cr=1:1)on the reaction, microstructure, and electrical properties, such as the bulk defects and the grain boundary properties, of ZnO-Bi2O3-Sb2O3 (ZBS; Sb/Bi=0.5, 1.0, and 2.0) varistors. The sintering and electrical properties of Co,Cr-doped ZBS, ZBS(CoCr)varistors were controlled using the Sb/Bi ratio. Pyrochlore (Zn2Bi3Sb3O14), α-spinel (Zn7Sb2O12), and δ-Bi2O3 were formed inall systems. Pyrochlore was decomposed and promoted densification at lower temperature on heating in Sb/Bi=1.0 by Cr ratherthan Co. A more homogeneous microstructure was obtained in all systems affected by α-spinel. In ZBS(CoCr), the varistorcharacteristics were improved (non-linear coefficient, α=20~63), and seemed to form Zni..(0.20eV) and Vo.(0.33eV) asdominant defects. From impedance and modulus spectroscopy, the grain boundaries were found to be composed of anelectrically single barrier (0.94~1.1eV) that is, however, somewhat sensitive to ambient oxygen with temperature. The phasedevelopment, densification, and microstructure were controlled by Cr rather than by Co but the electrical and grain boundaryproperties were controlled by Co rather than by Cr.

We aimed to examine the co-doping effects of 1/6mol% Mn3O4 and 1/4mol% Cr2O3 (Mn:Cr=1:1) on the reaction,microstructure, and electrical properties, such as the bulk defects and grain boundary properties, of ZnO-Bi2O3-Sb2O3 (ZBS;Sb/Bi=0.5, 1.0, and 2.0) varistors. The sintering and electrical properties of Mn,Cr-doped ZBS, ZBS(MnCr) varistors werecontrolled using the Sb/Bi ratio. Pyrochlore (Zn2Bi3Sb3O14), α-spinel (Zn7Sb2O12), and δ-Bi2O3 (also β-Bi2O3 at Sb/Bi≤1.0)were detected for all of the systems. Mn and Cr are involved in the development of each phase. Pyrochlore was decomposedand promoted densification at lower temperature on heating in Sb/Bi=1.0 system by Mn rather than Cr doping. A morehomogeneous microstructure was obtained in all systems affected by α-spinel. In ZBS(MnCr), the varistor characteristics wereimproved dramatically (non-linear coefficient, α=40~78), and seemed to form Vo.(0.33eV) as a dominant defect. Fromimpedance and modulus spectroscopy, the grain boundaries can be seen to have divided into two types, i.e. one is tentativelyassigned to ZnO/Bi2O3 (Mn,Cr)/ZnO (0.64~1.1eV) and the other is assigned to the ZnO/ZnO (1.0~1.3eV) homojunction.

Graphite oxide (GO) was produced using the modified Hummer's method. Poly(p-phenylene sulfide) (PPS)/reduced graphite oxide (RGO) composites were prepared by in situ polymerization method. The electrical conductivity of the PPS/RGO composites was no more than 82 S/m. It was found that as GO content increased in the PPS/RGO composites, the crystallization temperature and electrical conductivity of the composites increased and the percolation threshold value was at 5-8 wt% of GO content.

Nickel oxide was doped with a wide range of concentrations (mol%) of Aluminum (Al) by solvothermal synthesis;single-phased nano powder of nickel oxide was generated after calcination at 900oC. When the concentration of Al dopant wasincreased, the reduced intensity was confirmed through XRD analysis. Lattice parameters of the synthesized NiO powder weredecreased after treatment of the dopant; parameters were increased when the concentration of Al was over the doping limit(5mol% Al). The binding energy of Ni2+ was chemically shifted to Ni3+ by doping Al3+ ion, as confirmed by the XPS analysis.The tilted structure of the synthesized NiO with 5mol% Al dopant and the polycrystalline structure of the Ni0.75Al0.25O wereobserved by HR-TEM analysis. The electrical conductivity of the newly synthesized NiO was highly improved by Al dopingin the conductivity test. The electrical conductivity values of the commercial NiO and the synthesized NiO with 5mol% Aldopant (Ni0.95Al0.05O) were 1,400s/cm and 2,230s/cm at 750oC, respectively. However, the electrical conductivity of thesynthesized NiO with 10mol% Al dopant (Ni0.9Al0.1O) decreased due to the scattering of free-electrons caused by the largenumber of impurity atoms; the electrical conductivity of Ni0.9Al0.1O was 545s/cm at 750oC.

In this work, expanded graphite (EG)-reinforced poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) nanocomposites were prepared by the melt mixing method and the content of the EG was fixed as 2 wt%. The effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as a co-carbon filler on the electrical and mechanical properties of the EG/PET was investigated. The results showed that the electrical and mechanical properties of the EG/PET were significantly increased with the addition of MWCNTs, showing an improvement over those of PET prepared with EG alone. This was most likely caused by the interconnections in the MWCNTs between the EG layers in the PET matrix. It was found that the addition of the MWCNTs into EG/PET led to dense conductive networks for easy electron transfers, indicating a bridge effect of the MWCNTs.

In this present work, the effect of additional heat-treatment (AHT) in the range from 1800℃ to 2400℃ on the chemical composition, morphology, microstructure, tensile properties, electrical resistivity, and thermal stability of commercial polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers was explored by means of elemental analysis, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, single fiber tensile testing, two-probe electrical resistivity testing, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The characterization results were in agreement with each other. The results clearly demonstrated that AHTs up to 2400℃ played a significant role in further contributing not only to the enhancement of carbon content, fiber morphology, and tensile modulus, but also to the reduction of fiber diameter, inter-graphene layer distance, and electrical resistivity of "as-received" carbon fibers without AHT. The present study suggests that key properties of commercial PAN-based carbon fibers of an intermediate grade can be further improved by proprietarily adding heat-treatment without applying tension in a batch process.

Thermoelectric power, dc conductivity, and the dielectric relaxation properties of La2NiO4.03 are reported in the temperature range of 77 K - 300 K and in a frequency range of 20 Hz - 1 MHz. Thermoelectric power was positive below 300K. The measured thermoelectric power of La2NiO4.03 decreased linearly with temperature. The dc conductivity showed a temperature variation consistent with the variable range hopping mechanism at low temperatures and the adiabatic polaron hopping mechanism at high temperatures. The low temperature dc conductivity mechanism in La2NiO4.03 was analyzed using Mott's approach. The temperature dependence of thermoelectric power and dc conductivity suggests that the charge carriers responsible for conduction are strongly localized. The relaxation mechanism has been discussed in the frame of the electric modulus and loss spectra. The scaling behavior of the modulus and loss tangent suggests that the relaxation describes the same mechanism at various temperatures. The logarithmic angular frequency dependence of the loss peak is found to obey the Arrhenius law with activation energy of ~ 0.106eV. At low temperature, variable range hopping and large dielectric relaxation behavior for La2NiO4.03 are consistent with the polaronic nature of the charge carriers.

We report on the effects of TiO2 doping power on the characteristics of multicomponent TiO2-ITO (TITO) electrodes prepared by a multi-target sputtering system with tilted cathode guns. Both as-deposited and annealed TITO electrodes showed linearly increased sheet resistance and resistivity with increasing TiO2 doping power. However, the TITO electrodes exhibited a fairly high optical transmittance regardless of the TiO2 doping power due to the high transparency of the TiO2. Although the annealed TITO showed much lower sheet resistance and resistivity relative to the as-deposited samples, the electrical properties of the annealed samples exhibited similar dependence on the TiO2 power to the as-deposited samples. In addition, it was found that doping of an anatase TiO2 in the ITO electrode prevented the preferred (222) orientation of the TITO electrodes. Although the TITO electrode showed higher sheet resistance and resistivity than that of the pure ITO electrode, it offers a very smooth surface and usage of a low-cost Ti element. It is thus considered a promising multicomponent transparent conducting electrode for cost-efficient flat panel displays and photovoltatics.

The power capacitors used as vehicle inverters must have a small size, high capacitance, high voltage, fast response and wide operating temperature. Our thin film capacitor was fabricated by alumina layers as a dielectric material and a metal electrode instead of a liquid electrolyte in an aluminum electrolytic capacitor. We analyzed the micro structures and the electrical properties of the thin film capacitors fabricated by nano-channel alumina and metal electrodes. The metal electrode was filled into the alumina nano-channel by electroless nickel plating with polyethylene glycol and a palladium catalyst. The spherical metals were formed inside the alumina nano pores. The breakdown voltage and leakage current increased by the chemical reaction of the alumina layer and PdCl2 solution. The thickness of the electroless plated nickel layer was 300 nm. We observed the nano pores in the interface between the alumina layer and the metal electrode. The alumina capacitors with nickel electrodes had a capacitance density of 100 nF/cm2, dielectric loss of 0.01, breakdown voltage of 0.7MV/cm and leakage current of 104μA.

Perovskite manganites such as RE1-xAxMnO3 (RE = rare earth, A = Ca, Sr, Ba) have been the subject of intense research in the last few years, ever since the discovery that these systems demonstrate colossal magnetoresistance (CMR). The CMR is usually explained with the double-exchange (DE) mechanism, and CMR materials have potential applications for magnetic switching, recording devices, and more. However, the intrinsic CMR effect is usually found under the conditions of a magnetic field of several Teslas and a narrow temperature range near the Curie temperature (Tc). This magnetic field and temperature range make practical applications impossible. Recently, another type of MR, called the low-field magnetoresistance(LFMR), has also been a research focus. This MR is typically found in polycrystalline half-metallic ferromagnets, and is associated with the spin-dependent charge transport across grain boundaries. Composites with compositions La0.7(Ca1-xSrx)0.3MnO3)]0.99/(BaTiO3)0.01 [(LCSMO)0.99/(BTO)0.01]were prepared with different Sr doping levels x by a standard ceramic technique, and their electrical transport and magnetoresistance (MR) properties were investigated. The structure and morphology of the composites were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). BTO peaks could not be found in the XRD pattern because the amount of BTO in the composites was too small. As the content of x decreased, the crystal structure changed from orthorhombic to rhombohedral. This change can be explained by the fact that the crystal structure of pure LCMO is orthorhombic and the crystal structure of pure LSMO is rhombohedral. The SEM results indicate that LCSMO and BTO coexist in the composites and BTO mostly segregates at the grain boundaries of LCSMO, which are in accordance with the results of the magnetic measurements. The resistivity of all the composites was measured in the range of 90-400K at 0T, 0.5T magnetic field. The result indicates that the MR of the composites increases systematically as the Ca concentration increases, although the transition temperature Tc shifts to a lower range.