• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.597-600
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• 1999

A solar cell conversion efficiency was degraded by grain boundary effect in polycrystalline silicon To reduce grain boundary effect, we performed a preferential grain boundary etching, POC$_3$ n-type emitter doping, and then ITO film growth on poly- Si. Among the various preferential etchants, Schimmel etch solution exhibited the best result having grain boundary etch depth higher than 10 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. RF magnetron sputter grown ITO films showed a low resistivity of 10$^{-4}$ $\Omega$ -cm and high transmittance of 85 %. With well fabricated poly-Si solar cells, we were able to achieve as high as 15 % conversion efficiency at the input power of 20 mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1911-1918
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• 2001

Recently the non-destructive test technique which uses the grain boundary etching characteristics owing to the variation of material structures has been proposed. However, during in-serviced GEM test there are a lot of variables such as the changes of temperature and concentration of etching solution, the roughness condition of surface polished etc.. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influences of these test variables on GEM test results in order to establish a reliable and sensitive of GEM evaluation technique. The experiments are conducted in various solution temperatures, 10$\^{C}$, 15$\^{C}$, 20$\^{C}$, and 25$\^{C}$ and in 70% and 100% concentrations of that, and in various surface roughnesses polished by #800, #2000, and 0.3㎛ alumina powder. Through the test with variables, it is verified that the decrease of temperature and concentration of etching solution and the coarsened surface roughness by not using polishing cloth and powder induce some badly and/or greatly influences on GEM test results like grain boundary etching width(W$\_$GB) and intersecting point ratio(N$\_$i/N$\_$0/). Therefore, to get reliable and good GEM test results, it must be prepared the surface of specimen polished by polishing cloth and 0.3㎛ alumina powder and the saturated picric acid solution having 25$\^{C}$ and be maintained the constant temperature(25$\^{C}$) during GEM test.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.275-279
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• 2016

Chemical vapor deposited (CVD) polycrystalline graphene is widely used for various sensor application because of its extremely large surface-to-volume ratio. The electrical properties of CVD-graphene is significantly affected by the grain size and boundaries (GGBs), but evaluation of GGB of continuous monolayer graphene is difficult. Although several evaluation methods such as tunneling electron microscopy, confocal Raman, UV/ozone-oxidation are typically used, they still have issues in evaluation efficiency and accuracy. In this paper, we suggest an improved evaluation method for precise and simple GGB evaluation which is based on UV/ozone-oxidation and chemical etching process. Using this method, we could observe clear GGBs of CVD-graphene layers grown by different process conditions and statistically evaluate average grain sizes varying from $1.69{\sim}4.43{\mu}m$. This evaluation method can be used for analyzing the correlation between the electrical properties and grain size of CVD-graphene, which is essential for the development of graphene-based sensor devices.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1064-1072
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• 2001

It is very important to evaluate material degradation like temper and carbide embrittlements to secure the reliable and efficient operational conditions and to prevent brittle failure in service. The extent of material deterioration can be accurately evaluated by mechanical test such as impact test or creep test. But it is almost impossible to sample a large specimen from in-service plants. Thus, the material degradation evaluation by a non-destructive method is earnestly required. Recently the non-destructive test technique which uses the grain boundary etching characteristics owing to the variation of material structures has been proposed. However the program for material degradation evaluation using the grain boundary etching method(GEM) in Windows 98 domain doesnt be developed now. The aims of this paper are to develop the program and to complete the new master curve equations for the evaluation of material degradation on in-serviced high temperature components.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.33A no.12
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• pp.47-52
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• 1996

Cl-based gas chemistry is generally used to etching for al alloy metallization. After the etching of Al alloy with Cl-based gas plasma, residual chlorine on Al alloy reacts with H$_{2}$O due to air exposure and results in Al corrosion. In this study, the corrosion phenomena of Al wer examined with XPS(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and SEM (scanning electorn microscopy). It was confirmed that chlorine mainly existed at the grian boundary of Al alloy after plasma etching of Al alloy with cl-based gas chemistry and Al corrosion was largely generated at the grain boundary of Al alloy. And residual chlorine was passivated by sulfur and fluorine which were generated by SF$_{6}$ plasma. These effects of passivation reduced the Al corrosion due to air exposure.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.323-334
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to investigate which current densities and etching times will result in an optimal etching depth and surface roughness when an Ni-Cr-Be alloy is etched with 30% perchloric acid($HClO_4$). For this study, observations were made by means of an optical three-dimensional surface roughness measuring machine and a scanning electron microscope. The etchings took place under the following conditions using current densities of $300mA/cm^2\;450mA/cm^2,\;600mA/cm^2$ and $750mA/cm^2$, and using etching time of three, five, six, seven and nine minutes. Under the conditions, the experiments reached the following conclusions. 1. When the current density is above $450mA/cm^2$ and the etching time is longer than five minutes, the etching depth increased as the current density and etching time increased. And the surface roughness was significantly influenced by the interaction of the current density and etching time. 2. Under the etching conditions of $600mA/cm^2$ and five minutes, the optimal etching depth for a resin cement space and the highest surface roughness for mechanical retention were obtained. The etching depth and surface roughness were $32.86{\mu}m$ and $7.90{\mu}m$, respectively. 3. Observations under the scanning electron microscope showed that both the corrosion at the grain boundary and the corrosion within the grain occurred on the etched surface. It was also observed that the corrosion at the grain boundary became more severe as the current density and etching time increased. In addition. at higher current densities and longer etching times general corrosion appeared.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.16-21
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• 1999

After etching Al-Cu alloy films using SiCl4/Cl_2/He/CHF3 mixed gas plasma, the corrosion phenomenon at the grain boundary of the etched surface and a passivation layer on the etched surface with an SF6 plasma treatment subsequent to the etching were studied. In Al-Cu alloy system, corrosion occurs rapidly on the etched surface by residual chlorine atoms, and it occurs dominantly at the grain boundaries rather than the crystalline surfaces. To prevent corrosion, the SF6 gas plasma treatment subsequent to etching was carried out. The passivation layer is composed of fluorine-related compounds on the etched Al-Cu surface after the SF6 treatment, and it suppresses effectively corrosion on the surface as the SF6 treatment pressure increases. Corrosion could be suppressed successfully with the SF6 treatment at a total pressure of 300 mTorr. To investigate the reason why corrosion could be suppressed with the SF6 treatment, behaviors of chlorine and fluorine were studied by various analysis techniques. It was also found that the residual chlorine incorporated at the grain boundary of the etched surface accelerated corrosion and could not be removed after the SF6 plasma treatment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1996.11a
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• pp.252-255
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• 1996

Cl-based gas chemistry is generally used to etching for Al alloy metallization. After the etching of Al alloy with Cl-based gas plasma, residual chlorine on Al alloy reacts with $H_2O$ due to air exposure and results in Al corrosion. In this study, the corrosion Phenomena of Al were examined with XPS(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and SEF(Scanning electron microscopy). It was confirmed that chlorine mainly existed at the grain boundary of Al alloy after plasma etching of Al alloy with Cl-based gas chemistry and Al corrosion was largely generated at the grain boundary of Al a1loy. And residual chlorine was passivated by sulfur and fluorine which were generated by SF$_{6}$ plasma. These effects of passivation reduced the Al corrosion due to air exposure.e.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 1993

The potentiostatic etching dissolution method, which had been used for the quantification of precipitates in steel, was applied to investigate the origin of cracks occurred in 304 stainless steel during processing. The morphology of crack propagation was observed by SEM. EDS and EPMA were used for the analysis of chemical composition of large precipitates on the grain boundary. The crystal structure of these large precipitates was determined by X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction. In both a stainless steel plate and a wire, the crack propagated along the grain boundary. Large precipitates on the grain boundary were identified to be $M_2C$ and $M_{23}C_6$. Potentiostatic etching dissolution method was found to be appropriate to the sample preparation for the analysis of precipitates in stainless steel.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.71-74
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• 2009

The magnetic and structural properties of FINEMET (the Hitachi product name of the Fe-Si-B-Nb-Cu alloy) nanopowder with a composition of $Fe_{73.5}Si_{13.5}B_9Nb_3Cu_1$ atomic percent were investigated after annealing, chemical etching, and mechanical milling. The primary and secondary crystallization temperatures were 523 and $550^{\circ}C$, respectively. The grain size of the particles was adjusted by annealing time. Optimally annealed particles exhibited a homogenous microstructure composed of nanometer-sized crystalline grains. The grain boundary of the annealed particles was etched preferentially by chemical etching. Chemically etched particles were broken at the grain boundary by high-energy ball milling. As a result, a nanometer-sized FINEMET powder with a uniform size of crystalline grains was fabricated.