• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.7
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• pp.1211-1217
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• 2016

Discharge characteristics of inductively coupled plasma were investigated by using electrostatic probe and fluid simulation. The Inductively Coupled Plasma source driven by 13.56 Mhz was prepared. The signal attenuation ratios of the electrostatic probe at first and second harmonic frequency was tuned in 13.56Mhz and 27.12Mhz respectively. Electron temperature, electron density, plasma potential, electron energy distribution function and electron energy probability function were investigated by using the electrostatic probe. Experiment results were compared with the fluid simulation results. Ar plasma fluid simulations including Navier-Stokes equations were calculated under the same experiment conditions, and the dependencies of plasma parameters on process parameters were well agreed with simulation results. Because of the reason that the more collision happens in high pressure condition, plasma potential and electron temperature got lower as the pressure was higher and the input power was higher, but Electron density was higher under the same condition. Due to the same reason, the electron energy distribution was widening as the pressure was lower. And the electron density was higher, as close to the gas inlet place. It was found that gas flow field significantly affect to spatial distribution of electron density and temperature.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.308-312
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• 2012

Argon-plasma jet (Ar-PJ) is generated by ionizing Ar gas, and the resulting Ar-PJ consists of a mixture of neutral particles, positive ions, negative electrons, and various reactive species. Although Ar-PJ has been used in various biomedical applications, little is known about the biological effects on cells located near the plasma-exposed region. Here, we investigated the effects of the Ar-PJ on actin cytoskeleton of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) in response to indirect as well as direct exposure to Ar-PJ. This Ar-PJ was generated at 500 mL/min of flow rate and 100 V electric power by our device mainly consisting of electrodes, dielectrics, and a high-voltage power supply. Because actin cytoskeleton is the key cellular machinery involved in cellular movement and is implicated in regulation of cancer metastasis and thus resulting in a highly desirable cancer therapeutic target, we examined the actin filament architectures in Ar-PJ-treated MEFs by staining with an actin-specific phalloidin labeled with fluorescent dye. Interestingly, the Ar-PJ treatment causes destabilization of actin filament architectures in the regions indirectly exposed to Ar-PJ, but no differences in MEFs treated with Ar gas alone and in untreated cell control, indicating that this phenomenon is a specific cellular response against Ar-PJ in the live cells, which are indirectly exposed to Ar-PJ. Collectively, our study raises the possibility that Ar-PJ may have potential as anti-cancer drug effect through direct destabilization of the actin cytoskeleton.

• Journal of the Speleological Society of Korea
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• no.82
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• pp.1-4
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• 2007

In this paper, the etching of Au films using photoresist masks on Si substrates was investigated using a capacitively coupled plasma etch reactor. The advantages of plasma etch techniques over current methods for Au metalization include the ability to simplify the metalization process flow with respect to resist lift-off schemes, and the ability to cleanly remove etched material without sidewall redeposition, as is seen in ion milling. The etch properties were measured for different gas mixing ratios of CF4/Ar, and chamber pressures while the other conditions were fixed. According to statistical design of experiment (DOE), etching process of Au films was characterized and also 20 samples were fabricated followed by measuring etch rate, selectivity and etch profile. There is a chemical reaction between CF4 and Au. Au- F is hard to remove from the surface because of its high melting point. The etching products can be sputtered by Ar ion bombardment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.286-291
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• 2003

(Pb,Sr)TiO$_3$(PST) thin films have attracted great interest as new dielectric materials of capacitors for Gbit dynamic random access memories. In this study, inductively coupled CF$_4$/Ar plasma was used to etch PST thin films. The maximum etch rate of PST thin films was 740 $\AA$/min at a CF$_4$(20 %)/Ar(80 %) 9as mixing ratio, an RF power of 800 W, a DC bias voltage of -200 V, a total gas flow of 20 sccm, and a chamber pressure of 15 mTorr. To clarify the etching mechanism, the residue on the surface of the etched PST thin films was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that Pb was mainly removed by physically assisted chemical etching. Sputter etching was effective in the etching of Sr than the chemical reaction of F with Sr, while Ti can almost removed by chemical reaction.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.551-555
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• 1999

The deposition condition to obtain stoichiometric $Ta_2$O\ulcorner films, which is still controversial, using magnetron reactive sputtering was studied. The films were deposited by varying $O_2$gas flow rate with sputtering power and Ar gas flow rate of 200W and 60 sccm fixed. At the conditions of $O_2$ gas flow rate over 20 sccm, amorphous Tantalum oxide films with the refractive index of 2.1 and dielectric constant of 25 were deposited. Among those films, the capacitors dielectric properties of the film deposited at the condition of $O_2$ gas flow rate 50 sccm was best, the leakage current was 1$\times$10\ulcornerA/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at the electric field strength of 0.5 MC/cm and the breakdown field strength was over 2.0 MV/cm. This result could be explained from the analysis comparing with a standard sample using RBS because the composition of the film deposited at this condition was closest to the stoichiometric $Ta_2$O\ulcorner. The result of XPS analysis convinced that this film was stoichiometric $Ta_2$O\ulcorner film. A maximum cathode voltage was observed when $O_2$gas flow rate was 30 sccm. This shows that the Schiller's proposition that one can obtain stoichiometric films at the condition of maximum cathode voltage is not correct and more oxygen than that of the maximum voltage condition is necessary to deposit the stoichiometric Ta$_2$O\ulcorner films.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.383-393
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• 2020

The corrosion behavior of Hastelloy C-276 was investigated to identify its applicability for carbon-anode-based oxide reduction (OR), in which Cl₂ and O₂ are simultaneously evolved at the anode. Under a 30 mL·min^-1 Cl₂ + 170 mL·min^-1 Ar flow, the corrosion rate was less than 1 g·m^-2·h^-1 up to 500℃, whereas the rate increased exponentially from 500 to 700℃. The effects of the Cl₂-O₂ composition on the corrosion rate at flow rates of 30 mL·min^-1 Cl₂, 20 mL·min^-1 Cl₂ + 10 mL·min^-1 O₂, and 10 mL·min^-1 Cl₂ + 20 mL·min^-1 O₂ with a constant 170 mL·min^-1 Ar flow rate at 600℃ was analyzed. Based on the data from an 8 h reaction, the fastest corrosion rate was observed for the 20 mL·min^-1 Cl₂ + 10 mL·min^-1 O₂ case, followed by 30 mL·min^-1 Cl₂ and 10 mL·min^-1 Cl₂ + 20 mL·min^-1 O₂. The effects of the chlorine flow rate on the corrosion rate were negligible within the 5-30 mL·min^-1 range. A surface morphology analysis revealed the formation of vertical scratches in specimens that reacted under the Cl₂-O₂ mixed gas condition.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.197-201
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• 2007

The magnetron reactive ion etching (RIE) characteristics of polycrystalline (poly) 3C-SiC grown on $SiO_{2}$/Si substrate by APCVD were investigated. Poly 3C-SiC was etched by $CHF_{3}$ gas, which can form a polymer as a function of side wall protective layers, with additive $O_{2}$ and Ar gases. Especially, it was performed in magnetron RIE, which can etch SiC at a lower ion energy than a commercial RIE system. Stable etching was achieved at 70 W and the poly 3C-SiC was undamaged. The etch rate could be controlled from $20\;{\AA}/min$ to $400\;{\AA}/min$ by the manipulation of gas flow rates, chamber pressure, RF power, and electrode gap. The best vertical structure was improved by the addition of 40 % $O_{2}$ and 16 % Ar with the $CHF_{3}$ reactive gas. Therefore, poly 3C-SiC etched by magnetron RIE can expect to be applied to M/NEMS applications.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.581-587
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• 2005

Commercial polyurethane film (PU) was modified with Ar plasma ionized in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plate-type reactor under atmospheric pressure. We measured the change of the contact angle and the surface fee energy with respect to the plasma treatment conditions such as treatment time, RF-power, and Ar gas flow rate. We also optimized the plasma treatment conditions to maximize the surface peroxide concentration. At the plasma treatment time of 70 sec, the power of 120 W and the Ar gas flow rate of 5 liter per minute (LPM), the best wettability and the highest surface fee energy were obtained. The 1,1 diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method confirmed that the surface peroxide concentration was about 2.1 nmol/$\cm^{2}$ at 80 W, 30 sec, 6 LPM.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.95-101
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• 2016

For a natural gas steam reforming, comparative studies of the performance in a conventional packed-bed reactor and a membrane reactor, a new conceptual reactor consisting of a reactor with series of hydrogen separation membranes, have been performed. Based on experimental kinetics reported by Xu and Froment, a process simulation model was developed with Aspen $HYSYS^{(R)}$, a commercial process simulator, and effects of various operating conditions like temperature, $H_2$ permeance, and Ar sweep gas flow rate on the performance in a membrane reactor were investigated in terms of reactant conversion and $H_2$ yield enhancement showing improved $H_2$ yield and methane conversion in a membrane reactor. In addition, a preliminary cost estimation focusing on natural gas consumption to supply heat required for the system was carried out and feasibility of possible cost savings in a membrane reactor was assessed with a cost saving of 10.94% in a membrane reactor.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.323-333
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• 2005

Effects of gases to growth of $SiO_2$ nanowires were characterized. $N_2$, Ar, and $O_2$ gas's effect were determined. $SiO_2$ nanowires growth scheme was varied by kind and flow rates of gases because of amounts of $O_2$. Flow rates of gases and kind of substrates affected nanowires' diameters, lengths and morphologies of grown nano wires. With increasing flow rates of gases, nanowire's diameter increased because of additional VS and SLS reactions. By TEM characterization, We knows that, grown $SiO_2$ nanowires on Si substrate showed two shell structures. These shapes of nanowires were formed by reaction of additional SLS growth. Grown $SiO_2$ nanowires showed blue luminescence by PL characterization These Blue luminescence was due to quantum confinement effect and oxygen vacancies in the nanowires.