Single-layer graphene is grown directly on Ti-buffered SiO₂ at 100℃. As a result of the AFM measurement of the Ti buffer layer, the roughness of approximately 0.2 nm has been improved. Moreover, the Raman measurement of graphene grown on it shows that the D/G intensity ratio is extremely small, approximately 0.01, and there are no defects. In addition, the 2D/G intensity ratio had a value of approximately 2.1 for single-layer graphene. The sheet resistance is also 89 Ω/□, demonstrating excellent characteristics. The problem was solved by using graphene and a lift-off patterning method. Low-temperature direct-grown graphene does not deteriorate after the patterning process and can be used for device and micro-patterning research.

Inorganic-organic hybrid perovskite solar cells have demonstrated considerable improvements, reaching 25.5% of certified power conversion efficiency in 2020 from 3.8% in 2009. In normal structured perovskite solar cells, TiO₂ electrontransporting materials require heat treatment process at a high temperature over 450℃ to induce crystallinity. Inverted perovskite solar cells have also been studied to exclude the additional thermal process by using [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as a non-oxide electron-transporting layer. However, the drawback of the PCBM layer is a charge accumulation at the interface between PCBM and a metal electrode. The impact of bathocuproin (BCP) buffer layer on photovoltaic performance has been investigated herein to solve the problem of PCBM. 2-mM BCP-modified perovskite solar cells were observed to exhibit a maximum efficiency of 12.03% compared with BCP-free counterparts (5.82%) due to the suppression of the charge accumulation at the PCBM-Au interface and the resulting reduction of the charge recombination between perovskite and the PCBM layer.

ZnS was chemically deposited as a buffer layer alternative to CdS, for use as a Cd-free buffer layer in Cu(In_1-xGa_x)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells. The deposition of a thin film of ZnS was carried out by chemical bath deposition, following which the structural and optical properties of the ZnS layer were studied. For the experiments, zinc sulfate hepta-hydrate (ZnSO₄·7H₂O), thiourea (SC(NH₂)₂), and ammonia (NH₄OH) were used as the reacting agents. The mole concentrations of ZnSO₄ and SC(NH₂)₂ were fixed at 0.03 M and 0.8 M, respectively, while that of ammonia, which acts as a complexing agent, was varied from 0.3 M to 3.5 M. By varying the mole concentration of ammonia, optimal values for parameters like optical transmission, deposition rate, and surface morphology were determined. For the fixed mole concentrations of 0.03 M ZnSO₄·7H₂O and 0.8 M SC(NH₂)₂, it was established that 3.0 M of ammonia could provide optimal values of the deposition rate (5.5 nm/min), average optical transmittance (81%), and energy band gap (3.81 eV), rendering the chemically deposited ZnS suitable for use as a Cd-free buffer layer in CIGS solar cells.

Tungsten carbide (WC) has been suggested as a new buffer layer for the GaN-on-Si technology. We have investigated and optimized the sputtering condition of WC layer on the Si-substrate. We confirmed the suppression of the Si melt-back phenomenon. In addition, surface energy of WC/Si layer was measured to confirm the possibility as a buffer layer for GaN growth. We found that the surface energy(γ=82.46 mJ/cm²) of WC layer is very similar to that of sapphire substrate(γ=82.71 mJ/cm²). We grow GaN layer on the WC buffer by using gas-source MBE, and confirm that it is available to grow a single crystalline GaN layer.

In this study, chemical bath deposition method was used to grow Zinc sulfide(ZnS) thin filmsfrom NH3/SC(NH2)2/ZnSO4 solutions at 90℃. ZnS thin films have been prepared onto ITO glass. Theconcentrations of ZnSO4 and NH were varied while the concentration of Thiourea was fixed in 0.52 M. Structural, optical, electrical characteristic of ZnS thin films were measured. The physical and opticalproperties of different ZnS thin films were influenced severely by the concentration of the two reactingchemicals. The optimal concentration of ZnSO4 and NH3 was 0.085 M and 1.6 M, respectively.

Concern for the TOS (Transparent Oxide Semiconductor) is increasing with the recent increase in interest for flexible device. Especially MgZnO has attracted a lot of attention. MgxZn1-xO, which ZnO-based wideband-gap alloys is tuneable the band-gap ranges from 3.36 eV to 7.8 eV. In particular, the flexible substrate, the crystal structure of the amorphous as well as the surface morphology is not good. So research of MgZnO thin films growth on flexible substrate is essential. Therefore, in this study, we studied on the effects of the oxygen partial pressure on the structural and crystalline of Mg0.1Zn0.9O thin films. MgZnO thin films were deposited on PES substrate by using pulsed laser deposition. We used XRD and AFM in order to observe the structural characteristics of MgZnO thin films. UV-visible spectrophotometer was used to get the band gap and transmittance. Crystallization was done at a low oxygen partial pressure. The crystallinity of MgZnO thin films with increasing temperature was improved, Grain size and RMS of the films were increased. MgZnO thin films showed high transmittance over 80% in the visible region.

The effects of various buffer layers on the In2O3 transparent conducting films grown on glass substrates by radio-frequency reactive magnetron sputtering were investigated. The In2O3 thin films were deposited at 400℃ of growth temperature and 100% of oxygen flow rate. The optical, electrical, and structural and morphological properties of the In2O3 thin films subjected to buffer layers were examined by using ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, Hall-effect measurements, and X-ray diffractometer, respectively. The properties of In2O3 thin films showed different results, depending on the type of buffer layer. As for the In2O3 thin film deposited on ZnO buffer layer, the average transmittance was 89% and the electrical resistivity was 7.4×10-3 Ωcm. The experimental results provide a way for growing the transparent conducting film with the optimum condition by using an appropriate buffer layer.

In this paper, we compared and analyzed 3D silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) multi layer flash memory devices fabricated on nitride or oxide layer, respectively. The device fabricated on nitride layer has inferior electrical properties than that fabricated on oxide layer. However, the device on nitride layer has faster program/erase speed (P/E speed) than that on the oxide layer, although having inferior electrical performance. Afterwards, to find out the reason why the device on nitride has faster P/E speed, 1/f noise analysis of both devices is investigated. From gate bias dependance, both devices follow the mobility fluctuation model which results from the lattice scattering and defects in the channel layer. In addition, the device on nitride with better memory characteristics has higher normalized drain current noise power spectral density (S(ID)/I(D)2), which means that it has more traps and defects in the channel layer. The apparent hooge`s noise parameter (αapp) to represent the grain boundary trap density and the height of grain boundary potential barrier is considered. The device on nitride has higher αapp values, which can be explained due to more grain boundary traps. Therefore, the reason why the devices on nitride and oxide have a different P/E speed can be explained due to the trapping/de-trapping of free carriers into more grain boundary trap sites in channel layer.

In this study, we fabricated an amorphous InGaZnO pseudo-MOS transistor (a-IGZO Ψ -MOSFET) with a stacked Si3N4/SiO2 (NO) gate dielectric and evaluated reliability of the devices with various thicknesses of a SiO2 buffer layer. The roles of a SiO2 buffer layer are improving the interface states and preventing degradation caused by the injection of photo-created holes because of a small valance band offset of amorphous IGZO and Si3N4. Meanwhile, excellent electrical properties were obtained for a device with 10-nm-thick SiO2 buffer layer of a NO stacked dielectric. The threshold voltage shift of a device, however, was drastically increased because of its thin SiO2 buffer layer which highlighted bias and light-induced hole trapping into the Si3N4 layer. As a results, the pseudo-MOS transistor with a 20-nm-thick SiO2 buffer layer exhibited improved electrical characteristics and device reliability; field effective mobility(μFE) of 12.3 cm2/V·s, subthreshold slope (SS) of 148 mV/dec, trap density (Nt) of 4.52× 1011 cm-2, negative bias illumination stress (NBIS) ΔVth of 1.23 V, and negative bias temperature illumination stress (NBTIS) ΔVth of 2.06 V.

The TiO2/Si3N4/Ag/Si3N4/TiO2 multi layered structure was designed for the possible application of transparent electrodes in PDP (Plasma Display Panel). Multi layered film was deposited on a glass substrate at room temperature by DC/RF magnetron sputtering system and EMP (Essential Macleod Program) was adopted to optimize the optical characteristics of film. During the deposition process, the Ag layer in TiO2/Ag/TiO2 became heavily oxidized and the filter characteristic was degraded easily. In thus study, Si3N4 layer was used as a diffusion buffer layer between TiO2 and Ag. in order to prevent the oxidation of Ag layer in TiO2/Si3N4/Ag/Si3N4/TiO2 structure. It was confirmed that Si3N4 layer is one of candidate materials acting as diffusin barrier between TiO2/Ag/TiO2.

Znic sulfide (ZnS) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The substrate temperature varied from room temperature (RT) to 500℃. The structural and optical properties of ZnS films were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX) and UV-visible transmission spectra. The XRD analyses reveal that ZnS films have cubic structures with (111) preferential orientation, whereas the diffraction patterns sharpen with the increase in substrate temperatures. The FESEM images indicate that ZnS films deposited at 400℃ have nano-sized grains with a grain size of∼ 67 nm. The films exhibit relatively high transmittance of 80% in the visible region, with an energy band gap of 3.71 eV. One obvious result is that the energy band gap of the film increases with increasing the substrate temperatures.

The Gallium-doped ZnO(GZO) film deposited at a temperature of 200℃ and a pressure of 10 mtorr has an optical transmittance of 89.0% and a resistivity of 2.0 mΩ·cm because of its high crystallinity. Effect of Al2O3 oxide buffer layers on the optical and electrical properties of sputtered ZnO films were intensively investigated for developing the electrodes of opto-electronic devices which demanded high optical transmittance and low resistivity. The use of Al2O3 buffer layer could increase optical transmittance of GZO film to 90.7% at a wavelength of 550 nm by controlling optical spectrum. Resistivity of deposited GZO films were much dependent on the deposition condition of O2/(Ar+O2) flow rate ratio during the buffer layer deposition. It is considered that the Al2O3 buffer layer could increase the carrier concentration of the GZO films by doping effect of diffused Al atoms through the rough interface.