NTC (negative temperature coefficient) thermistors are semiconductor ceramics whose resistance decreases with increasing temperature, making them essential components in various temperature sensing applications. Typically, ceramic materials are sintered at high temperatures exceeding 1,150°C. However, in laminated devices incorporating internal electrodes, co-sintering can lead to cracking and mechanical failure due to mismatches in the thermal expansion coefficients between the ceramic layers and metal-based electrodes. Moreover, the use of noble metal electrodes increases production costs. To address these challenges, a low-temperature sintering approach is required. Previous studies have demonstrated that incorporating glass frit can reduce the sintering temperature of ceramics, although this often results in increased electrical resistance. In this study, NiMnCoO₄ (NMC) ceramics, as a representative NTC thermistor composition, were prepared with the addition of 10 wt% glass frit. To mitigate the resulting increase in resistivity, trace amounts (1 wt%) of various metal oxides, including CuO, ZnO, and MnO, were introduced. Among these, the addition of CuO notably decreased both the resistivity and B constant values. In contrast, MnO had little effect on resistivity, while ZnO led to an increase. With respect to the B25/85 constant, samples containing MnO and ZnO exhibited higher values than those without metal oxide additives. These findings indicate that the incorporation of 1 wt% CuO is effective in reducing the increased resistivity in NMC ceramics subjected to low-temperature sintering via glass frit addition.

NTC thermistors are essential components widely used for temperature sensing in various electronic sensor applications. However, conventional NTC thermistor ceramics typically require high sintering temperatures above 1150℃, necessitating the use of high-cost noble metal electrodes such as palladium (Pd) or platinum (Pt), which increases the overall manufacturing cost. In this study, low-melting-point oxides were successfully introduced as sintering aids to reduce the sintering temperature of NiMnCoO₄-based semiconducting ceramics. As the additive content increased, the B constant and average grain size exhibited an increasing trend, while the sample containing 5 wt% additives showed the lowest room-temperature resistivity. Furthermore, samples sintered at 1000℃ demonstrated slightly higher room-temperature resistivity and B constant values compared to those sintered at 1150℃. These results confirm that the addition of low-melting-point oxides is effective in lowering the sintering temperature of NiMnCoO₄ ceramics, suggesting the potential for reducing production costs and improving design flexibility in thermistor fabrication.

Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) of copper thin films patterned with SiO₂ hard masks was carried out using piperidine/O₂/Ar gas mixture. The etch rate, etch selectivity, and etch profile of copper thin films were investigated by varying gas concentration in piperidine/O₂/Ar gas mixture. In addition, the etch parameters including ICP RF power, DC-bias voltage to substrate, and process pressure were varied to examine the etch characteristics. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and optical emission spectroscopy were employed to elucidate the etch mechanism under piperidine/O₂/Ar gas chemistry. Finally, 150 nm-line patterned copper thin films were successfully etched using piperidine/ O₂/Ar etch gas under the optimized etch conditions.

Red phosphor in glasses (PiGs) for automotive light-emitting diode (LED) applications were fabricated with 620-nm CaAlSiN₃:Eu²⁺ phosphor and Pb-free silicate glass. PiGs were synthesized and mounted on high-power blue LED to make a monochromatic red LED. PiGs were simple mixtures of red phosphor and transparent glass powder. After being fabricated with uniaxial press and CIP at 300 MPa for 20 min, the green bodies were thermally treated at 550℃ for 30 min to produce high dense PiGs. As the phosphor content increased, the density of the sintered body decreased and PiGs containing 30% phosphor had a full sintered density. Changes in photoluminescence spectra and color coordination were studied by varying the thickness of plates that were mounted after optical polishing. As a result of the optical spectrum and color coordinates, PiG plate with 210 μm thickness showed a color purity of 99.7%. In order to evaluate the thermal stability, the thermal quenching characteristics were measured at temperatures of 30~150℃. The results showed that the red PIG plates were 30% more thermally stable compared to the AlGaInP red chip.

Highly photosensitive and wide bandgap amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO_x:H) films were developed at low temperature ranges (100~150℃) with employing plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition by optimizing H₂/SiH₄ gas ratio and CO₂ flow. Photosensitivity more than 10⁵ and wide bandgap (1.81~1.85 eV) properties were used for making the a-SiO_x:H thin film solar cells, which exhibited a high open circuit voltage of 0.987 V at the substrate temperature of 100℃. In addition, a power conversion efficiency of 6.87% for the cell could be improved up to 7.77% by employing a new n-type nc-SiO_x:H/ZnO:Al/Ag triple back-reflector that offers better short circuit currents in the thin film photovoltaic devices.

With trend of the miniaturization and the high-functionalizing of mobile communication system, low-loss microwave dielectric materials are widely used for high frequency communication components. These dielectric materials should be co-sintered with highly electric-conducting metal such as silver or copper for high-frequency and thick film process application. Sintering temperature of Ca[(Li_1/3Nb_2/3)_1-xTi_x]O_3-δ, which has excellent dielectric properties such as ε_r above 40, quality factor (Q·f₀) above 16,000 GHz, and TCF (temperature coefficient of resonant frequency) of -20~-10 ppm/℃, is reported as high as 1,175℃, so it could not be co-sintered with silver or copper. Therefore in this study, low-temperature melting glasses of Zn-B-O and Zn-B-Si-O systems were added to Ca[(Li_1/3Nb_2/3)_1-xTi_x]O_3-δ to lower its sintering temperature under 900℃ without losing excellency of dielectric properties. With 15 weight % of Zn-B-Si-O glass and sintered at 875℃, specimen showed density of 4.11 g/cm³,ε _r of 40.1, Q·f₀ of 4,869 GHz, and TCF of -5.9 ppm/℃. With 15 weight % of Zn-B-O glass and sintered at 87 5℃, specimen showed density of 4.14 g/cm³, ε_r of 40.4, Q·f₀ of 7,059 GHz, and TCF of -0.92 ppm/℃.

Convectional PZT based piezoelectric ceramics have to sinter at high temperature about 1,200℃ for their suitable electrical properties. However, some issues: low temperature sintering piezoelectric ceramic composition and reliable internal electrode, have recently attracted a great deal of interest as a highly efficient multi-layered piezoelectric ceramics. In order to optimize low temperature sintering conditions of thick-film PMN-PZ-PT ceramic, it was investigated sintering and piezoelectric properties according to the change of LiBiO₂contents. Thus, the superior piezoelectric properties were found at the pallet type PMN-PZ-PT optimized with low sintering processing at 925℃ including 7 wt% LiBiO₂sintering aid. Consequentially, we successfully manufactured thick-film PMN-PZ-PT ceramics, which had superior piezoelectric and dielectric properties, with 5 wt% of LiBiO₂sintering aid at temperature of 900℃.

In this work, [Pb(Mg1/2W1/2)0.03(Ni1/3Nb2/3)x(Zr0.5Ti0.5)0.97-xO3-BiFeO3] (x=0.02 to 0.12) composition ceramics were fabricated by the conventional soild state reaction method and their microstructure and piezoelectric properties were investigated according to PNN substitution. The addition of small amount of BiFeO3, Li2CO3, and CaCO3 were used in order to decrease the sintering temperature of the ceramics. The XRD (x-ray diffraction patterns) of all ceramics exhibited a perovskite structure. The sinterability of PMW-PNN-PZT-BF ceramics was remarkably improved using liquid phase sintering of CaCO3, Li2CO3. However, it was identified from of the X-ray diffraction patterns that the secondary phase formed in grain boundaries decreased the piezoelectric properties. According to the substitution of PNN, the crystal structure of ceramics is transformed gradually from a tetragonal to rhombohedral phase. The x=0.10 mol PNN-substituted PMW-PNN-PZT-BF ceramics sintered at 920 showed the optimum values of piezoelectric constant(d33), piezoelectric figure of merit(d33·g33), planar piezoelectric coupling coefficient(kp) and density : d33=566 [pC/N], g33=29.28 [10-3mV/N], d33·g33=16.57 [pm2/N], kp=0.61, density=7.82 [g/cm3], suitable forduplex ultrasonic sensor application.

In this study, (1-x)Pb(Mg1/2W1/2)0.03(Ni1/3Nb2/3)0.09(Zr0.5Ti0.5)0.88O3 + xCeMnO3 (x= 0∼0.02) ceramics were prepared by Columbite precursor method. The phase structure, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties were systematically investigated. It was found that PMW-PNN-PZT possessed superior electrical properties due to its composition close to the MPB (morphotropic phase boundary). Coercive electric field of 10.05 [kV/cm] and density of 7.88 [g/cm3] were obtained when the substitution amount of CeMnO3 is x=0.02. In contrast, specimens with x=0.01 showed the mechanical quality factor(Qm) of 1,091 and the electromechanical coupling factor(kp) of 0.613.

The interest in development on luminaires which are available up to -52℃ is surging as demands in vessels navigating a north pole route increase. A conventional incandescent lamp used invessels is operated stably at -52℃, but many countries including Korea have eliminated the use of incandescent lamps gradually because of its low luminous efficacy. In this paper, therefore, to develop the LED luminaires with high-efficiency, long lifetime that enables to substitute for incandescent lamp, it has studied about cryogenic characteristics of LED packages, bulbs, driving circuit and power supply. This experiments were carried out according to standards IEC 60945-8.4.1. Temperature range is from -60℃ to25℃, and the light output depending on ambient temperature. It showed that, based on 25℃, light output of a CFL decreased by 80% of CFL at -20℃ while each increased 12% of LED bulbs and 16∼19% of LED packages at -60℃.

We investigated the effect of excess CuO on the sintering behavior, ferroelectric, andpiezoelectric properties of lead-free Bi0.5(Na0.82K0.18)0.5TiO3 (BNKT) ceramics. The addition of excess CuOwas found to greatly contribute to the densification and grain growth, however, excess CuO over 3 mol%was precipitated at grain boundaries after sintering. BNKT with 1∼2 mol% CuO in excess sintered at975℃ showed piezoelectric properties comparable to those of unmodified BNKT sintered at 1,175℃. These results seem meaningful for its application to low cost multilayer actuators (MLAs) becauselow firing ceramics make it possible to apply less expensive base metals to the inner electrode ofMLAs.

Silicon nitride thin film deposited with Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition was treated by a nitrogen plasma generated by Inductively Coupled Plasma at room temperature. The treatment was investigated by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy on the surface at various RF source powers at two RF bias powers. The amount of hydrogen was reduced and the surface roughness of the films was decreased remarkably after the plasma treatment. In order to understand the causes, we analyzed the plasma diagnostics by Optical Emission Spectroscopy and Double Langmuir Probe. Based on these analysis results, we show that the nitrogen plasma treatment was effective in the improving of the properties silicon nitride thin film for flexible display.

We investigated the characteristics of the silicon oxy-nitride and nitride films grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at the low temperature with a varying NH3/N2O mixing ratio and a fixed SiH4 flow rate. The deposition temperature was held at 150℃ which was the temperature compatible with the plastic substrate. The composition and bonding structure of the nitride films were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Nitrogen richness was confirmed with increasing optical band gap and increasing dielectric constant with the higher NH3 fraction. The leakage current density of the nitride films with a high NH3 fraction decreased from 8X10-9 to 9X10-11(A/cm2 at 1.5 MV/cm). This results showed that the films had improved electrical properties and could be acceptable as a gate insulator for thin film transistors by deposited with variable NH3/N2O mixing ratio.

In this paper, the low-temperature sintering of TiO2 is approached to solve the problem of high temperature sintering which decreases the interconnection between particles or between substrate and particle. TiO2 paste is prepared with Titanium (Ⅳ) isopropoxide as the precursor material and calcinate at different conditions (low temperature). In the results, since the changing of temperature and time of sintering, crystalline phase do not change and the intensities of anatase, rutile phase are higher. At 110℃, 7 h sintering condition, crystalline size of anatase and rutile phase are the smallest which are 13.07 and 17.47 nm, respectively. In addition, the highest zeta potential is about 32.77 mV and the repulsive force increases thus leading to the best of the dispersion characteristics between TiO2 particles. Futhermore, DSSCs at that condition exhibits the highest efficiency with the values of Voc, Jsc, FF and η are 0.69 V, 8.60 mA cm-2, 67.93% and 4.06%, respectively.

In this Paper, we have developed1 a low temperature process to make two type of Paste by using TIO2 nanoprticles(P25). The interconnections between substrate and TiO2 films or link between particles of free-binder Paste (FP1, FPZ, FP3) is very poor. Therefore, the Titanium(IV) isopropoxide was added to the TP paste to improve the interconnection. Electron transport time (Tt) and recombination time (Tr) are analyzed by IMPS (intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy) and INIVS (Intensity-modulated photovltage spectroscopy). In the results, Tt of TP paste based DSSCs (about 4.3×10-3) is faster than other samples. Tt is Ionger from 2.7×10-2 s of FP2 to 3.0×10-2 s of TP. A solar conversion efficiency (DSSCs) of TP 15 3.54% for an incident solar energy of 100 mw cm-2(meanwhile, 2. 70% for DSSCs With FP2). The c아1versioIl efficiency is increased by 1.3 times.

In this paper, experimental analyses have been performed to compare the electrical characteristics of n channel LT(low temperature) and HT(high temperature) poly-Si TFTs(polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors) on quartz substrate according to activated step annealing. The size of the particles step annealed at low temperature are bigger than high temperature poly-Si TFTs and measurements show that the electric characteristics those are transconductance, threshold voltage, electric effective mobility, on and off current of step annealed at LT poly-Si TFTs are high more than HT poly-Si TFT`s. Especially we can estimated the defect in the activated grade poly crystalline silicon and the grain boundary of LT poly-Si TFT have more high than HT poly-Si TFT`s due to high off electric current. Even though the size of particles of step annealed at low temperature, the electrical characteristics of LT poly-Si TFTs were investigated deterioration phenomena that is decrease on/off current ratio depend on high off current due to defects in active silicon layer.

A novel design of gas sensor using Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films which are deposited on low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates is presented. The LTCC substrates with thickness of 400 μm are fabricated by laminating 12 green tapes which consist of alumina and glass particle in an organic binder. The GZO thin films with different thickness are deposited on LTCC substrates, by RF magnetron sputtering method. The microstructure and sensing properties of GZO gas sensing films are analyzed as a function of the film thickness. The films are well crystallized in the hexagonal (wurzite) structure with increasing thickness. The maximum sensitivity of 3.49 is obtained at 100 nm film thickness and the fastest 90% response time of 27.2 sec is obtained at 50 nm film thickness for the operating temperature of 400oC to the NO2 gas.