• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.78-82
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• 2023

A fabrication of smart windows with controllable visible light transmittance in three steps by using λ/2 retardation films based on a reactive mesogen (RM) material and polarizing films is demonstrated. The phase retardation films with a Δn·d value of λ/2 (λ: wavelength) convert the direction of a traveling light to the optical axis of the film symmetrically. In this work, the retardation characteristics according to the RM thickness were evaluated and henceλ/2 phase retardation film can be fabricated. The phase retardation film with Δn·d of 276.1 nm, which is close to λ/2 (=275 nm @550 nm), was fabricated. The light transmittance of a smart window with the structure of (polarizing film)/(glass)/(alignment layer)/(λ/2 retardation film) was measured in the transmission mode, half mode and blocking mode. The evaluation results show that the transmittance of the smart window can be controlled in three steps with 35.8%, 27.8%, and 18.2% at each mode, respectively. In addition, by fabricating a smart window with a size of 15×200 mm², the feasibility of use in various fields such as buildings and automobiles was verified.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1994.05a
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• pp.90-90
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• 1994

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.29-34
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• 2022

A fabrication process of smart windows with controllable visible light transmittance by using retardation films is proposed. The 𝛌/4-phase retardation films that can convert a linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light are achieved through photo-alignment layers and reactive mesogen (RM) coating process. Two sheets of the fabricated retardation films with different orientation angles induced to light transmission mode (45°/-45°) and light blocking mode (45°/45°) for visible wavelength. We evaluated retardation characteristics according to the thickness of the birefringent RM material and found out the optimal condition for the film with 𝚫n·d of 𝛌/4-phase. The proposed structure of the smart window exhibited the light blocking ratio improved by more than 20% in the visible wavelength (380 nm to 780 nm). Finally, it was confirmed that the feasibility of the window structure by applying to a prototype for a smart window with a size of 150 × 150 mm².

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.215-218
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• 2013

Vanadium dioxide ($VO_2$) is an attractive material for smart window applications where the transmittance of light can be automatically modulated from a transparent state to an opaque state at the critical temperature of ${\sim}68^{\circ}C$. Meanwhile, F : $SnO_2$ (F-doped $SnO_2$, FTO) glass is a transparent conductive oxide material that is widely used in solar-energy-related applications because of its excellent optical and electrical properties. Relatively high transmittance and low emissivity have been obtained for FTO-coated glasses. Tunable transmittance corresponding to ambient temperature and low emissivity can be expected from $VO_2$ films deposited onto FTO glasses. In this study, FTO glasses were applied for the deposition of $VO_2$ thin films by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. $VO_2$ thin films were also deposited on a Pyrex substrate for comparison. To decrease the phase transition temperature of $VO_2$, tungsten-doped $VO_2$ films were also deposited onto FTO glasses. The visible transmittance of $VO_2$/FTO was higher than that of $VO_2$/pyrex due to the increased crystallinity of the $VO_2$ thin film deposited on FTO and decreased interface reflection. Although the solar transmittance modulation of $VO_2$/FTO was lower than that of $VO_2$/pyrex, room temperature solar transmittance of $VO_2$/FTO was lower than that of $VO_2$/pyrex, which is advantageous for reflecting solar heat energy in summer.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2024

Using electrochromic devices (ECD), smart window films that can change the colors from tinted state into transparent state by applying an external voltage were manufactured. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film was used as a substrate instead of conventional glass, and ECD modules having a total thickness of about 50 ㎛ were manufactured by sequentially introducing an ITO/Ag/ITO electrode layer, a WO3/TIC2 organic discoloration layer, and a Nafion fluorine electrolyte layer. Through a series of sputtering, bar coating, and thermal compression processes, a large scale smart window with a horizontal and vertical length of more than 80 mm was manufactured. When DC 3.5 V was applied, the transmittance decreased from 54 % to 24 % and moreover the color change could be confirmed even with the naked eye. Reversible color change capability at low external voltage implies that external sunlight can be selectively blocked which is effective in terms of energy saving.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.275-280
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• 2022

An all-solid-state electrochromic film was fabricated by laminating tungsten oxide (WO₃) and nickel oxide (NiO) thin films deposited by a reactive DC magnetron sputtering on flexible ITO films. The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the crystal structure, microstructure, optical properties, and electrochromic properties of WO₃ and NiO thin films were investigated. WO₃ and NiO films showed the best electrochromic properties under the flow of Ar:O₂=80:20 and Ar:O₂=90:10, respectively. The EC film fabricated with an optimized WO₃ and NiO films showed a high coloration efficiency, a fast response time, and a stable optical modulation. It is expected that flexible EC window films will pave the way for the next-generation energy-saving windows.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.410.1-410.1
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• 2016

Vanadium dioxide ($VO_2$) is a well-known material that exhibits a metal-semiconductor transition at 340 K, with drastic change of transmittance at NIR region. However, $VO_2$ based thermochromics accompany with low visible transmittance value and unfavorable color (brownish yellow). Herein, we demonstrate the adjustment of visible transmittance of $VO_2$ thin film by nanosphere template assisted patterning process using sol-gel method. 2-Dimenstional honeycomb shape was varied as function of diameter of nanosphere and coating conditions. The morphological geometry of the films was investigated by FE-SEM and AFM. Result shows that inversed shape of nanosphere was formed clearly and pattern width was altered according to the bead size. This structure creates the geometrical blank area from the position of nanosphere which improves the optical transmittance at the visible region. Moreover, such patterned $VO_2$ thin film not only maintains the optical switching efficiency, but also generate the gorgeous scattering effect which presumably support the glazing application.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.715-722
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• 1994

Thermochromic $Vo_{2}$ thin films for "smart windows" were prepared by electron beam evaporationmethod on a glass substrate and spectral transmittances were examined by spectrophotometer. Substratetemperature of $300^{\circ}C$ and annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ were found to be effective to give athermochromism on $Vo_{2}$ thin film due to the crystallization of the thin film. Furthermore, annealing of$Vo_{2}$ thin film affected the spectral transmittance and reduced the transmittance significantly at wavelengthbelow 500nm.$V_{0.95}W_{0.05}O_{2}$ thin film doped by 5 atomic percent of W showed semiconductor-metal transition around 0$0^{\circ}V_{0.995}W_{0.005}O_{2}$thin film which contains 0.5 atomic percent Sn showed therrnochrornisrn when it was depositedat substrate temperature of $300^{\circ}C$ and annealed at $450^{\circ}C$ for 5 hours in argon gas. The transitiontemperature of the $V_{0.995}W_{0.005}O_{2}$ thin film was found to be about $25^{\circ}C$ and showed some hysterisis. and showed some hysterisis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.390.2-390.2
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• 2016

Single crystalline indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanowires (NWs) were grown by sputtering method. A thin Ni film of 5 nm was coated before ITO sputtering. Thermal treatment forms Ni nanoparticles, which act as templates to diffuse Ni into the sputtered ITO layer to grow single crystalline ITO NWs. Highly optical transparent photoelectric devices were realized by using a transparent metal-oxide semiconductor heterojunction by combining of p-type NiO and n-type ZnO. A functional template of ITO nanowires was applied to this transparent heterojunction device to enlarge the light-reactive surface. The ITO NWs/n-ZnO/p-NiO heterojunction device provided a significant high rectification ratio of 275 with a considerably low reverse saturation current of 0.2 nA. The optical transparency was about 80% for visible wavelengths, however showed an excellent blocking UV light. The nanostructured transparent heterojunction devices were applied for UV photodetectors to show ultra fast photoresponses with a rise time of 8.3 mS and a fall time of 20 ms, respectively. We suggest this transparent and super-performing UV responser can practically applied in transparent electronics and smart window applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.407.1-407.1
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• 2016

Electrochromism is defined as a phenomenon which involves persistently repeated change of optical properties between bleached state and colored state by simultaneous injection of electrons and ions, sufficient to induce an electrochemical redox process. Due to this feature, considerable progress has been made in the synthesis of electrochromic (EC) materials, improvements of EC properties in EC devices such as light shutter, smart window and variable reflectance mirrors etc. Among the variable EC materials, solid-state inorganics in particular, metal oxide semiconducting materials such as nickel oxide (NiO) have been investigated extensively. The NiO that is an anodic EC material is of special interest because of high color contrast ratio, large dynamic range and low material cost. The high performance EC devices should present the use of standard industrial production techniques to produce films with high coloration efficiency, rapid switching speed and robust reversibility. Generally, the color contrast and the optical switching speed increase drastically if high surface area is used. The structure of porous thin film provides a specific surface area and can facilitate a very short response time of the reaction between the surface and ions. The large variety of methods has been used to prepare the porous NiO thin films such as sol-gel process, chemical bath deposition and sputtering. Few studies have been reported on NiO thin films made by using sol-gel method. However, compared with dry process, wet processes that have the questions of the durability and the vestige of bleached state color limit the thin films practical use, especially when prepared by sol-gel method. In this study, we synthesis the porous NiO thin films on the fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass by using sputtering and anodizing method. Also we compared electrical and optical properties of NiO thin films prepared by sol gel. The porous structure is promised to be helpful to the properties enhancement of the EC devices.