• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.257-263
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• 2006

We have investigated the effect of silver added to Cu films on the microstructure evolution, resistivity, surface morphology, stress relaxation temperature, and adhesion properties of Cu(Ag) alloy thin films deposited on Mo glue layer upon annealing. In addition, pure Cu films deposited on Mo has been annealed and compared. The results show that the silver in Cu(Ag) thin films control the grain growth through the coarsening of its precipitates upon annealing at $300^{\circ}C{\sim}600^{\circ}C$ and the grain growth of Cu reveals the activation energy of 0.22 eV, approximately one third of activation energy for diffusion of Ag dopant along the grain boundaries in Cu matrix (0.75 eV). This indicates that the grain growth can be controlled by Ag diffusion along the grain boundaries. In addition, the grain growth can be a major contributor to the decreased resistivity of Cu(Ag) alloy thin films at the temperature of $300^{\circ}C{\sim}500^{\circ}C$, and decreases the resistivity of Cu(Ag) thin films to $1.96{\mu}{\Omega}-cm$ after annealing at $600^{\circ}C$. Furthermore, the addition of Ag increases the stress relaxation temperature of Cu(Ag) thin films, and thus leading to the enhanced resistance to the void formation, which starts at $300^{\circ}C$ in the pure Cu thin films. Moreover, Cu(Ag) thin films shows the increased adhesion properties, possibly resulting from the Ag segregating to the interface. Consequently, the Cu(Ag) thin films can be used as a metallization of advanced TFT-LCDs.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.113-116
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• 2017

100 nm thick Sn doped ZnO (ZTO) single layer, 15 nm thick Ag buffered ZTO (ZTO/Ag), Ag intermediated ZTO (ZTO/Ag/ZTO) and Ag capped ZTO (Ag/ZTO) films were prepared on poly-carbonate (PC) substrates by RF and DC magnetron sputtering and then the influence of the Ag thin film on the optical and electrical properties of ZTO films were investigated. As deposited ZTO thin films show the visible transmittance of 81.8%, while ZTO/Ag/ZTO trilayer films show a higher visible transmittance of 82.5% in this study. From the observed results, it can be concluded that the 15 nm thick Ag interlayer enhances the opto-electrical performance of ZTO thin films effectively for use as flexible transparent conducting oxides films in various opto-electrical applications.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.121-124
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• 2016

ZnSnO₃ (ZTO)/Ag/ ZnSnO₃ (ZTO) trilayer films were prepared on glass substrates by radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. The electrical resistivity and optical transmittance of the films were investigated as a function of the Ag interlayer thickness. ZTO films with a 15 nm thick Ag interlayer show the highest average visible transmittance (83.2%) in the visible range. In this study, the highest figure of merit (2.1×10⁻² Ω cm) is obtained with the ZTO 50 nm/Ag 15 nm/ZTO 50 nm films. The enhanced optical and electrical properties of ZTO films with a 15 nm thick Ag interlayer are attributed to the crystallization of the Ag interlayer, as supported by the distinct XRD pattern of the Ag (111) peaks. From the observed results, higher optical and electrical performance of the ZTO film with a 15 nm thick Ag interlayer seems to make a promising alternative to conventional transparent conductive ITO films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.257-265
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• 2002

A stoichiometric mixture of evaporating materials for AgInS$_2$ single crystal thin films was prepared from horizontal furnace. To obtain the single crystal thin films, AgInS$_2$ mixed crystal was deposited on thoroughly etched semi-insulating GaAs(100) substrate by the Hot Wall Epitaxy(HWE) system. The source and substrate temperatures were 680 $^{\circ}C$ and 410 $^{\circ}C$, respectively. The crystalline structure of the single crystal thin films was investigated by the photoluminescence and double crystal X-ray diffraction(DCXD). The carrier density and mobility of AgInS$_2$ single crystal thin films measured from Hall effect by van der Pauw method are 9.35${\times}$10$\^$16/ cm$\^$-3/ and 294 $\textrm{cm}^2$/V$.$s at 293 K, respectively. From the optical absorption measurement, the temperature dependence of the energy band gap on AgInS$_2$ single crystal thin films was found to be E$\_$g/(T) : 2.1365 eV - (9.89 ${\times}$ 10$\^$-3/ eV) T$^2$/(2930 + T). After the as-grown AgInS$_2$ single crystal thin films was annealed in Ag-, S-, and In-atmospheres, the origin of point defects of AgInS$_2$ single crystal thin films has been investigated by using the photoluminescence(PL) at 10 K. The native defects of V$\_$AG/, V$\_$S/, Ag$\_$int/, and S$\_$int/ obtained from PL measurements were classified as a donors or acceptors type. And we concluded that the heat-treatment in the S-atmosphere converted AgInS$_2$ single crystal thin films to an optical p-type. Also, we confirmed that In in AgInS$_2$/GaAs did not form the native defects because In in AgInS$_2$ single crystal thin films did exist in the form of stable bonds.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.63-67
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• 2015

$TiO_2/Ag/TiO_2$ trilayer films were deposited with radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering onto the glass substrate to consider the influence of Ag interlayer on the optical properties of the films. The thickness of $TiO_2$ films was kept at 24 nm, while the thickness of Ag interlayer was varied as 5, 10, 15, and 20 nm. As-deposited $TiO_2$ single layer films show the optical transmittance of 66.7% in the visible wave-length region and the optical reflectance of 16.5%, while the $TiO_2$ films with a 15 nm thick Ag interlayer show the enhanced optical transmittance of 80.2% and optical reflectance of 77.8%. The carrier concentration was also influenced by Ag interlayer. The highest carrier concentration of $1.01{\times}10^{23}cm^{-3}$ was observed for a 15 nm thick Ag interlayer in $TiO_2/Ag/TiO_2$ films. The observed result means that an optimized Ag interlayer in $TiO_2/Ag/TiO_2$ films enhanced the structural and optical properties of the films.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.91-95
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• 2022

ZnO single layer (60 nm thick) and ZnO with Ag interlayer (ZnO/Ag/ZnO; ZAZ) films were deposited on the glass substrates by using radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) magnetron sputter to evaluate the effectiveness of Ag interlayer on the optical visible transmittance and the conductivity of the films. In the ZAZ films, the thickness of ZnO layers was kept at 30 nm, while the Ag thickness was varied as 5, 10, 15 and 20 nm. In X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, ZnO films show the (002) diffraction peak and ZAZ films also show the weak ZnO (002) peak and Ag (111) diffraction peak. As a thickness of Ag interlayer increased to 20 nm, the grain size of the Ag films enlarged to 11.42 nm and the optical band gap also increased from 4.15 to 4.22 eV with carrier concentration increasing from 4.9 to 10.5×10²¹ cm^-3. In figure of merit measurements, the ZAZ films with a 10 nm thick Ag interlayer showed the higher figure of merit of 4.0×10^-3 Ω^-1 than the ZnO single layer and another ZAZ films. From the experimental result, it is assumed that the Ag interlayer enhanced effectively the opto-electrical performance of the ZAZ films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.3-6
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• 2002

Effect of Ag additive element on microstructure of $Fe_{87-x}Zr_7B_6Ag_x$, magnetic thin films on Si(001) substrates has been investigated using Transmission Electron Microscopy(TEM) and X-ray Diffraction(XRD). All samples with additive Ag element were made by DC-sputtering and subjected to annealing treatments of $300^{\circ}C{\siim}600^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr. TEM and XRD showed that perfectly amorphous state in Ag-free Fe-based films was observed in as-deposited condition. The as-deposited Fe-based films with the presence of Ag constituent have a mixture of Fe-based amorphous and nano-sized Ag crystalline phases. In this case, additive element, Ag was soluted into Fe-based matrix. With the increase in additive element, Ag, insoluble nano-crystalline Ag particles were dispersed in the Fe-based amorphous matrix. Crystallization of Fe-based amorphous phase in the matrix of $Fe_{82}Zr_7B_6Ag_5$ thin films occurred at an annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$. Upon annealing, the amorphous-Ag crystalline state of Fe-Zr-B-Ag films was transformed into the mixture of Ag crystalline phase + Fe-based amorphous phase + ${\alpha}$-Fe cluster followed by the crystallization process of ${\alpha}$-Fe nanocrystalline + Ag crystalline phases.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.661-668
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• 2002

A study was made to examine the electrical, compositional, structural and morphological properties of Ag thin films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering in $O_2$ atmosphere with deposition temperature from room temperature to 15$0^{\circ}C$ using in-line sputter system. The Ag films deposited at temperature above $100^{\circ}C$ in oxygen atmosphere gave a similar specific resistivity to and even lower oxygen content than those deposited using pure Ar sputter gas The Ag films deposited with pure Ar gas was mainly composed of crystallites with [111] preferred orientation, while, for those deposited in oxygen atmosphere, more than 50% of the volume was composed of crystallites with [100] orientation. The difference in the micro structure did not cause any difference in the specific resistivity of Ag films. The results showed that the transparent conducting oxide films and the Ag films could be processed sequentially in the same deposition chamber with careful control of deposition temperature, which might result in a cost reduction for constructing the large scale in-line deposition system.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2003

Properties of Ag thick films fabricated by using low temperature curable silver pastes were investigated. Ag pastes were consisted of polymer resins and silver powders. Ag pastes were used for conductive or fixing materials between board and various electrical and electronic devices. Low temperature curable Ag pastes have some advantages over high temperature curable types. In cases of chip mounting, soldering properties were required for screen printed Ag thick films. In this study, four types of Ag pastes were fabricated with different compositions. Screen printed Ag thick films on alumina substrates were fabricated at various curing temperatures and times. Thickness, resistivity, adhesive strength and solderability of fabricated Ag thick films were characterized. Finally, Ag thick films produced using Ag pastes, sample A and B, cured at $150^{\circ}C$ for longer than 6 h and $180^{\circ}C$ for longer than 2 h, and $150^{\circ}C$ for longer than 1 h and $180^{\circ}C$ for 1 h, respectively, showed low resistivities of $10^{-4}$ $∼10^{-5}$ Ωcm and good adhesive strength of 1∼5 Mpa. Soldering properties of those Ag thick films with curing temperatures at solder of 62Sn/36Pb/3Ag were also investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.274-284
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• 2001

A stoichimetric mixture of evaporating materials for $AgInS_2$ single crystal thin films was prepared from horizontal furnace. To obtain the single crystal thin films. $AgInS_2$mixed crystal was deposited on thorughly etched semi-insulating GaAs(100) substrate by the Hot wall Epitaxy (HWE) system. The source and substrate temperatures were $680^{\circ}C$ and $410^{\circ}C$, respectively. The crystalline structure of the single thin films was investigated by the photoluminescence and double crystal X-ray diffraction(DCXD). The carrier density and mobility of $AgInS_2$ single crystal the films measured from Hall effect by van der Pauw method are $9.35\times 10^{16}/\terxtm{cm}^3$ and $294\terxtm{cm}^2$/V.s at 293 K, respectively. From the optical absorption measurement the temperature dependence of the energy band gap on AgInS$_2$ single crystal thin film was found to be $E_g$(T)= 2.1365eV-($9.89\times 10^{-3}eV/T^2$/(2930+T). After the as-grown $AgInS_2$ single crystal thin films was annealed in $Ag^-S^-$ and In-atmospheres, the origin of point defects of AgInS$_2$ single crystal the films has been investigated by using the photoluminescence(PL) at 10K. The native defects of $V_{Ag},V_s, Ag_{int}$ and $S_{int}$ int/ obtained from PL measurements were classified as a donors or acceptors type. And we concluded that the heat-treatment in the S-atmosphere converted $AgInS_2$ single crystal thin films to an optical p-type. Also, we confirmed that In in $AgInS_2$ /GaAs did not form the native defects because In is $AgInS_2$ single crystal thin films did exist in the form of stable bonds.