We investigated configuration of metallic and insulating domains in $VO_2$ thin films, while spanning metal-insulator phase transition. Kelvin probe force microscopy, of which spatial resolution is less than 100 nm, enables us to measure local work function (WF) at the sample surface. The WF of $VO_2$ thin films decreased (increased) as increasing (decreasing) the sample temperature, during the phase transition. The higher and lower WF regions corresponded to the insulating and metallic domains, respectively. The metallic fraction, estimated from the WF maps, well explained the temperature-dependent resistivity based on the percolation model. The WF mapping also showed us how the structural defects affected the phase transition behaviors.

This research was conducted to investigate the electrochemical properties of the thin air-formed oxide film-covered AZ31 Mg alloy. Native air-formed oxide films on AZ31 Mg alloy samples were prepared by knife-abrading method and the changes in the electrochemical properties of the air-formed oxide film were investigated in seven different electrolytes containing the following anions $Cl^-$, $F^-$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$, $NO_3{^-}$, $CH_3COO^-$, $CO{_3}^{2-}$, and $PO{_4}^{3-}$. It was observed from open circuit potential (OCP) transients that the potential initially decreased before gradually increasing again in the solutions containing only $CO{_3}^{2-}$ or $PO{_4}^{3-}$ ions, indicating the dissolution or transformation of the native air-formed oxide film into new more protective surface films. The Nyquist plots obtained from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) showed that there was growth of new surface films with immersion time on the air-formed oxide film-covered specimens in all the electrolyte. The least resistive surface films were formed in fluoride and sulphate baths whereas the most protective film was formed in phosphate bath. The potentiodynamic polarization curves illustrated that passive behaviour of AZ31 Mg alloy under anodic polarization appears only in $CO{_3}^{2-}$, or $PO{_4}^{3-}$ ions containing solutions and at more than $-0.4V_{Ag/AgCl}$ in $F^-$ ion containing solution.

In this study, the effects of the concentration of metal ions and the applied current density in the Sn-Ag plating solutions were examined in regards to the resulting composition and morphology of the solder bumps' surface. Furthermore the effect of any impurities present in the methanesulfonic acid used as a base acid in the Sn-Ag solder plating solution on the stability of plating solution as well as the characteristics of the Sn-Ag alloys films was also explored. As expected, the uniform bump was obtained by means of removing impurities in the plating solution. Consequently the resultant solder bump was obtained in an optimal current density of the range of $1A/dm^2$ to $15A/dm^2$, which has acceptable bump shape and surface roughness with 12inch wafer trial results.

Ni-Cr-X ternary interlayers were investigated to improve the adhesion of Cu/Ni-Cr/Polyimide flexible copper clad laminates. The ternary compounds are sputtered Ni-Cr-X films (where X is one of Nb, V, Mo, or Ti), and the effect of third elements on the adhesion was evaluated and investigated chemically and mechanically. The feel strength was higher in the order of Ni-Cr-Nb > Ni-Cr-V > Ni-Cr > Ni-Cr-Mo > Ni-Cr-Ti. Nb, which has a comparable standard electrode potential to Cr, increased the adhesion, while Ti, with a low standard electrode potential, degraded the adhesion. The Ni-Cr-Nb interlayer was amorphous, while Ni-Cr-Ti was partially crystalline. The similar morphology structure of the Ni-Cr-Nb interlayer with polyimide resulted in a better adhesion.

EPIG (Electroless Pd/immersion Au) process was studied to replace ENIG (electroless Ni/immersion Au) and ENEPIG (electroless Ni/electroless Pd/immersion Au) processes for bump surface treatment used in high reliable flip chip packages. The palladium and gold layers formed by EPIG process were uniform with thickness of 125 nm and 34.5 nm, respectively. EPAG (Electroless Pd/autocatalytic Au) also produced even layers of palladium and gold with the thickness of 115 nm and 100 nm. TEM results exhibited that the gold layer in EPIG surface had crystalline structure while the palladium layer was amorphous one. After annealing at 250 nm, XPS analysis indicated that the palladium layer with thickness more than 22~33 nm could act as a diffusion barrier of copper interconnects. As a result of comparing the chip shear strength obtained from ENIG and EPIG surfaces, it was confirmed that the bonding strength was similar each other as 12.337 kg and 12.330 kg, respectively.

The properties of electroless Ni-B thin film on diamond powder with different parameters (temperature, pH, surfactant etc.) were studied. The surface morphology, structure and composition distribution of the Ni-B film were observed by field effect scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The growth rate of Ni-B film was increased with increase of bath temperature. The B content in Ni-B film was reduced with increase of bath pH. As a result the structure of Ni-B film was changed from amorphous to crystalline structure. The PVP in solution plays multi-functional roles as a dispersant and a stabilizer. The Ni-B film deposited with adding 0.1 mM-PVP was strongly introduced an amorphous structure with higher B content (25 at.%). Also the crystallite size of Ni-B film was reduced from 12.7 nm to 5.4 nm.

In this study, surface morphology and mechanical property of TiN and DLC coated pedicle screw have been investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, vickers hardness test, axial gripping, and axial torsional gripping capacity test. From the EDS and XRD results, the composition and crystal structure of TiN and DLC coated surface were verified. The hardness value was increased by TIN and DLC coating, and the DLC coating surface has the highest value. The gripping capacity also showed higher value for TiN and DLC coated specimen than that of non-coated (Ti alloy) surface. The surface morphology of gripping tested specimen showed rougher scratched surface from Ti alloy than TiN and DLC coated layer.

A 6-way-cross consisting of a 2.75-inch CF flange was used as a main chamber on a PFEIFFER VACUUM TMP station based on a 67 l / sec turbo molecular pump and a diaphragm pump to produce a magnet array with a volume ratio of 5.5: 1.A 1-inch diameter copper target and graphite target were fabricated using MDX-1.5K from Advanced Energy Industries, Inc as a DC power supply. Ion current density of copper target and graphite target was measured by unbalanced magnetron sputtering. The basic pressure condition was $6.3{\times}10^{-7}mbar$ and the process pressure was Ar 50 sccm at $1.0{\times}10^{-2}mbar$ (7.5 mTorr) in the Ar atmosphere. Therefore, the relative density of copper ions reaching the substrate with the measured ion current density was derived.

Thermal dissipation was investigated for poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) composite films containing graphite and multi wall carbon nanotube(CNT) powders as filler materials. After mixing PMMA with fillers, solvent, and dispersant, the pastes were prepared by passing through a three roll mill for three times. The prepared pastes were coated $15{\sim}40{\mu}m$ thick on a side of 0.4 mm thick aluminium alloy plate and dried for 30 min at $150^{\circ}C$ in an oven. The content of fillers in dried films was varied as 1, 2, and 5 weight % maintaining the ratio of graphite and CNT as 1:1. Raman spectra from three different samples exhibited D, G and 2D peaks, as commonly observed in graphite and multi wall CNT. Among those peaks, D peak was prominent, which manifested the presence of defects in carbon materials. Thermal emissivity values of three samples were measured as 0.916, 0.934, and 0.930 with increasing filler content, which were the highest ever reported for the similar composite films. The thermal conductivities of three films were measured as 0.461, 0.523, and $0.852W/m{\cdot}K$, respectively. After placing bare Al plate and film coated samples over an opening of a polystyrene box maintained for 1 h at $92^{\circ}C$, the temperatures inside and outside of the box were measured. Outside temperatures were lower by $5.4^{\circ}C$ in the case of film coated plates than the bare one, and inside temperatures of the former were lower by $3.6^{\circ}C$ than the latter. It can be interpreted that the PMMA composite film coated Al plates dissipate heat quicker than the bare Al plate.

$BiNbO_4:RE^{3+}$ (RE = Dy, Eu, Sm, Tb) phosphors were prepared by solid-state reaction at $1100^{\circ}C$ and their structural, photoluminescent, and morphological properties were investigated. XRD patterns exhibited that all the synthesized phosphors exhibited a triclinic system with a dominant (210) diffraction peak, irrespective of the type of activator ions. The surface morphologies of rare-earth-ion-doped $BiNbO_4$ phosphors were found to depend strongly on the type of activator ions. The $Eu^{3+}$ and $Dy^{3+}$ doped $BiNbO_4$ phosphors revealed a strong red (613 nm) emission resulting from the $^5D_0{\rightarrow}^7F_2$ transition of $Eu^{3+}$ and a dominant yellow (575 nm) emission originating from the $^4F_{9/2}{\rightarrow}^6H_{13/2}$ transition of $Dy^{3+}$ respectively, which were the electric dipole transitions, indicating that the activator ions occupy sites of non-inversion symmetry in the $BiNbO_4$ phosphor. The main reddish-orange emission spectra of $Sm^{3+}$-doped $BiNbO_4$ phosphors were due to the $^4G_{5/2}{\rightarrow}^6H_{7/2}$ (607 nm) magnetic dipole transition, indicating that the $Sm^{3+}$ ions were located at inversion symmetry sites in the $BiNbO_4$ host lattice. As for $Tb^{3+}$-doped phosphors, green emission was obtained under excitation at 353 nm and its CIE chromaticity coordinates were (0.274, 0.376). These results suggest that multicolor emission can be achieved by changing the type of activator ions incorporated into the $BiNbO_4$ host crystal.

$Mg_xNi_yZn_{1-x-y}Fe_2O_4$ ferrite powders were prepared by self-propagating high temperature synthesis followed by classifying with an ultrasonic wet-magnetic separation unit to get high pure nano-sized particles. The $Mg_xNi_yZn_{1-x-y}Fe_2O_4$ ferrites were well formed by using several powders like iron, nickel oxide, zinc oxide and magnesium oxide at 0.1 MPa of oxygen pressure. The ultrasonic wet-magnetic separation of pre-mechanical milled ferrite powders resulted in producing the powders with average size of 800 nm. The addition of a surfactant during the wet-magnetic separation process improved productivity more than twice. The coercive force, maximum magnetization and residual magnetization of the $Mg_xNi_yZn_{1-x-y}Fe_2O_4$ nano-powders with 800 nm size were 3651 A/m, $53.92Am^2/kg$ and $4.0Am^2/kg$, respectively.

The K gettering in $SiO_2/PSG/SiO_2/Al-1%Si$ multilevel thin films was investigated using SIMS(secondary ion mass spectrometry) and XPS(X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) analysis. DC magnetron sputter techniques and APCVD(atmosphere pressure chemical vapor deposition) were utilized for the deposition of Al-1%Si thin films and $SiO_2/PSG/SiO_2$ passivations, respectively. Heat treatment was carried out at $400^{\circ}C$ for 5 h in air. SIMS depth profiling was used to determine the distribution of K, Al, Si, P and other elements throughout the $SiO_2/PSG/SiO_2/Al-1%Si$ multilevel thin films. XPS was used to analyze binding energies of Si and P elements in PSG passivation layers. K peaks were observed throughout the $PSG/SiO_2$ passivation layers on the Al-1%Si thin films and especially at the $PSG/SiO_2$ interfaces. K gettering in $SiO_2/PSG/SiO_2/Al-1%Si$ multilevel thin films is considered to be caused by a segregation type of gettering. The chemical state of Si and P elements in PSG passivation appears to be $SiO_2$ and $P_2O_5$, respectively

ZnO nanotubes were synthesized to investigate the effect of wall thickness on the ethanol gas sensing performance. The wall thickness of the nanotubes was varied from approximately 20 to 60 nm. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and SAED (Selected Area Electron Beam Diffraction) analyses showed that the synthesized nanotubes were polycrystalline structured ZnO with the diameter of approximately 200-300nm. The ZnO nanotubes sensor with an optimum wall thickness of 51.8nm showed approximately 8 times higher response, compared to that with 21.14nm wall thick nanotubes, to the ethanol concentration of 500 ppm at the temperature of $300^{\circ}C$. The wall thickness of 51.8nm was found to be a little larger than 46nm, which was theoretically derived Debye length. Along with the study of the wall thickness effect on the performance of the sensors, the mechanisms of gas sensing of the polycrystalline ZnO nanotubes are also discussed.