I investigated the homogeneous liquid crystal alignment using parallel patterning on nickel oxide thin film. Nickel oxide thin film was prepared by sol-gel process, which is and cost effective method to form oxide thin film. Since the sol-gel process is solution driven method, the patterning on nickel oxide can be achieved by imprinting lithography. Nickel oxide with parallel pattern was used for liquid crystal alignment layer, which can be a alternative to conventional rubbing process to aligning a liquid crystal molecules. As a result, a high transmittance of 83.9% was confirmed for the NiO film, and a stable horizontal orientation pretilt angle of 0.2° occurred in the imprinted NiO film. These results were judged to be a positive level that can be commercialized in the horizontal alignment type liquid crystal display that is currently used universally. Anisotropic characteristics of nickel oxide induced by a parallel pattern leads to the alignment of liquid crystals.

Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) thin film solar cells areone of the most promising candidates for photovoltaic devices due to their earth-abundant composition, high absorption coefficient and appropriate band gap. The sputtering process is the main challenge to achieving high efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells for industrialization. In this study, we fabricated CZTSSe absorbers on Mo coated soda lime glass using different pressures during the annealing process. As an environmental strategy, the annealing process is performed with S and Se powder, without any toxic H2Se and/or H2S gases. Because CZTSSe thin films have a very narrow stable phase region, it is important to control the condition of the annealing process to achieve high efficiency of the solar cell. To identify the effect of process pressure during the sulfo-selenization, we experiment with varying initial pressure from 600 Torr to 800 Torr. We fabricate a CZTSSe thin film solar cell with 8.24 % efficiency, with 435 mV for open circuit voltage(VOC) and 36.98 mA/cm2 for short circuit current density(JSC), under a highest process pressure of 800 Torr.

In the present study, the thermal conductivity of a silicon nitride(Si3N4) thin-film is evaluated using the dualwavelength pump-probe technique. A 100-nm thick Si3N4 film is deposited on a silicon (100) wafer using the radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique and film structural characteristics are observed using the X-ray reflectivity technique. The film’s thermal conductivity is measured using a pump-probe setup powered by a femtosecond laser system of which pump-beam wavelength is frequency-doubled using a beta barium borate crystal. A multilayer transient heat conduction equation is numerically solved to quantify the film property. A finite difference method based on the Crank-Nicolson scheme is employed for the computation so that the experimental data can be curve-fitted. Results show that the thermal conductivity value of the film is lower than that of its bulk status by an order of magnitude. This investigation offers an effective way to evaluate thermophysical properties of nanoscale ceramic and dielectric materials with high temporal and spatial resolutions.

목적 : 소다-라임-실리카 유리(soda-lime-silica glass,SG) 기판위에 Ti, Ba-naphthenates를 출발원료로 사용하고 졸겔법으로 나노 결정질 TiO2, BaTiO3 박막을 제조하였다. 박막의 특성을 분석하기 위하여 X-선 회절 분석, 전자현미경, UV스펙트럼을 이용하여 연구하였다. 방법 : 코팅용액을 soda-lime-silica glass 기판 위에 스핀코팅하고 공기분위기에서 500℃에서 열분해시켜 박막을 제조하였다. 제조된 TiO2, BaTiO3 박막의 결정화도는 고분해능 X-선 회절분석법으로 그리고 표면미세구조와 거칠기는 전계 방출 현미경과 원자간력 현미경으로 또 자외선(200〜380 nm), 가시광선(380〜750 nm), 적외선(750〜900 nm) 영역의 투과율은 UV-Visible-NIR 분광광도계로 측정되었다. 결과 : TiO2박막은 아나타제 상이 존재하였으며, BaTiO3 박막은 최고 피크가 확인되지 않았다. 열처리한 TiO2, BaTiO3 박막의 가시광선 투과율은 80% 이상의 투과율을 나타냈으며, BaTiO3 박막은 TiO2 박막보다 자외선 및 청광 차단율이 높았다. 결론 : BaTiO3 박막은 TiO2 보다 자외선 및 청광에 대해 더 높은 차단율이 나타냈으며, 가시광선 투과율은 제조된 모든 박막에서 80% 이상의 투과율이 측정되었다.

A triple-layered PMMA/Ni64Zr36/PDMS hydrogen gas sensor using hydrogen permeable alloy and flexible polymer layers is fabricated through spin coating and DC-magnetron sputtering. PDMS(polydimethylsiloxane) is used as a flexible substrate and PMMA(polymethylmethacrylate) thin film is deposited onto the Ni64Zr36 alloy layer to give a high hydrogenselectivity to the sensor. The measured hydrogen sensing ability and response time of the fabricated sensor at high hydrogen concentration of 99.9 % show a 20 % change in electrical resistance, which is superior to conventional Pd-based hydrogen sensors, which are difficult to use in high hydrogen concentration environments. At a hydrogen concentration of 5 %, the resistance of electricity is about 1.4 %, which is an electrical resistance similar to that of the Pd77Ag23 sensor. Despite using low cost Ni64Zr36 alloy as the main sensing element, performance similar to that of existing Pd sensors is obtained in a highly concentrated hydrogen atmosphere. By improving the sensitivity of the hydrogen detection through optimization including of the thickness of each layer and the composition of Ni-Zr alloy thin film, the proposed Ni-Zr-based hydrogen sensor can replace Pd-based hydrogen sensors.

We investigated the characteristics of nano crystalline silicon(nc-Si) thin-film solar cells on graphite substrates. Amorphous silicon(a-Si) thin-film solar cells on graphite plates show low conversion efficiency due to high surface roughness, and many recombination by dangling bonds. In previous studies, we deposited barrier films by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) on graphite plate to reduce surface roughness and achieved ~7.8 % cell efficiency. In this study, we fabricated nc-Si thin film solar cell on graphite in order to increase the efficiency of solar cells. We achieved 8.45 % efficiency on graphite plate and applied this to nc-Si on graphite sheet for flexible solar cell applications. The characterization of the cell is performed with external quantum efficiency(EQE) and current density-voltage measurements(J-V). As a result, we obtain ~8.42 % cell efficiency in a flexible solar cell fabricated on a graphite sheet, which performance is similar to that of cells fabricated on graphite plates.

본 논문에서는 비평형 분자동역학 시뮬레이션 기법을 사용하여 알루미늄 박막과 실리콘 웨이퍼 간 열경계저항을 예측하였다. 실리콘의 끝 단 고온부에 열을 공급하고, 같은 양의 열을 알루미늄 끝 단 저온부에서 제거하여 경계면을 통한 열전달이 일어나도록 하였으며, 실리콘 내부와 알루미늄 내부의 선형 온도 변화를 계산함으로써 경계면에서의 온도 차이에 따른 열저항 값을 구하였다. 300K 온도에서 5.13±0.17m2·K/GW의 결과를 얻었으며, 이는 열유속 조건의 변화와 무관함을 확인하였다. 아울러, 펨토초 레이저 기반의 시간영역 열반사율 기법을 사용하여 열경계저항 값을 실험적으로 구하였으며, 시뮬레이션 결과와 비교·검증하였다. 전자빔 증착기를 사용하여 90nm 두께의 알루미늄 박막을 실리콘(100) 웨이퍼 표면에 증착하였으며, 유한차분법을 이용한 수치해석을 통해 열전도 방정식의 해를 구해 실험결과와 곡선맞춤 함으로써 열경계저항을 정량적으로 평가하고 나노스케일에서의 열전달 현상에 관한 특징을 살펴보았다.

We report on the fabrication and characterization of an oxide photoanode with a zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod array embedded in cuprous oxide (Cu2O) thin film, namely a ZnO/Cu2O oxide p-n heterostructure photoanode, for enhanced efficiency of visible light driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. A vertically oriented n-type ZnO nanorod array is first prepared on an indium-tin-oxide-coated glass substrate via a seed-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method and then a p-type Cu2O thin film is directly electrodeposited onto the vertically oriented ZnO nanorod array to form an oxide p-n heterostructure. The introduction of Cu2O layer produces a noticeable enhancement in the visible light absorption. From the observed PEC current density versus voltage (J-V) behavior under visible light illumination, the photoconversion efficiency of this ZnO/Cu2O p-n heterostructure photoanode is found to reach 0.39 %, which is seven times that of a pristine ZnO nanorod photoanode. In particular, a significant PEC performance is observed even at an applied bias of 0 V vs Hg/Hg2Cl2, which makes the device self-powered. The observed improvement in the PEC performance is attributed to some synergistic effect of the pn bilayer heterostructure on the formation of a built-in potential including the light absorption and separation processes of photoinduced charge carriers, which provides a new avenue for preparing efficient photoanodes for PEC water splitting.

본 연구에서는 강유전성 고분자를 이용하여 제작된 100 nm 이하 두께를 가지는 박막형 커페시터의 측정 주파수에 따른 분극 반전 특성을 측정, 분석하였다. 고정된 박막 두께에 대해, 인가되는 최고 전기장의 세기가 증가할수록 더 높은 항전계에서 분극 반전이 발생되었다. 고정된 최고 전기장에 대해, 박막의 두께에 무관하게 같은 항전계에서 분극 반전이 발생되었다. 모든 측정에서 로그스케일 전기장 및 로그스케일 주파수의 관계에서 약 0.12 ± 0.01의 비례 상수를 보였다. 결과적으로, 강유전체 고분자 커페시터가 40 nm 두께까지는 size effect 없이 일정한 분극 반전 특성을 보였다. 본 연구는 저전압 동작 고분자 메모리 소자의 동작 예측에 유용할 것이므로 저전압에서 동작 가능한 고분자 메모리 소자의 가능성을 보여준다.

The transfer characteristics of zinc tin oxide(ZTO) on silicon dioxide(SiO2) thin film transistor generally depend on the electrical properties of gate insulators. SiO2 thin films are prepared with argon gas flow rates of 25 sccm and 30 sccm. The rate of ionization of SiO2(25 sccm) decreases more than that of SiO2(30 sccm), and then the generation of electrons decreases and the conductivity of SiO2(25 sccm) is low. Relatively, the conductivity of SiO2(30 sccm) increases because of the high rate of ionization of argon gases. Therefore, the insulating performance of SiO2(25 sccm) is superior to that of SiO2(30 sccm) because of the high potential barrier of SiO2(25 sccm). The ZTO/SiO2 transistors are prepared to research the CO2 gas sensitivity. The stability of the transistor of ZTO/SiO2(25 sccm) as a high insulator is superior owing to the high potential barrier. It is confirmed that the electrical properties of the insulator in transistor devices is an important factor to detect gases.

Anti-reflection thin films are fabricated on glass substrates using the screen printing method. Tetra ethyl silicate(TEOS) and methyl tri methoxy silane(MTMS) are used as starting materials and buthyl carbitol acetate(BCA) and buthyl cellusolve(BC) are mixed to improve the viscosity of the solution. Anti-reflection thin films are fabricated according to the number of the screen mesh and the characteristics improve as the mesh size increases. The transmittance and reflectance of the coated thin film using 325 mesh are about 94 % and 0.43 % in the visible wavelength. The thickness and refractive index of the AR thin film are 107 nm and n = 1.26, respectively.