Al–Mg co-doped ZnO thin films were fabricated by a sol–gel spin-coating process to investigate the effect of dopant ratio on their structural, electrical, and optical properties. The total dopant concentration was fixed at 3 mol%, while the Al-to-Mg ratio was systematically varied in AlxMg0.03-xZn0.97O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.03). X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the films maintained a hexagonal wurtzite structure with a preferred (002) orientation up to an Al concentration of 1.5 mol%, whereas higher Al contents resulted in a degradation of crystallinity due to exceeding the solid solubility limit of Al in the ZnO lattice. Hall effect measurements revealed a decrease in carrier mobility with increasing Al content, attributed to enhanced ionized impurity scattering, while the carrier concentration and electrical conductivity reached optimal values at an Al–Mg co-doping ratio of 1.5 mol%–1.5 mol%. All films exhibited high optical transmittance in the visible region, with the highest average transmittance of approximately 83% observed at the same composition. These results demonstrate that controlling the Al/Mg dopant ratio is crucial for optimizing the performance of ZnO-based transparent conducting oxide thin films.

Transparent and conducting SnO2 and SnO2/Ag/SnO2 (SAS) films were deposited on glass substrates by magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The effect of the SnO2 target power and Ag interlayer on the visible transmittance and electrical properties of the film was considered. Although all the SnO2 films had an amorphous structure under all sputtering power conditions, SnO2 films deposited at a target power of 60 W showed a lower resistivity of 2.25 Ω cm and a lower surface roughness of 1.4 nm. The average visible transmittance also varied with target power conditions. The average visible transmittance increased from 73.7 % (40 W) to 76.3 % (60 W) and then decreased to 73.2 % (80 W). When all films were compared, it was found that the SnO2 films deposited at 60 W had a higher figure of merit of 2.98 × 10-7 Ω-1. In addition, the SnO2 films with a Ag 10 nm interlayer showed a lower resistivity of 4.28 × 10-5 Ω cm and a visible transmittance of 70.58 %. The Ag interlayer in the SnO2 films increased the figure of merit to 7.88 × 10-3 without substrate heating or post-deposition annealing. The observed results confirm that the optical and electrical properties of SnO2 films can be enhanced by optimizing the sputtering target power condition and the thickness of the Ag interlayer, respectively.

TiO2/Ag/TiO2 (TAT) tri-layer films were deposited using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering and direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering on a glass substrate, and then rapid thermal annealed at 150 and 300 °C for 10 minutes. The influence of annealing temperature on the optical and electrical properties of the films was investigated. As annealing temperature was rapidly increased from room temperature to 300 °C, the grain size of the TiO2 (004), (204) and Ag (200) increased from 36.8, 14.3, 22.1 nm to 43.2, 16.6, 23.4 nm, respectively and the electrical resistivity decreased from 4.64 × 10-5 Ω cm to 2.79 × 10-5 Ω cm. Also, the average visible transmittance increased from 82.7 % to 84.9 %. In addition, the electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of TAT films was also increased to 31.7 db after annealing at 300 °C. These results demonstrate that post-deposition rapid thermal annealing is an effective method for enhancing the electrical and optical properties of TAT films.

Cu-Ti thin films were fabricated using a combinatorial sputtering system to realize highly sensitive surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. The Cu-Ti sample library was grown with various chemical compositions and electrical resistivity, providing important information for selecting the most suitable materials for SAW devices. Considering that acoustic waves generated from piezoelectric materials are significantly affected by the resistivity and density of interdigital transducer (IDT) electrodes, three types of Cu-Ti thin films with different Cu contents were fabricated. The thickness of the Cu-Ti thin films used in the SAW-IDT electrode was fixed at 150 nm. As the Cu content of the Cu-Ti films was increased from 31.2 to 71.3 at%, the resistivity decreased from 10.5 to 5.8 × 10-5 ohm-cm, and the density increased from 5.5 to 7.3 g/cm3, respectively. A SAW device composed of Cu-Ti IDT electrodes resonated at exactly 143 MHz without frequency shifts, but the full width at half maximum (FWHM) values of the resonant frequency gradually increased as the Cu content increased. This means that although the increase in Cu content in the Cu-Ti thin film helps to improve the electrical properties of the IDT electrode, the increased density of the IDT electrode deteriorates the acoustic performance of SAW devices.

As the limitations of Moore’s Law become evident, there has been growing interest in advanced packaging technologies. Among various 3D packaging techniques, Cu-SiO2 hybrid bonding has gained attention in heterogeneous devices. However, certain issues, such as its high-temperature processing conditions and copper oxidation, can affect electrical properties and mechanical reliability. Therefore, we studied depositing only a heterometal on top of the Cu in Cu-SiO2 composite substrates to prevent copper surface oxidation and to lower bonding process temperature. The heterometal needs to be deposited as an ultra-thin layer of less than 10 nm, for copper diffusion. We established the process conditions for depositing a Co film using a Co(EtCp)2 precursor and utilizing plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), which allows for precise atomic level thickness control. In addition, we attempted to use a growth inhibitor by growing a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) material, octadecyltrichlorosilane (ODTS), on a SiO2 substrate to selectively suppress the growth of Co film. We compared the growth behavior of the Co film under various PEALD process conditions and examined their selectivity based on the ODTS growth time.

ZnO/Cu/ZnO (ZCZ) thin films were deposited at room temperature on a glass substrate using direct current (DC) and radio frequency (RF, 13.56 MHz) magnetron sputtering and then the effect of post-deposition electron irradiation on the structural, optical, electrical and transparent heater properties of the films were considered. ZCZ films that were electron beam irradiated at 500 eV showed an increase in the grain sizes of their ZnO(102) and (201) planes to 15.17 nm and 11.51 nm, respectively, from grain sizes of 13.50 nm and 10.60 nm observed in the as deposited films. In addition, the film’s optical and electrical properties also depended on the electron irradiation energies. The highest opto-electrical performance was observed in films electron irradiated at 500 eV. In a heat radiation test, when a bias voltage of 18 V was applied to the film that had been electron irradiated at 500 eV, its steady state temperature was about 90.5 °C. In a repetition test, it reached the steady state temperature within 60 s at all bias voltages.

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.

Transparent conductive tungsten (W) doped indium oxide (In2O3; IWO) films were deposited at different substrate bias voltage (-Vb) conditions at room temperature on glass substrates by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering and the influence of the substrate bias voltage on the optical and electrical properties was investigated. As the substrate bias voltage increased to -350 Vb, the IWO films showed a lower resistivity of 2.06 × 10-4 Ωcm. The lowest resistivity observed for the film deposited at -350 Vb could be attributed to its higher mobility, of 31.8 cm2/Vs compared with that (6.2 cm2/Vs) of the films deposited without a substrate bias voltage (0 Vb). The highest visible transmittance of 84.1 % was also observed for the films deposited at the -350 Vb condition. The X-ray diffraction observation indicated the IWO films deposited without substrate bias voltage were amorphous phase without any diffraction peaks, while the films deposited with bias voltage were polycrystalline with a low In2O3 (222) diffraction peak and relatively high intensity (431) and (046) diffraction peaks. From the observed visible transmittance and electrical properties, it is concluded that the opto-electrical performance of the polycrystalline IWO film deposited by RF magnetron sputtering can be enhanced with effective substrate bias voltage conditions.

Plasma polymerized Styrene thin films were used as a memory layer in a memory device. As for the memory layer, a ppS thin films were used for the organic memory device and their charge storage characteristic was investigated comparatively, where the charge storage effect was evaluated by a hysteresis voltage. The organic memory device with ppS thin film of 30nm and 50nm as memory layer showed promising memory characteristics such as hysteresis voltage of 20V and 28V. The ppS revealed promising charge storage properties which confirms that an organic memory device without floating gate could be successfully implemented by using the ppS thin film as a memory layer.

Atomic layer etching (ALE) is a promising technique with atomic-level thickness controllability and high selectivity based on self-limiting surface reactions. ALE is performed by sequential exposure of the film surface to reactants, which results in surface modification and release of volatile species. Among the various ALE methods, thermal ALE involves a thermally activated reaction by employing gas species to release the modified surface without using energetic species, such as accelerated ions and neutral beams. In this study, the basic principle and surface reaction mechanisms of thermal ALE?processes, including “fluorination-ligand exchange reaction”, “conversion-etch reaction”, “conversion-fluorination reaction”, “oxidation-fluorination reaction”, “oxidation-ligand exchange reaction”, and “oxidation-conversion-fluorination reaction” are described. In addition, the reported thermal ALE processes for the removal of various oxides, metals, and nitrides are presented.

Transparent thin films of pure and nickel-doped ZrO2 are grown successfully by sol-gel dip-coating technique. The structural and optical properties according to the different annealing temperatures (300 oC, 400 oC and 500 oC) are investigated. Analysis of crystallographic properties through X-ray diffraction pattern reveals an increase in crystallite size due to increase in crystallinity with temperature. All fabricated thin films are highly-oriented along (101) planes, which enhances the increase in nickel doping. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy are employed to confirm the homogeneity in surface morphology as well as the doping configuration of films. The extinction coefficient is found to be on the order of 102, showing the surface smoothness of deposited thin films. UV-visible spectroscopy reveals a decrease in the optical band gap with the increase in annealing temperature due to the increase in crystallite size. The variation in Urbach energy and defect density with doping and the change in annealing temperature are also studied.

Aluminum nitride having a dense hexagonal structure is used as a high-temperature material because of its excellent heat resistance and high mechanical strength; its excellent piezoelectric properties are also attracting attention. The structure and residual stress of AlN thin films formed on glass substrate using TFT sputtering system are examined by XRD. The deposition conditions are nitrogen gas pressures of 1 × 102, 6 × 103, and 3 × 103, substrate temperature of 523 K, and sputtering time of 120 min. The structure of the AlN thin film is columnar, having a c-axis, i.e., a <00·1> orientation, which is the normal direction of the glass substrate. An X-ray stress measurement method for crystalline thin films with orientation properties such as columnar structure is proposed and applied to the residual stress measurement of AlN thin films with orientation <00·1>. Strength of diffraction lines other than 00·2 diffraction is very weak. As a result of stress measurement using AlN powder sample as a comparative standard sample, tensile residual stress is obtained when the nitrogen gas pressure is low, but the gas pressure increases as the residual stress is shifts toward compression. At low gas pressure, the unit cell expands due to the incorporation of excess nitrogen atoms.

Cr thin films with O added are deposited on sapphire substrate by DC sputtering and are nitrided in NH3 atmosphere between 300 and 900 oC for various times. X-ray diffraction results show that nitridation begins at 500 oC, forming CrN and Cr2N. Cr oxides of Cr2O3 are formed at 600 oC. And, at temperatures higher than 900 oC, the intermediate materials of Cr2N and Cr2O3 disappear and CrN is dominant. The atomic concentration ratios of Cr and O are 77% and 23%, respectively, over the entire thickness of as-deposited Cr thin film. In the sample nitrided at 600 oC, a CrN layer in which O is substituted with N is formed from the surface to 90 nm, and the concentrations of Cr and N in the layer are 60% and 40%, respectively. For this reason, CrN and Cr2N are distributed in the CrN region, where O is substituted with N by nitridation, and Cr oxynitrides are formed in the region below this. The nitridation process is controlled by inter-diffusion of O and N and the parabolic growth law, with activation energy of 0.69 eV.

Dry etching of copper thin films is performed using high density plasma of ethylenediamine (EDA)/ hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP)/Ar gas mixture. The etch rates, etch selectivities and etch profiles of the copper thin films are improved by adding HFIP to EDA/Ar gas. As the EDA/HFIP concentration in EDA/HFIP/Ar increases, the etch rate of copper thin films decreases, whereas the etch profile is improved. In the EDA/HFIP/Ar gas mixture, the optimal ratio of EDA to HFIP is investigated. In addition, the etch parameters including ICP source power, dc-bias voltage, process pressure are varied to examine the etch characteristics. Optical emission spectroscopy results show that among all species, [CH], [CN] and [H] are the main species in the EDA/HFIP/Ar plasma. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicate the formation of CuCN compound and C-N-H-containing polymers during the etching process, leading to a good etch profile. Finally, anisotropic etch profiles of the copper thin films patterned with 150 nm scale are obtained in EDA/HFIP/Ar gas mixture.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) based transparent conducting oxides (TCO) thin films, are used in many applications such as solar cells, flat panel displays, and LEDs due to their wide bandgap nature and excellent electrical properties. In the present work, fluorine and aluminium-doped ZnO targets are prepared and thin films are deposited on soda-lime glass substrate using a RF magnetron sputtering unit. The aluminium concentration is fixed at 2 wt%, and the fluorine concentration is adjusted between 0 to 2.0 wt% with five different concentrations, namely, Al2ZnO98(AZO), F0.5AZO97.5(FAZO1), F1AZO97(FAZO2), F1.5AZO96.5(FAZO3), and F2AZO96(FAZO4). Thin films are deposited with an RF power of 40 W and working pressure of 5 m Torr at 270 oC. The morphological analysis performed for the thin film reveals that surface roughness decreases in FAZO1 and FAZO2 samples when doped with a small amount of fluorine. Further, optical and electrical properties measured for FAZO1 sample show average optical transmissions of over 89 % in the visible region and 82.5 % in the infrared region, followed by low resistivity and sheet resistance of 3.59 × 10−4 Ωcm and 5.52 Ω/sq, respectively. In future, these thin films with excellent optoelectronic properties can be used for thin-film solar cell and other optoelectronics applications.

We report the structural characterization and electric heating performance of carbon thin films (CTFs), which were prepared from negative-type SU-8 photoresist by deep UV exposure and following carbonization. The prepared CTFs were found to have pseudo-graphitic carbon structures containing partially graphite domains in the amorphous carbon matrix. The CTFs showed a very smooth surface morphology with a roughness of 0.42 nm. The 107 nm-thick CTFs exhibited an excellent electric heating performance by attaining a high maximal temperature of 207 °C and a rapid heating rate of 13.2 °C/s at an applied voltage of 30 V. Therefore, the CTFs prepared in this study can be applied as electrode materials for high-performance electric heaters.

AZO thin films are grown on a p-Si(111) substrate by RF magnetron sputtering. The characteristics of various thicknesses and heat treatment conditions are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Hall effect and room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The substrate temperature and the RF power during growth are kept constant at 400 ℃ and 200 W, respectively. AZO films are grown with a preferred orientation along the c-axis. As the thickness and the heat treatment temperature increases, the length of the c-axis decreases as Al3+ ions of relatively small ion radius are substituted for Zn2+ ions. At room temperature, the PL spectrum is separated into an NBE emission peak around 3.2 eV and a violet regions peak around 2.95 eV with increasing thickness, and the PL emission peak of 300 nm is red-shifted with increasing annealing temperature. In the XPS measurement, the peak intensity of Al2p and Oll increases with increasing annealing temperature. The AZO thin film of 100 nm thickness shows values of 6.5 × 1019 cm−3 of carrier concentration, 8.4 cm−2/V·s of mobility and 1.2 × 10−2 Ω·cm electrical resistivity. As the thickness of the thin film increases, the carrier concentration and the mobility increase, resulting in the decrease of resistivity. With the carrier concentration, mobility decreases when the heat treatment temperature increases more than 500 ℃.

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 %.