Tb3+-doped CaNb2O6 (CaNb2O6:Tb3+) thin films were deposited on quartz substrates at a growth temperature of 300 °C using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The deposited thin films were annealed at several annealing temperatures for 20 min and characterized for their structural, morphological, and luminescent properties. The experimental results showed that the annealing temperature had a significant effect on the properties of the CaNb2O6:Tb3+ thin films. The crystalline structure of the as-grown CaNb2O6:Tb3+ thin films transformed from amorphous to crystalline after annealing at temperatures greater than or equal to 700 °C. The emission spectra of the thin films under excitation at 251 nm exhibited a dominant emission band at 546 nm arising from the 5D4 → 7F5 magnetic dipole transition of Tb3+ and three weak emission bands at 489, 586, and 620 nm, respectively. The intensity of the 5D4 → 7F5 (546 nm) magnetic dipole transition was greater than that of the 5D4 → 7F6 (489 nm) electrical dipole transition, indicating that the Tb3+ ions in the host crystal were located at sites with inversion symmetry. The average transmittance at wavelengths of 370~1,100 nm decreased from 86.8 % at 700 °C to 80.5 % at an annealing temperature of 1,000 °C, and a red shift was observed in the bandgap energy with increasing annealing temperature. These results suggest that the annealing temperature plays a crucial role in developing green light-emitting CaNb2O6:Tb3+ thin films for application in electroluminescent displays.

Effects of growth variables and post-growth annealing on the optical, structural and electrical properties of magnetron-sputtered Ga0.04Mg0.10Zn0.86O films are characterized in detail. It is observed that films grown from pure oxygen plasma showed high resistivity, ~102 Ω·cm, whereas films grown in Ar plasma showed much lower resistivity, 2.0 × 10− 2 ~ 1.0 × 10−1 Ω·cm. Post-growth annealing significantly improved the electrical resistivity, to 4.3 ~ 9.0 × 10−3 Ω·cm for the vacuum annealed samples and to 1.3 ~ 3.0 × 10−3 Ω·cm for the films annealed in Zn vapor. It is proposed that these phenomena may be attributed to the improved crystalline quality and to changes in the defect chemistry. It is suggested that growth within oxygen environments leads to suppression of oxygen vacancy (Vo) donors and formation of Zn vacancy (VZn) acceptors, resulting in highly resistive films. After annealing treatment, the activation of Ga donors is enhanced, Vo donors are annihilated, and crystalline quality is improved, increasing the electron mobility and the concentration. After annealing in Zn vapor, Zn interstitial donors are introduced, further increasing the electron concentration.

Recent advances in technology using ultra-thin noble metal film in oxide/metal/oxide structures have attracted attention because this material is a promising alternative to meet the needs of transparent conduction electrodes (TCE). AZO/ Ag/AZO multilayer films are prepared by magnetron sputtering for Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) of kesterite solar cells. It is shown that the electrical and optical properties of the AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films can be improved by the very low resistivity and surface plasmon effects due to the deposition of different thicknesses of Ag layer between oxide layers fixed at AZO 30 nm. The AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films of Ag 15 nm show high mobility of 26.4 cm2/Vs and low resistivity and sheet resistance of 3.58*10−5 Ωcm and 5.0 Ω/sq. Also, the AZO/Ag (15 nm)/AZO multilayer film shows relatively high transmittance of more than 65% in the visible region. Through this, we fabricated CZTSSe thin film solar cells with 7.51% efficiency by improving the short-circuit current density and fill factor to 27.7 mV/cm2 and 62 %, respectively.

Silicon nitride thin films are deposited by RF (13.57 MHz) magnetron sputtering process using a Si (99.999 %) target and with different ratios of Ar/N2 sputtering gas mixture. Corning G type glass is used as substrate. The vacuum atmosphere, RF source power, deposit time and temperature of substrate of the sputtering process are maintained consistently at 2 ~ 3 × 10−3 torr, 30 sccm, 100 watt, 20 min. and room temperature, respectively. Cross sectional views and surface morphology of the deposited thin films are observed by field emission scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The hardness values are determined by nano-indentation measurement. The thickness of the deposited films is approximately within the range of 88 nm ~ 200 nm. As the amount of N2 gas in the Ar:N2 gas mixture increases, the thickness of the films decreases. AFM observation reveals that film deposited at high Ar:N2 gas ratio and large amount of N2 gas has a very irregular surface morphology, even though it has a low RMS value. The hardness value of the deposited films made with ratio of Ar:N2=9:1 display the highest value. The XPS spectrum indicates that the deposited film is assigned to non-stoichiometric silicon nitride and the transmittance of the glass with deposited SiO2-SixNy thin film is satisfactory at 97 %.

To establish low-temperature process conditions, process-property correlation has been investigated for Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films deposited by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. Thickness of GZO films and deposition temperature were varied from 50 to 500 nm and from room temperature to 250 oC, respectively. Electrical properties of the GZO films initially improved with increase of temperature to 150 oC, but deteriorated subsequently with further increase of the temperature. At lower temperatures, the electrical properties improved with increasing thickness; however, at higher temperatures, increasing thickness resulted in deteriorated electrical properties. Such changes in electrical properties were correlated to the microstructural evolution, which is dependent on the deposition temperature and the film thickness. While the GZO films had c-axis preferred orientation due to preferred nucleation, structural disordering with increasing deposition temperature and film thickness promoted grain growth with a-axis orientation. Consequently, it was possible to obtain a good electrical property at relatively low deposition temperature with small thickness.

Aluminum nitride, a compound semiconductor, has a Wurtzite structure; good material properties such as high thermal conductivity, great electric conductivity, high dielectric breakdown strength, a wide energy band gap (6.2eV), a fast elastic wave speed; and excellent in thermal and chemical stability. Furthermore, the thermal expansion coefficient of the aluminum nitride is similar to those of Si and GaAs. Due to these characteristics, aluminum nitride can be applied to electric packaging components, dielectric materials, SAW (surface acoustic wave) devices, and photoelectric devices. In this study, we surveyed the crystallization and preferred orientation of AlN thin films with an X-ray diffractometer. To fabricate the AlN thin film, we used the magnetron sputtering method with N2, NH3 and Ar. According to an increase in the partial pressures of N2 and NH3, Al was nitrified and deposited onto a substrate in a molecular form. When AlN was fabricated with N2, it showed a c-axis orientation and tended toward a high orientation with an increase in the temperature. On the other hand, when AlN was fabricated with NH3, it showed a-axis orientation. This result is coincident with the proposed mechanism. We fabricated AlN thin films with an a-axis orientation by controlling the sputtering electric power, NH3 pressure, deposition speed, and substrate temperature. According to the proposed mechanism, we also fabricated AlN thin films which demonstrated high aaxis and c-axis orientations.

Insoluble catalytic electrodes were fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering of Pt on Ti substrates and the performance of seawater electrolysis was compared in these electrodes to that is DSA electrodes. The Pt-sputtered insoluble catalytic electrodes were nearly 150 nm-thick with a roughness of 0.18μm, which is 1/660 and 1/12 of these values for the DSA (dimensionally stable anodes) electrodes. The seawater electrolysis performance levels were determined through measurements of the NaOCl concentration, which was the main reaction product after electrolysis using artificial seawater. The NaOCl concentration after 2 h of electrolysis with artificial seawater, which has 3.5% NaCl normally, at current densities of 50, 80 and 140 mA/cm2 were 0.76%, 1.06%, and 2.03%, respectively. A higher current density applied through the electrodes led to higher electrolysis efficiency. The efficiency reached nearly 58% in the Pt-sputtered samples after 2 h of electrolysis. The reaction efficiency of DSA showed higher values than that of the Pt-sputtered insoluble catalytic electrodes. One plausible reason for this is the higher specific surface area of the DSA electrodes; the surface cracks of the DSAs resulted in a higher specific surface area and higher reaction sites. Upon the electrolysis process, some Mg- and Ca-hydroxides, which were minor components in the artificial seawater, were deposited onto the surface of the electrodes, resulting in an increase in the electrical resistances of the electrodes. However, the extent of the increase ranged from 4% to 7% within an electrolysis time of 720 h.

In2O3 films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on a glass substrate and then the effect of post depositionannealing in nitrogen atmosphere on the structural, optical and electrical properties of the films was investigated. Afterdeposition, the annealing process was conducted for 30 minutes at 200 and 400oC. XRD pattern analysis showed that the asdeposited films were amorphous. When the annealing temperature reached 200-400oC, the intensities of the In2O3 (222) majorpeak increased and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the In2O3 (222) peak decreased due to the crystallization. Thefilms annealed at 400oC showed a grain size of 28nm, which was larger than that of the as deposited amorphous films. Theoptical transmittance in the visible wavelength region also increased, while the electrical sheet resistance decreased. In this study,the films annealed at 400oC showed the highest optical transmittance of 76% and also showed the lowest sheet resistance of89Ω/□. The figure of merit reached a maximum of 7.2×10−4Ω−1 for the films annealed at 400oC. The effect of the annealingon the work-function of In2O3 films was considered. The work-function obtained from annealed films at 400oC was 7.0eV. Thus,the annealed In2O3 films are an alternative to ITO films for use as transparent anodes in OLEDs.

The CdS thin film used as a window layer in the CdTe thin film solar cell transports photo-generated electrons to the front contact and forms a p-n junction with the CdTe layer. This is why the electrical, optical, and surface properties of the CdS thin film influence the efficiency of the CdTe thin film solar cell. When CdTe thin film solar cells are fabricated, a heat treatment is done to improve the qualities of the CdS thin films. Of the many types of heat treatments, the CdCl2 heat treatment is most widely used because the grain size in CdS thin films increases and interdiffusion between the CdS and the CdTe layer is prevented by the heat treatment. To investigate the changes in the electrical, optical, and surface properties and the crystallinity of the CdS thin films due to heat treatment, CdS thin films were deposited on FTO/glass substrates by the rf magnetron sputtering technique, and then a CdCl2 heat treatment was carried out. After the CdCl2 heat treatment, the clustershaped grains in the CdS thin film increased in size and their boundaries became faint. XRD results show that the crystallinity improved and the crystalline size increased from 15 to 42 nm. The resistivity of the CdS single layer decreased from 3.87 to 0.26 Ωcm, and the transmittance in the visible region increased from 64% to 74%.

Ultra-thin aluminum (Al) and tin (Sn) films were grown by dc magnetron sputtering on a glass substrate. The electrical resistance R of films was measured in-situ method during the film growth. Also transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study was carried out to observe the microstructure of the films. In the ultra-thin film study, an exact determination of a coalescence thickness and a continuous film thickness is very important. Therefore, we tried to measure the minimum thickness for continuous film (dmin) by means of a graphical method using a number of different y-values as a function of film thickness. The raw date obtained in this study provides a graph of in-situ resistance of metal film as a function of film thickness. For the Al film, there occurs a maximum value in a graph of in-situ electrical resistance versus film thickness. Using the results in this study, we could define clearly the minimum thickness for continuous film where the position of minimum values in the graph when we put the value of Rd3 to y-axis and the film thickness to x-axis. The measured values for the minimum thickness for continuous film are 21 nm and 16 nm for sputtered Al and Sn films, respectively. The new method for defining the minimum thickness for continuous film in this study can be utilized in a basic data when we design an ultra-thin film for the metallization application in nano-scale devices.

Abstract In this study characteristics of Al-doped ZnO thin film by HIPIMS (High power impulse sputtering) are discussed. Deposition speed of HIPIMS with conventional balanced magnetic field is measured at about 3 nm/min, which is 30% of that of conventional RF sputtering process with the same working pressure. To generate additional magnetic flux and increase sputtering speed, electromagnetic coil is mounted at the back side of target. Under unbalanced magnetic flux from electromagnet with 1.5A coil current, deposition speed of AZO thin film is increased from 3 nm/min to 4.4 nm/min. This new value originates from the decline of particles near target surface due to the local magnetic flux going toward substrate from electromagnet. AZO film sputtered by HIPIMS process shows very smooth and dense film surface for which surface roughness is measured from 0.4 nm to 1 nm. There are no voids or defects in morphology of AZO films with varying of magnetic field. When coil current is increased from 0A to 1A, transmittance of AZO thin film decreases from 80% to 77%. Specific resistance is measured at about 2.9×10-2Ω·cm. AZO film shows C-axis oriented structure and its grain size is calculated at about 5.3 nm, which is lower than grain size in conventional sputtering.

Most TCOs such as ITO, AZO(Al-doped ZnO), FTO(F-doped SnO2) etc., which have been widely used in LCD,touch panel, solar cell, and organic LEDs etc. as transparent electrode material reveal n-type conductivity. But in order to realizetransparent circuit, transparent p-n junction, and introduction of transparent p-type materials are prerequisite. Additionalprerequisite condition is optical transparency in visible spectral region. Oxide based materials usually have a wide optical band-gap more than ~3.0eV. In this study, single-phase transparent semiconductor of SrCu2O2, which shows p-type conductivity, havebeen synthesized by 2-step solid state reaction at 950oC under N2 atmosphere, and single-phase SrCu2O2 thin films of p-typeTCOs have been deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on alkali-free glass substrate from single-phase target at 500oC, 1%H2/(Ar+H2) atmosphere. 3% H2/(Ar+H2) resulted in formation of second phases. Hall measurements confirmed the p-typenature of the fabricated SrCu2O2 thin films. The electrical conductivity, mobility of carrier and carrier density 5.27×10−2S/cm,2.2cm2/Vs, 1.53×1017/cm3 a room temperature, respectively. Transmittance and optical band-gap of the SrCu2O2 thin filmsrevealed 62% at 550nm and 3.28eV. The electrical and optical properties of the obtained SrCu2O2 thin films deposited by RFmagnetron sputtering were compared with those deposited by PLD and e-beam.

Films consisting of a silicon quantum dot superlattice were fabricated by alternating deposition of silicon rich silicon nitride and Si3N4 layers using an rf magnetron co-sputtering system. In order to use the silicon quantum dot super lattice structure for third generation multi junction solar cell applications, it is important to control the dot size. Moreover, silicon quantum dots have to be in a regularly spaced array in the dielectric matrix material for in order to allow for effective carrier transport. In this study, therefore, we fabricated silicon quantum dot superlattice films under various conditions and investigated crystallization behavior of the silicon quantum dot super lattice structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra showed an increased intensity of the 840 cm-1 peak with increasing annealing temperature due to the increase in the number of Si-N bonds. A more conspicuous characteristic of this process is the increased intensity of the 1100 cm-1 peak. This peak was attributed to annealing induced reordering in the films that led to increased Si-N4 bonding. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that peak position was shifted to higher bonding energy as silicon 2p bonding energy changed. This transition is related to the formation of silicon quantum dots. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis also confirmed the formation of silicon quantum dots. This study revealed that post annealing at 1100˚C for at least one hour is necessary to precipitate the silicon quantum dots in the SiNx matrix.

Solar cells have been more intensely studied as part of the effort to find alternatives to fossil fuels as power sources.The progression of the first two generations of solar cells has seen a sacrifice of higher efficiency for more economic use ofmaterials. The use of a single junction makes both these types of cells lose power in two major ways: by the non-absorptionof incident light of energy below the band gap; and by the dissipation by heat loss of light energy in excess of the band gap.Therefore, multi junction solar cells have been proposed as a solution to this problem. However, the 1st and 2nd generation solarcells have efficiency limits because a photon makes just one electron-hole pair. Fabrication of all-silicon tandem cells using anSi quantum dot superlattice structure (QD SLS) is one possible suggestion. In this study, an SiOx matrix system was investigatedand analyzed for potential use as an all-silicon multi-junction solar cell. Si quantum dots with a super lattice structure (Si QDSLS) were prepared by alternating deposition of Si rich oxide (SRO; SiOx (x=0.8, 1.12)) and SiO2 layers using RF magnetronco-sputtering and subsequent annealing at temperatures between 800 and 1,100oC under nitrogen ambient. Annealing temperaturesand times affected the formation of Si QDs in the SRO film. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra and x-rayphotoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that nanocrystalline Si QDs started to precipitate after annealing at 1,100oC for onehour. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images clearly showed SRO/SiO2 SLS and Si QDs formation in each 4, 6, and8nm SRO layer after annealing at 1,100oC for two hours. The systematic investigation of precipitation behavior of Si QDsin SiO2 matrices is presented.

Various thicknesses of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films were deposited on glass substrate using pulsed dcmagnetron sputtering with a cylindrical target designed for large-area high-speed deposition. The structural,electrical, and optical properties of the films of various thicknesses were characterized. All deposited AZO filmshave (0002) preferred orientation with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate. Crystal quality and surfacemorphology of the films changed according to the film thickness. The samples with higher surface roughnessexhibited lower Hall mobility. Analysis of the measured data of the optical band gap and the carrierconcentration revealed that there were no changes for all the film thicknesses. The optical transmittances weremore than 85% regardless of film thickness within the visible wavelength region. The lowest resistivity,4.13×10-4Ω·cm-1, was found in 750nm films with an electron mobility (µ) of 10.6cm2V-1s-1 and a carrierconcentration (n) of 1.42×1021cm-3.

Mn-substituted BiFeO3(BFO) thin films were prepared by r.f. magnetron sputtering under an Ar/O2mixture of various deposition pressures at room temperature. The effects of the deposition pressure andannealing temperature on the crystallization and electrical properties of BFO films were investigated. X-raydiffraction patterns revealed that BFO films were crystallized for films annealed above 500oC. BFO filmsannealed at 550oC for 5 min in N2 atmosphere exhibited the crystallized perovskite phase. The (Fe+Mn)/Biratio decreased with an increase in the deposition pressure due to the difference of sputtering yield. The grainsize and surface roughness of films increased with an increase in the deposition pressure. The dielectricconstant of BFO films prepared at various conditions shows 127~187at 1kHz. The leakage current densityof BFO films annealed at 500oC was approximately two orders of magnitude lower than that of 550oC. Theleakage current density of the BFO films deposited at 10~30m Torr was about 5×10-6~3×10-2A/cm2 at 100kV/cm. Due to the high leakage current, saturated P-E curves were not obtained in BFO films. BFO film annealedat 500oC exhibited remnant polarization(2Pr) of 26.4µC/cm2 at 470kV/cm.

SnxSe100-X (15|X|30) alloys have been studied to explore their suitability as phase change materials for nonvolatile memory applications. The phase change characteristics of thin films prepared by a Radio Frequency (RF) magnetron co-sputtering system were analyzed by an X-ray diffractometer and 4-point probe measurement. A phase change static tester was also used to determine their crystallization under the pulsed laser irradiation. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the transition in sheet resistance is accompanied by crystallization. The amorphous state showed sheet resistances five orders of magnitude higher than that of the crystalline state in SnxSe100-X (x = 15, 20, 25, 30) films. In the optimum composition, the minimum time of SnxSe100-X alloys for crystallization was 160, 140, 150, and 30ns at 15mW, respectively. The crystallization temperature and the minimum time for crystallization of thin films were increased by increasing the amount of Sn, which is correlated with the activation energy for crystallization.

The effect of annealing under argon atmosphere on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films deposited at room temperature and 300˚C using Radio Frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering has been investigated. For the films deposited at room temperature, there was not any increase in hydrogen content and optical band gap of the films, and as a result, quality of the films was not improved under any annealing conditions. For the films deposited at 300˚C, on the other hand, significant increases in hydrogen content and optical band gap were observed, whereas values of microstructure parameter and dark conductivity were decreased upon annealing below 300˚C. In this study, it was proposed that the Si-HX bonding strength is closely related to deposition temperature. Also, the improvement in optical, electrical and structural properties of the films deposited at 300˚C was originated from thermally activated hydrogen bubbles, which were initially trapped at microvoids in the films.

Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) thin films were deposited onto 300 nm-thick oxidized Si substrates and glass substrates by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering of IGZO targets at room temperature. FESEM and XRD analyses indicate that non-annealed and annealed IGZO thin films exhibit an amorphous structure. To investigate the effect of an annealing treatment, the films were thermally treated at 300˚C for 1hr in air. The IGZO TFTs structure was a bottom-gate type in which electrodes were deposited by the DC magnetron sputtering of Ti and Au targets at room temperature. The non-annealed and annealed IGZO TFTs exhibit an Ion/Ioff ratio of more than 105. The saturation mobility and threshold voltage of nonannealed IGZO TFTs was 4.92×10-1cm2/V·s and 1.46V, respectively, whereas these values for the annealed TFTs were 1.49×10-1cm2/V· and 15.43V, respectively. It is believed that an increase in the surface roughness after an annealing treatment degrades the quality of the device. The transmittances of the IGZO thin films were approximately 80%. These results demonstrate that IGZO thin films are suitable for use as transparent thin film transistors (TTFTs).

TiAlN films were deposited on WC-5Co substrates with different buffer layers by D.C. magnetron sputtering. The films were evaluated by microstructural observations and measuring of preferred orientation, hardness value, and adhesion force. As a process variable, various buffer layers were used such as TiAlN single layer, TiAlN/TiAl, TiAlN/TiN and TiAlN/CrN. TiAlN coating layer showed columnar structures which grew up at a right angle to the substrates. The thickness of the TiAlN coating layer was about 1.8μm, which was formed for 200 minutes at 300˚. XRD analysis showed that the preferred orientation of TiAlN layer with TiN buffer layer was (111) and (200), and the specimens of TiAlN/TiAl, TiAlN/CrN, TiAlN single layer have preferred orientation of (111), respectively. TiAlN single layer and TiAlN/TiAl showed good adhesion properties, showing an over 80N adhesion force, while TiAlN/TiN film showed approximately 13N and the TiAlN/CrN was the worst case, in which the layer was destroyed because of high internal residual stress. The value of micro vickers hardness of the TiAlN single layer, TiAlN/TiAl and TiAlN/TiN layers were 2711, 2548 and 2461 Hv, respectively.