• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.323-329
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• 2011

Certified reference materials (CRMs) have been used to calibrate surface profilers for reliable measurements. In this paper, we present a newly designed step height CRM which has a step height pattern with two different widths and various special patterns for checking radial magnification, distortion of optical viewing systems, etc. Especially, it could be useful for multi-probe inspection instruments in the manufacturing lines. The fabrication was done by conventional optical lithography and dry etching process with optimized conditions. To verify the step height values, a white-light scanning interferometer was used with objective lenses having magnification of $10{\times}$ and $100{\times}$. CRMs with nominal step heights of $0.5\;{\mu}m$, $1\;{\mu}m$, $3\;{\mu}m$, $5\;{\mu}m$, $7\;{\mu}m$, and $10\;{\mu}m$ were fabricated and the uniformity of these CRMs was evaluated to be less than 3 nm ($1{\sigma}$).

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.512-518
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• 2008

Guided wave technology is advantageous for fast inspection of pipe wall thinning since the guided wave propagates long distance. In this investigation, the method to evaluate gradual wall thinning in a pipe based on the arrival time delay with magnetostrictive patch transducers is presented. Low frequency A0 Lamb waves were generated and measured by the present transducer and it was applied to arrival time delay measurement experiments on a test pipe having gradual wall thinnings artificially manufactured. From experiments, consistent results that wall thinning increases the arrival time delay of A0 waves were obtained. Consequently, the feasibility of the magnetostrictive patch transducers to evaluate wall thinning was verified.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.210-220
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• 2003

This work presents a method of point to surface assignment fur 3D metrology of solder pastes on PCB. A bounding box enclosing the solder paste tightly on all sides is introduced to avoid incorrect assignment. The shape of bounding box fur solder paste brick is variable according to geometry of measured points. The surface geometry of bounding box is obtained by using five peaks selected in the histogram of normalized gradient vectors. By using the bounding box enclosing the solder pastes, the task of point-to-surface assignment has been successfully conducted, then geometrical features are obtained through the task of surface fitting.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.3435-3440
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• 2010

Unlike the electric method capable of checking only product defect, the real time optical metrology is suggested for measuring and visualizing vibration with respect to position of surface acoustic wave in RF device. The measuring limits and conditions for surface acoustic wave is given, and the interference and diffraction due to RF signal are analyzed by optical interpretation. A single mode laser and a 105MHz-center-frequency repeater filter were employed for experiments and theoretical analysis. In this paper, the optical metrology providing visual energy distribution and real time inspection for surface acoustic wave is proposed for development of high quality multi-service and multi-frequency RF module.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.200-206
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• 2010

In ultrasound-excited thermography, the injected ultrasound to an object is transformed to heat and the appearance of defects can be visualized by thermography camera. The advantage of this technology is selectively sensitive to thermally active defects. Despite the apparent simplicity of the scheme, there are a number of experimental considerations that can complicate the implementation of ultrasound excitation thermography inspection. Factors including acoustic horn location, horn-crack proximity, horn-sample coupling, and effective detection range all significantly affect the detect ability of this technology. As conclusions, the influence of coupling pressures between ultrasound exciter and specimen was analyzed, which was dominant factor in frictional heating model.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.211-219
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• 2014

Closed cracks are difficult to detect using conventional ultrasonic testing because most incident ultrasound passes completely through these cracks. Nonlinear ultrasound inspection using sub-harmonic frequencies a promising method for detecting closed cracks. To implement this method, a sub-harmonic phased array (PA) is proposed to visualize the length of closed cracks in solids. A sub-harmonic PA generally consists of a single transmitter and an array receiver, which detects sub-harmonic waves generated from closed cracks. The PA images are obtained using the total focusing method (TFM), which (with a transmitter and receiving array) employs a full matrix in the observation region to achieve fine image resolution. In particular, the receiving signals are measured using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) to collect PA images for both fundamental and sub-harmonic frequencies. Oblique incidence, which is used to boost sub-harmonic generation, inevitably produces various surface waves that contaminate the signals measured in the receiving transducer. Surface wave interference often degrades PA images severely, and it becomes difficult to read the closed crack's position from the images. Various methods to prevent or eliminate this interference are possible. In particular, enhancing images with signal processing could be a highly cost-effective method. Because periodic patterns distributed in a PA image are the most frequent interference induced by surface waves, spatial frequency filtering is applicable for removing these waves. Experiments clearly demonstrate that the spatial frequency filter improves PA images.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.52
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• pp.1.1-1.8
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• 2022

As semiconductor device architecture develops, from planar field-effect transistors (FET) to FinFET and gate-all-around (GAA), there is an increased need to measure 3D structure sidewalls precisely. Here, we present a 3-Dimensional Atomic Force Microscope (3D-AFM), a powerful 3D metrology tool to measure the sidewall roughness (SWR) of vertical and undercut structures. First, we measured three different dies repeatedly to calculate reproducibility in die level. Reproducible results were derived with a relative standard deviation under 2%. Second, we measured 13 different dies, including the center and edge of the wafer, to analyze SWR distribution in wafer level and reliable results were measured. All analysis was performed using a novel algorithm, including auto fattening, sidewall detection, and SWR calculation. In addition, SWR automatic analysis software was implemented to reduce analysis time and to provide standard analysis. The results suggest that our 3D-AFM, based on the tilted Z scanner, will enable an advanced methodology for automated 3D measurement and analysis.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.169-182
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• 2007

To evaluate the possibly potent role of Asian Dust (AD) on the long range transport of Hg, statistical analyses were carried out using the hourly concentration data of gaseous elemental mercury (Hg) along with relevant environmental parameters. For the purpose of this study, Hg data were collected from Yang-Jae monitoring station in Seoul, Korea during Sept. 1997 to June 2002. During the study period, Hg concentrations in non-AD period ranged from $0.03\;to\;32.70\;ng\;m^{-3}$ with a mean $5.27{\pm}3.06\;ng\;m^{-3}$, while those in AD period from $1.79\;to\;32.60\;ng\;m^{-3}$ with a mean $5.20{\pm}3.06\;ng\;m^{-3}$. The air quality during AD were typically deteriorated by enhanced PM10 mass concentration (by $2{\sim}5$ times) compared to non-AD period, however comparison of the Hg concentration data indicates that they are not critically distinguished between events of AD and non-AD, except for the high minimum level of Hg during AD. The results of correlation and factor analysis also indicated somewhat complex patterns; in the case of AD events, Hg and $SO_{2}$ were assorted concurrently into a same factor. Evidence collected from this study thus suggests that long-range transport of Hg, if occurring, is unlikely to raise statistically Hg concentration levels such as seen during AD event. However, in nighttime of winter season, Hg concentrations are higher during AD (along with PM10 levels) than non-AD period. Although such observations suggest the effect of long range transport on the enhancement of Hg concentrations, more deliberate analysis may be required to track down the effect of such mechanism in relation with various factors including the air mass transport route.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.390-402
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• 2006

The elastic properties and thickness of mullite environmental barrier coatings grown through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on silicon carbide substrates were measured using frequency domain photoacoustic microscopy. In this technique, extremely narrow bandwidth surface acoustic waves are generated with an amplitude modulated laser source. A photorefractive crystal based interferometer is used to detect the resulting surface displacement. The complex displacement field is mapped as a function of source-to-receiver distance in order to extract the wavelength of the surface acoustic wave at a given excitation frequency, and the phase velocity is determined. The coatings tested exhibited spatial variations in thickness and mechanical properties. The measured surface wave dispersion curves were used to extract an effective value for the elastic modulus and the coating thickness. Nanoindentation was used to validate the measurements of the effective elastic modulus. The average elastic modulus measured through the coating thickness using nanoindentation is compared to the effective modulus found using the photoacoustic system. Optical microscopy is used to validate the thickness measurements. The results indicate that the photoacoustic microscopy technique can be used to estimate the effective elastic properties in coatings exhibiting spatial inhomogeneities, potentially providing valuable feedback for the optimization of the CVD growth process.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.303-308
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• 2007

We report here on the application of a digital holographic microscope as a metrology tool for the inspection and the micro-topography reconstruction of different micro-structures of phase shift photo-mask (PSM). The lithography by phase shift photo-mask uses the interference and the pattern of the PSM is not imaged by general optical microscope. The technique allows us to obtain digitally a high-fidelity surface topography description of the phase shift photo-mask with only one hologram image acquisition, allowing us to have relatively simple and compact set-ups able to give quantitative information of PSM.