Understanding the structure-property relationship in functional materials is crucial as microstructural features such as nano-precipitates, phase boundary, grain boundary segregation, and grain boundary phases play a key role in their functional properties. Atom probe tomography (APT) is an advanced analytical technique that allows for the three-dimensional (3D) mapping of atomic distributions and the precise determination of local chemical compositions in materials. Moreover, it offers sub-nanometer spatial resolution and chemical sensitivity at the tens of parts per million (ppm) level. Owing to its unique capabilities, this technique has been employed to uncover the 3D elemental distributions in a wide range of materials, including alloys, semiconductors, nanomaterials, and even biomaterials. In this paper, various kinds of examples are introduced for elucidating structure-property relationships on functional materials by utilizing the atom probe tomography.

The templated grain growth (TGG) method has gained significant attention for its ability to produce highly textured piezoelectric ceramics with significantly enhanced performance, making it a promising method for transducer and actuator applications. However, the texturing process using the TGG method requires the optimization of multiple steps, which can be challenging for beginners in this field. Therefore, in this tutorial, we provide an overview of the TGG method mainly based on our previous published works, including its various processing steps such as synthesizing anisotropic-shaped templates with size and size distribution control using the molten salt synthesis technique, tape casting, and identifying key factors for proper alignment of the templates in the target matrix system. Our goal is to provide a resource that can serve as a basic reference for researchers and engineers looking to improve their understanding and utilization of the TGG method for producing textured piezoelectric ceramics.

Piezoelectric actuators, which utilize piezoelectric crystals or ceramics, are commonly used in precision positioning applications, offering high-speed response and precise control. However, the use of low-performance ceramics and expensive single crystals is limiting their versatile use in the actuator market, necessitating the development of both high-performance and cost-effective piezoelectric materials capable of delivering higher forces and displacements. The use of textured Pb (lead)-based piezoelectric ceramics formed by so-called templated grain growth method has been identified as a promising strategy to address the performance and cost issue. This review article provides insights into recent advances in texturing Pb-based piezoelectric ceramics for improved performance in actuation applications. We discussed the relevant issues in detail focusing on current challenges and emerging trends in the textured piezoelectric ceramics for their reliability and performance in actuator applications. We discussed in detail focusing on current challenges and emerging trends of textured piezoelectric ceramics for their reliability and performance in actuator applications. In conclusion, the article provides an outlook on the future direction of textured piezoelectric ceramics in actuator applications, highlighting the potential for further success in this field.

Energy storage capacitors based on dielectric ceramics with superior polarization properties and dielectric constant can provide much higher output power density due to their very fast energy charging/discharging rates, which are particularly suitable for operating pulsed-power devices. For an outstanding energy storage performance of dielectric capacitor, a large recoverable energy density could be derived by introducing a slim polarization-electric field hysteresis loop into dielectric materials by various technical approaches. Many research teams have explored various dielectric capacitor technologies to demonstrate high output power density and ultrafast charging/discharging behavior. This article reviews the recent research progress in high-performance dielectric capacitors for pulsed-power electronic applications.

AGZO thin films were deposited on glass substrates using RF magnetron sputtering system under Ar flow rates, and their structural, electrical, and optical properties were analyzed systematically. As a result of the XRD pattern, the peak of the (002) (2θ≈33.7˚) orientation was observed, and it was found to have a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The sheet resistance of Ar 5 sccm was 3.073×10² Ω/sq and showed the best electrical properties because of the improvement of mobility due to the increase of the grain size and the variation of RMS roughness. In addition, the average transmittance was more than 90% for all samples, which demonstrated good optical properties. It is expected that the TCO characteristics can be improved by controlling Ar flow rates, and this will increase the efficiency of photoelectronic devices such as OLED and solar cells.

In this study, ZnO:Ga thin films were fabricated on a glass substrate using various Ar flows by an RF magnetron sputter system at room temperature. The dependencies of Ar flow on different properties were investigated. An appropriate control over the Ar flow led to the formation of a high-quality thin film. The ZnO:Ga films were formed as a hexagonal wurtzite structure with high (002) preferential orientation. The films exhibited a typical columnar microstructure and a smooth top face. The average transmittance was 85~89% within the visible area. By decreasing the Ar flow, the sheet resistance was decreased due to an increase in the grain size and a decrease in the root mean square roughness. The lowest sheet resistance of 86 Ω/□ was obtained at room temperature for the 40 sccm Ar flow.

BaTiO₃ powder was synthesized by a solid-state reaction using BaCO₃ and TiO₂. Different calcination temperatures (800℃, 850℃, 900℃, and 950℃) were set to investigate their effects on the properties of BaTiO₃ powder. The synthesized BaTiO₃ phase was confirmed to be a single phase by XRD, and the tetragonality (c/a) and crystallite size were calculated. Thereafter, each calcinated BaTiO₃ was sintered at five different sintering temperatures (1,100℃, 1,150℃, 1,200℃, 1,250℃, and 1,300℃), and the tetragonality, density, porosity, dielectric constant, and grain size were measured. As the calcination temperature increased, the tetragonality and crystallite size also increased, to 1.008 and 66 nm, respectively, at 950℃. Moreover, most pellets showed increased density, dielectric constant, and tetragonality as the sintering temperature increased up to 1,250℃; the same parameters slightly decreased at 1,300℃. It is noteworthy that the tetragonality of BaTiO₃ at 1,250℃ exhibits a very high c/a value of 1.0084. In addition, the grain size and dielectric constant measured near the Curie temperature increased as the sintering temperature increased.

Grain boundaries play a major role in determining device performance, particularly of polysilicon-based photodetectors. Through the post-annealing of as-deposited polysilicon and then, the analysis of electric behavior for a metal-polysilicon-metal (MSM) photodetector, we were able to identify the influence of grain boundaries. A modified model of polysilicon grain boundaries in the MSM structure is presented, which uses a crystalline-interfacial layer-SiO_x layer- interfacial layer-crystalline system that is similar to the Si-SiO₂ system in MOS device. Hydrogen passivation was achieved through a hydrogen ion implantation process and was used to passivate the defects at both interfacial layers. The thin SiO_x layer at the grain boundary can enhance the photosensitivity of an MSM photodetector by decreasing the dark current and increasing the light absorption.

In this study, we performed the deposition of Al thin film using a DC magnetron sputtering method. To evaluate electrical and structural properties, the growth conditions were changed in terms of two functions, namely, sputtering power ranging from 41.6 to 216 W and film growth rate ranging from 5.35 to 26.39 nm/min. The growth rate and the microstructure were characterized by a scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The plane of crystalline growth showed that the preferential (111) direction and defects due to the grain boundary increased with DC power. The resistivity of the Al film over 50 nm showed a constant value by horizontal grain growth. Our results can be applicable for the preparation of nano-templates for anodic aluminum oxide.

In this study, we investigated the crystal defects and grain boundary properties in a ZZCCC (ZnO-Zn₂BiVO₆-Co₃O₄-Cr₂O₃-CaCO₃) varistor, with the liquid-phase sintering aid Zn₂BiVO₆ developed by our laboratory. The ZZCCC varistor sintered at 1,200℃ exhibited excellent nonlinear current-voltage characteristics (α=63), with oxygen vacancy (V₀^·; 0.35 eV) as a main defect, and an apparent activation energy of 1.1 eV with an electrically single grain boundary. Therefore, among the various additives to improve the electrical properties of ZnO varistors, if Zn₂BiVO₆ is used as a liquid phase sintering aid, it will be ideal to use Co for the oxygen vacancy and Ca for the electrically single grain boundary. This will allow the good properties of ZnO varistors to be maintained up to high sintering temperatures.

Liquid phases in ZnO varistors cause more complex phase development and microstructure, which makes the control of electrical properties and reliability more difficult. Therefore, we have investigated 2 mol% CaCO₃ doped ZnO-Co₃O₄-Cr₂O₃-La₂O₃ (ZCCLCa) bulk ceramics as one of the compositions without liquid phase sintering additive. The results were as follows: when CaCO₃ is added to ZCCLCa (644 Ωcm) acting as a simple ohmic resistor, CaO does not form a secondary phase with ZnO but is mostly distributed in the grain boundary and has excellent varistor characteristics (high nonlinear coefficient α＝78, low leakage current of 0.06 μA/㎠, and high insulation resistance of 1×10¹¹ Ωcm). The main defects Zn_i^·· (AS: 0.16 eV, IS & MS: 0.20 eV) and V˙_o (AS: 0.29 eV, IS & MS: 0.37 eV) were found, and the grain boundaries had 1.1 eV with electrically single grain boundary. The resistance of each defect and grain boundary decreases exponentially with increasing the measurement temperature. However, the capacitance (0.2 nF) of the grain boundary was ~1/10 lower than that of the two defects (~3.8 nF, ~2.2 nF) and showed a tendency to decrease as the measurement temperature increased. Therefore, ZCCLCa varistors have high sintering temperature of 1,200℃ due to lack of liquid phase additives, but excellent varistor characteristics are exhibited, which means ZCCLCa is a good candidate for realizing chip type or disc type commercial varistor products with excellent performance.

Herein, for the quantitative analysis of the arc beads related to electric fire, we used electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), a measuring device for grain orientation of materials, we compared and analyzed the surface texture of primary and secondary beads according to the difference in cooling rate at ambient temperature. This analysis revealed that the primary beads showed similar distribution at both low and high angles, while the secondary beads showed a higher distribution at low angles than at high angles. Thus, EBSD can be used for quantitative analysis of the beads and can be applied to identify beads in the future.

Alumina added with Mn3O4 up to 7.5 cat% of Mn was prepared by conventional ceramic processing, and the sintering behavior and the optical properties of which were studied as functions of Mn content. Densification and grain growth of alumina were enhanced by Mn addition up to 0.75 cat% but was leveled off at higher concentrations. XRD revealed that Al₂MnO₄(galaxite) was formed as a second phase in the specimens with more than 0.75 cat% of Mn. Thus it is believed that either the solid solution effect of Mn or the Zener effect of Al2MnO4 becomes predominant in the sintering of Mn-added Al₂O₃ according to the additive concentration. UV-VIS reflectivity(SCI) spectra of Mn-added Al₂O₃ consisted of smooth bottoms in 300~550 nm wavelength range and plateaus at wavelengths longer than 650 nm. The reflectivity spectrum continuously moved downward, and the specimen color became darker and thicker with increasing Mn content. The CIELAB color change with respect to standard white was also dependent on the amount of Mn added: TRIANGLE L^{*} (D65) negatively increased and TRIANGLE E _{ab} ^{*} (D65) positively increased with increasing Mn content, probably due to Mn substitution to Al and/or the mixing effect of black Al₂MnO₄ as a second phase.

Sintering and microwave dielectric properties of Zn2-2xSil+xO4 (x=O-0.10) ceramics were investigated. The secondary phase of ZnO was observed in the specimen for x=O whereas SiO2 was detected in that for x=0.05. The composition of Zn2SiO4 might be close to x=0.02, i.e., Zn1.96Si1.02O4; the ratio of Zn/Si is 1.922. The insufficient grain growth was observed in the specimen of x=O. For the specimens of x≥0.05 , the grain growth sufficiently occurred through the liquid phase sintering. The value of quality factor of all specimens was dependent on the x value, i.e., the ratio of Zn/Si, whereas that of dielectric constant was independent. Relative density, dielectric constant, and quality factor (Q×f) of the specimen for x=0.05, i.e., Znl.9Si1.05O4, sintered at 1,400℃ were 96.5%, 6.43, and 115,166 GHz, respectively.

The effect of co-sputtering condition on the structural properties of Mg_xZn_1-xO thin films grown by RF magnetron co-sputtering system was investigated for manufacturing UV LED. Mg_xZn_1-xO thin films were grown with ZnO and MgO target varying RF power. Structural properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The Mg_xZn_1-xO thin films have sufficient crystallinity on the high ZnO power. The EDS analyzed showed that the Mg content in the Mg_xZn_1-xO films decreased from 3.99 to 24.27 at.% as the RF power of ZnO target increased. The Mg content in the Mg_xZn_1-xO films could be controlled by co-sputtering power.

In this study, we have investigated the effects of Mn and Co co-doping on defects, J-E curves and grain boundary characteristics of ZnO-Bi2O3 (ZB) varistor. Admittance spectra and dielectric functions show two bulk defects of Zn ·· (0.17∼0.18 eV) and V· (0.30∼0.33 eV). From J-E characteristics the nonlinear coefficient (α) and resistivity (ρgb) of pre-breakdown region decreased as 30 to 24 and 5.1 to 0.08 GΩcm with sintering temperature, respectively. The double Schottky barrier of grain boundaries in ZB(MCo) (ZnO-Bi2O3-Mn3O4-Co3O4) could be electrochemically single type. However, its thermal stability was slightly disturbed by ambient oxygen because the apparent activation energy of grain boundaries was changed from 0.64 eV at lower temperature to 1.06 eV at higher temperature. It was revealed that a co-doping of Mn and Co in ZB reduced the heterogeneity of the barrier in grain boundaries and stabilized the barrier against an ambient temperature (α-factor= 0.136).

In this study, we investigated the effects of Mn dopant (0.1∼3.0 at% Mn3O4 sintered at 100 0℃ for 1 h in air) on the bulk trap (i.e. defect) and grain boundary properties of ZnO, ZM(0.1∼3.0) using admittance spectroscopy (AS), and impedance-modulus spectroscopy (IS & MS). As a result, three kinds of defect were found below the conduction band edge of ZnO as 0.09∼0.14 eV (attractive coulombic center), 0.22∼25 eV (Zn¨(i)), and 0.32∼0.33 eV (V`o). The oxygen vacancy increased with Mn doping. In ZM, an electrically single grain boundary as double Schottky barrier was formed with 0.82∼1.0 eV of activation energies by IS & MS. We also find out that the barriers of grain boundary of Mn-doped ZnO (α-factor=0.13) were more stabilized and homogenized with temperature compared to pure ZnO.

In this paper, we investigated an anomalous hump phenomenon under the positive bias stress in p-type LTPS TFTs. The devices with inferior electrical performance also show larger hump phenomenon. which can be explained by the sub-channel induced from trapped electrons under thinner gate oxide region. We can confirm that the devices with larger hump have larger interface trap density (Dit) and grain boundary trap density (Ntrap) extracted by low-high frequency capacitance method and Levinson-Proano method, respectively. From the C-V with I-V transfer characteristics, the trapped electrons causing hump seem to be generated particularly from the S/D and gate overlapped region. Based on these analysis, the major cause of an anomalous hump phenomenon under the positive bias stress in p-type poly-Si TFTs is explained by the GIDL occurring in the S/D and gate overlapped region and the traps existing in the channel edge region where the gate oxide becomes thinner, which can be inferred by the fact that the magnitude of the hump is dependent on the average trap densities.

Poly Si TFTs (poly silicon thin film transistors) with p channel those are annealed HT (high t emperature) with gate poly crystalline silicon and LT (low temperature) with metal gate electrode were fabricated on quartz substrate using the analyzed data and compared according to the activated grade silicon thin films and the size of device channel. The electrical characteristics of HT poly-Si TFTs increased those are the on current, electron mobility and decrease threshold voltage by the quality of particles of active thin films annealed at high temperature. But the on/off current ratio reduced by increase of the off current depend on the hot carrier applied to high gate voltage. Even though the size of the particles annealed at low temperature are bigger than HT poly-Si TFTs due to defect in the activated grade poly crystal silicon and the grain boundary, the characteristics of LT poly-Si TFTs were investigated deterioration phenomena those are decrease the electric off current, electron mobility and increase threshold voltage. The results of transconductance show that slope depend on the quality of particles and the amplitude depend on the size of the active silicon particles.

This research, integratable capacitive relative humidity sensor was produced using polyimide on glass substrate. Also, at the time of upper electrode formation, upper electrode grain size was affected by giving changes to sputtering condition. Through this analyzing electrical characteristics affect from capacitive relative humidity sensor was possible. Capacitance of capacitive relative humidity sensor was 330 pF, linearity of 0.6%FS and it showed less than 3% of low hysterisis. Specially, hysterisis was affected more from interface than interstitial. Also was affected by the grain size which is one of the formation condition of upper electrode.