• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.307-314
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• 2009

Large area micro pattern replication has promising application potential in many areas. Rolling imprint process has been demonstrated as one of the most competitive processes for such micro pattern replication, because it has advantages in low cost, high throughput and high efficiency. In this paper, we developed a prototype of roll-to-flat(R2F) thermal imprint system for large area micro pattern replication process, which is one of the key processes in the fabrication of flexible displays. Experimental tests were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of system and the parameters' effect on the process, such as flat mold temperature, loading pressure and rolling speed. 100mm $\times$ 100mm stainless steel flat mold and commercially available polycarbonate sheets were used for the tests. The experimental results showed that the developed R2F system is suitable for fabrication of various micro devices with micro pattern over large area.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.62.1-62.1
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• 2011

현재 상용화된 LED 또는 태양전지 등의 투명전극(TCO, transparent couducting oxide)재료로 높은 전기전도도와 광투과도를 갖는 ITO (Indium Tin Oxide)가 많이 채택되고 있다. 그러나 이에 사용되는 Indium의 단가가 높다는 문제점이 있어 이를 대체하기 위한 물질의 연구가 많이 이루어지고 있다. 특히 Aluminum을 doping한 ZnO (AZO)는 우수한 전기적, 광학적 특성 등으로 인해 ITO를 대체할 차세대 TCO 물질로 각광받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 sol-gel법을 및 direct patterning법을 이용하여 moth-eye 패턴을 포함하는 AZO 박막을 제작하였다. AZO sol을 제작하기 위하여 2-methoxyethanol, zinc acetate dihydrate 및 doping source로 aluminum nitrate nonahydrate를 사용하였다. 또한 광추출 향상 효과를 갖는 moth-eye 구조의 master stamp를 Polydimethyl siloxane(PDMS)를 이용하여 역상 moth-eye 구조의 mold를 복제하였으며, 이 복제된 mold와 제작된 AZO sol을 이용한 direct patterning법을 통해 나노급 moth-eye 구조를 갖는 AZO 투명전극층을 형성하였다. 제작된 moth-eye 구조를 갖는 AZO 투명전극층의 전기적 특성 평가를 위해, 4-point probe 측정 및 Hall measurement를 시행하였으며, 광학적 특성을 확인하기 위하여 UV-Visable spectrometer를 이용하여 투과도를 측정하였다. 본 연구를 통해 현재 상용화된 광전자 소자에 사용되고 있는 ITO 투명전극을 대체할 차세대 투명전극으로써 AZO 박막의 가능성을 확인하였다.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.30.1-30.1
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• 2010

Hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ)는 spin-on glass (SOG)의 일종으로 spin-coating이 가능하며 $400^{\circ}C$ 이상의 고온에서의 어닐링을 통해 silica로 변환되는 물질이다. 이 물질은 가시광선 영역에서 95% 이상의 높은 투과도를 나타내며 산화물로의 변환 공정이 간단하며 표면 개질이 용이하기 때문에 나노 바이오, 반도체, 광전자 소자 등의 다양한 분야로의 적용이 기대되는 물질이다. 최근 나노 기술의 발전에 따라 다양한 나노 구조물을 이용하여 소자들의 효율을 향상시키는 연구가 활발하게 진행되고 있다. 따라서 HSQ를 이용하는 소자의 효율을 높이기 위해서는 쉽고 간단하면서 생산성이 높은 HSQ 나노 구조물 제작 기술에 대한 연구가 필요하다. 현재 개발된 대면적 HSQ 나노 구조물 제작 기술로는 e-beam lithography, x-ray lithography, room temperature nanoimprint lithography 등이 있다. 하지만 이와 같은 나노 패터닝 기술들은 생산성이 낮거나 공정이 복잡한 단점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) mold를 이용한 직접 printing 기술을 통해 HSQ 나노 구조물을 제작하는 기술을 개발하였다. 이 기술은 대면적에 간단한 기술로 HSQ 나노 패턴을 제작할 수 있으며 master mold의 패턴이 그대로 HSQ layer로 전사되기 때문에 제작이 까다로운 아날로그 패턴도 손쉽게 제작할 수 있는 장점을 가지고 있다. 따라서 이와 같은 HSQ 직접 printing 기술을 이용하여 HSQ 아날로그 나노 패턴을 제작하고 이의 응용기술에 대한 연구를 진행하였다.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.263-268
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• 2016

In the polymer shaping process that uses molds, the quality of the molded products is determined not only by the flow of the (molten) polymer but also by the air venting in the cavity. Inadequate air venting in the cavity can cause defects in the product, such as voids, short shot, or black streaks. As it is critical to consider the location and size of the vents for proper venting of the air in the cavity, a method that predicts the flow of air and material is required. The venting of air by the flow of rubber inside the cavity was simulated by using a multi-phase computational fluid dynamics method. Through computer simulation, the interface of rubber and air over time was predicted. Then, the velocity and pressure distribution of the venting air were observed. Our research proposes a fundamental method for analyzing the multi-phase flow of polymer materials and air inside the cavity of a mold.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.262-268
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• 2021

For the past several decades, various next-generation patterning methods have been developed to obtain well-designed nano-to-micro structures, such as imprint lithography, nanotransfer printing (nTP), directed self-assembly (DSA), E-beam lithography, and so on. Especially, nTP process has much attention due to its low processing cost, short processing time, and good compatibility with other patterning techniques in achieving the formation of high-resolution functional patterns. To transfer functional patterns onto desirable substrates, the use of soft materials is required for precise replication of master mold. Here, we introduce a simple and practical nTP method to create highly ordered structures using various polymeric replica materials. We found that polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polystyrene (PS), and polyvinylpyridine (PVP) are possible candidates for replica materials for reliable duplication of Si master mold based on systematic analysis of pattern visualization. Furthermore, we successfully obtained well-defined metal and oxide nanostructures with functionality on target substrates by using replica patterns, through deposition and transfer process. We expect that the several candidates of replica materials can be exploited for effective nanofabrication of complex electronic devices.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.58-65
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• 2022

Micro-fluidic chip has been fabricated by lithography process on silicon or glass wafer, casting using PDMS, injection molding of thermoplastics or 3D printing, etc. Among these processes, 3D printing can fabricate micro-fluidic chip directly from the design without master or template for fluidic channel fabricated previously. Due to this direct printing, 3D printing provides very fast and economical method for prototyping micro-fluidic chip comparing to conventional fabrication process such as lithography, PDMS casting or injection molding. Although 3D printing is now used more extensively due to this fast and cheap process done automatically by single printing machine, there are some issues on accuracy or surface characteristics, etc. The accuracy of the shape and size of the micro-channel is limited by the resolution of the printing and printing direction or layering direction in case of SLM type of 3D printing using UV curable resin. In this study, the printing direction and thickness of each printing layer are investigated to see the effect on the size, shape and surface of the micro-channel. A set of micro-channels with different size was designed and arrayed orthogonal. Micro-fluidic chips are 3D printed in different directions to the micro-channel, orthogonal, parallel, or skewed. The shape of the cross-section of the micro-channel and the surface of the micro-channel are photographed using optical microscopy. From a series of experiments, an optimal printing direction and process conditions are investigated for 3D printing of micro-fluidic chip.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.413-413
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• 2014

In this paper, we present a fabrication method of functionalized gold nanostructures on flexible substrate that can be implemented for plasmonic sensing application. For biomolecular sensing, many researchers exploit unconventional lithography method like nanoimprint lithography (NIP), contact transfer lithography, soft lithography, colloidal transfer printing due to its usability and easy to functionalization. In particular, nanoimprint and contact transfer lithography need to have anti-adhesion layer for distinctive metallic properties on the flexible substrates. However, when metallic thin film was deposited on the anti-adhesion layer coated substrates, we discover much aggravation of the mold by repetitive use. Thus it would be impossible to get a high quality of metal nanostructure on the transferred substrate for developing flexible electronics based transfer printing. Here we demonstrate a method for nano-pillar mold and transfer the controllable nanoparticle array on the flexible substrates without an anti-adhesion layer. Also functionalization of gold was investigated by the different length of thiol applied for effectively localized surface plasmonic resonance sensing. First, a focused ion beam (FIB) and ICP-RIE are used to fabricate the nanoscale pillar array. Then gold metal layer is deposited onto the patterned nanostructure. The metallic 130 nm and 250 nm nanodisk pattern are transferred onto flexible polymer substrate by bi-layer functionalized contact imprinting which can be tunable surface energy interfaces. Different thiol reagents such as Thioglycolic acid (98%), 3-Mercaptopropionic acid (99%), 11-Mercaptoundecanoic acid (95%) and 16-Mercaptohexadecanoic acid (90%) are used. Overcoming the repeatedly usage of the anti-adhesion layer mold which has less uniformity and not washable interface, contact printing method using bi-layer gold array are not only expedient access to fabrication but also have distinctive properties including anti-adhesion layer free, functionalized bottom of the gold nano disk, repeatedly replicate the pattern on the flexible substrate. As a result we demonstrate the feasibility of flexible plasmonic sensing interface and anticipate that the method can be extended to variable application including the portable bio sensor via mass production of stable nanostructure array and other nanophotonic application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.411-411
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• 2012

Over the recent years, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has dramatically grown as a label-free detecting technique with the high level of selectivity and sensitivity. Conventional SERS-active nanostructured layers have been deposited or patterned on rigid substrates such as silicon wafers and glass slides. Such devices fabricated on a flexible platform may offer additional functionalities and potential applications. For example, flexible SERS-active substrates can be integrated into microfluidic diagnostic devices with round-shaped micro-channel, which has large surface area compared to the area of flat SERS-active substrates so that we may anticipate high sensitivity in a conformable device form. We demonstrate fabrication of flexible SERS-active nanostructured substrates based on soft-lithography for simple, low-cost processing. The SERS-active nanostructured substrates are fabricated using conventional Si fabrication process and inkjet printing methods. A Si mold is patterned by photolithography with an average height of 700 nm and an average pitch of 200 nm. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a mixture of Sylgard 184 elastomer and curing agnet (wt/wt = 10:1), is poured onto the mold that is coated with trichlorosilane for separating the PDMS easily from the mold. Then, the nano-pattern is transferred to the thin PDMS substrates. The soft lithographic methods enable the SERS-active nanostructured substrates to be repeatedly replicated. Silver layer is physically deposited on the PDMS. Then, gold nanoparticle (AuNP) inks are applied on the nanostructured PDMS using inkjet printer (Dimatix DMP 2831) to deposit AuNPs on the substrates. The characteristics of SERS-active substrates are measured; topology is provided by atomic force microscope (AFM, Park Systems XE-100) and Raman spectra are collected by Raman spectroscopy (Horiba LabRAM ARAMIS Spectrometer). We anticipate that the results may open up various possibilities of applying flexible platform to highly sensitive Raman detection.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.1-5
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• 2019

In this study, micro cellular injection molding of automobile head lamp housing with uneven thickness structure was performed to obtain improvement on deformation and light-weight of the part. The thickness of the presented model was uniformly modified to control the deformation of the molded part. In order to maximize the lightweight ratio, the model having an average thickness of 2.0 mm were thinly molded to an average thickness of 1.6 mm. GFM(Gas Free Molding) and CBM(Core Back Molding) technology were applied to improve the problems of the conventional foam molding method. Equal Heat & Cool system was also applied by 3D cooling core and individual flow control system. Warpage of the molded parts with even cooling was minimized. To improve the mechanical properties of foamed products, complex resin containing nano-filler was used and variation of mechanical properties was evaluated. It was shown that the weight reduction ratio of products with light-weighted injection molding was 8.9 % and the deformation of the products was improved from the maximum of 3.6 mm to 2.0 mm by applying Equal Heat & Cool mold cooling system. Also the mechanical strength reduction of foamed product was less than 12% at maximum.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.514-521
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• 2010

A new one-shot process was employed to fabricate proton exchange membranes (PEMs) over conventional solvent-casting process. Here, PEMs containing nano-dispersed silica nanoparticles were fabricated using one-shot process similar to the bulk-molding compounds (BMC). Different components such as reactive dispersant, urethane acrylate nonionmer (UAN), styrene, styrene sulfuric acid and silica nano particles were dissolved in a single solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) followed by copolymerization within a mold in the presence of radical initiator. We have successfully studied the water-swelling and proton conductivity of obtained nanocomposite membranes which are strongly depended on the surface property of dispersed silica nano particles. In case of dispersion of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles, the nanocomposite membranes exhibited an increase in water-swelling and a decrease in methanol permeability with almost unchanged proton conductivity compared to neat polymeric membrane. The reverse observations were achieved for hydrophobic silica nanoparticles. Hence, hydrophilic and hydrophobic silica nanoparticles were effectively dispersed in hydrophilic and hydrophobic medium respectively. Hydrophobic silica nanoparticles dispersed in hydrophobic domains of PEMs largely suppressed swelling of hydrophilic domains by absorbing water without interrupting proton conduction occurred in hydrophilic membrane. Consequently, proton conductivity and water-swelling could be freely controlled by simply dispersing silica nanopartilces within the membrane.