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In this study, Iridium (Ir) metallic layer as an ultra-thin surface modifier (USM) was deposited on ITO coated glass substrate using radio frequency magnetron sputtering for improving the photo-conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells. Ultra-thin Ir acts as a surface modifier replacing the conventional hole transport layer (HTL) PEDOT:PSS in organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells with two different active layers P3HT:PC60BM and PTB7:PC70BM. The Ir USM (1.0 nm) coated on ITO glass substrate showed transmittance of 84.1% and work function of >5.0 eV, which is higher than that of ITO (4.5–4.7 eV). The OPV cells with Ir USM (1.0 nm) exhibits increased power conversion efficiency of 3.70% (for P3HT:PC60BM active layer) and 7.28% (for PTB7:PC70BM active layer) under 100 mW/cm2 illumination (AM 1.5G) which are higher than those of 3.26% and 6.95% for the same OPV cells but with PEDOT:PSS as HTL instead of Ir USM. The results reveal that the chemically stable Ir USM layer could be used as an alternative material for PEDOT:PSS in organic photovoltaic cells.

Effects of different annealing atmospheres on the surface and microstructural properties of ZnO thin films grown on Si (1 0 0) substrates were investigated. X-ray diffraction results showed that the crystallinity of the ZnO thin film annealed in an oxygen atmosphere was better than that annealed in a nitrogen atmosphere. Atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed that the surfaces of the ZnO thin films annealed in a nitrogen atmosphere became very rough in contrast to those annealed in an oxygen atmosphere. High-resolution TEM images showed that many stacking faults and tilted grains could be observed in the ZnO thin films annealed in a nitrogen atmosphere in contrast to those annealed in an oxygen atmosphere. Surface morphology and microstructural property variations due to different annealing atmospheres in ZnO thin films are also described on the basis of the experimental results.

Ga doped ZnO (GZO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates at room temperature by continuous composition spread (CCS) method. CCS is thin films growth method of various Ga x Zn 1− x O(GZO) thin film compositions on a substrate, and evaluating critical properties as a function position, which is directly related to material composition. Various compositions of Ga doped ZnO deposited at room temperature were explored to find excellent electrical and optical properties. Optimized GZO thin films with a low resistivity of 1.46 × 10 −3 Ω cm and an average transmittance above 90% in the 550 nm wavelength region were able to be formed at an Ar pressure of 2.66 Pa and a room temperature. Also, optimized composition of the GZO thin film which had the lowest resistivity and high transmittance was found at 0.8 wt.% Ga 2 O 3 doped in ZnO.

X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns revealed that the as-grown and annealed Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films grown on the n-Si (1 0 0) substrates were polycrystalline. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed that bright-contrast regions existed in the grain boundary, and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) images showed that the bright-contrast regions with an amorphous phase were embedded in the ZnO grains. While the surface roughness of the AZO film annealed at 800 °C became smoother, those of the AZO films annealed at 900 and 1000 °C became rougher. XRD patterns, TEM images, selected-area electron diffraction patterns, HRTEM images, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images showed that the crystallinity in the AZO thin films grown on the n-Si (1 0 0) substrates was enhanced resulting from the release in the strain energy for the AZO thin films due to thermal annealing at 800 °C. XRD patterns and AFM images show that the crystallinity of the AZO thin films annealed at 1000 °C deteriorated due to the formation of the amorphous phase in the ZnO thin films.

Deposition of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films with various film thicknesses on glass substrates was performed to investigate the feasibility of using AZO films as anode electrodes in organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). The electrical resistivity of the AZO films with a 180-nm thickness was 4.085 × 10 −2 Ω cm, and the average optical transmittance in the visible range was 80.2%. The surface work function for the AZO films, determined from the secondary electron emission coefficients obtained with a focused ion beam, was as high as 4.62 eV. These results indicate that AZO films grown on glass substrates hold promise for potential applications as anode electrodes in high-efficiency OLEDs.

Polyimide (PMDA-ODA) surface was irradiated by low energy reactive atomic beam with energy 160–180 eV to enhance the adhesion with metal Cu film. O2+ and N2+ ions were irradiated at the fluence from 5 × 1015 to 1 × 1018 cm−2. Wetting angle 78° of distilled deionized (DI) water for bare PI was greatly reduced down to 2–4° after critical ion flounce, and the surface energy was increased from 37 to 81.2 erg/cm. From the analysis of O 1s core-level XPS spectra, such improvement seemed to result from the increment of hydrophilic carbonyl oxygen content on modified PI surface. To see more carefully correlation of the peel strength with interfacial reaction between Cu and PI, flexible copper clad laminate with Cu (9 μm)/Cu (200 nm) on modified PI substrate (25 μm) was fabricated by successive sputtering and electroplating. Firstly, peel strength was measured by using t-test and it was largely increased from 0.2 to 0.5 kgf/cm for Ar+ only irradiated PI to 0.72–0.8 kgf/cm for O2+ or N2O+ irradiated PI. Chemical reaction at the interface was reasoned by analyzing C 1s, O 1s, N 1s, and Cu 2p core-level X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy over the as-cleaved Cu-side and PI side surface through depth profiling. From the C 1s spectra of cleaved Cu-side, by the electron transfer from Cu to carbonyl oxygen, carbonyl carbon atom became less positive and as a result shifted to lower binding energy not reaching the binding energy of C2 and C3. The binding energy shift of the peak C4 as small as 1.7 eV indicates that carbonyl oxygen atoms were not completely broken. From the analysis of the O 1s spectra, it was found that new peak at 530.5 eV (O3) was occurred and the increased area of the peak O3 was almost the same with reduced area of the peak carbonyl oxygen peak O1. Since there was no change in the relative intensity of ether oxygen (O2) to carbonyl oxygen (O1), and thus O3 was believed to result from Cu oxide formation via a local bonding of Cu with carbonyl oxygen atoms. Moreover, from X-ray induced Auger emission spectra Cu LMM which was very sensitive to chemical bonding, Cu oxide or Cu O C complex formation instead of Cu N O complex was clearly identified by the observation of the peak at 570 eV at higher 2 eV than that of metal Cu. In conclusion, when Cu atoms were sputtered on modified PI by low energy ion beam irradiation, it can be suggested that two Cu atoms locally reacted with carbonyl oxygen in PMDA units and formed Cu+ O− C complex linkage without being broken from carbon atoms and thus the chemically bound Cu was in the form of Cu2O.

ZnO thin films were grown on GaAs(0 0 1) substrate to study the feasibility of making As-doped textured ZnO films for possible optical device application using radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering. It was demonstrated that highly c-axis oriented ZnO crystal with uniformly doped As could be grown using this deposition technique. Crystallinity was shown to improve with higher processing temperature. Photoluminescence spectroscopy, supplemented by cathodo-luminescence imaging, showed that the ZnO films have good optical quality with strong near band emission peak at 3.3 eV and spatially homogeneous luminescence indicating possibility of producing As-doped ZnO films with good crystallinity and optical properties using the technique used herein.