• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2003

Al-l4wt.%Ni-l4wt.% Mm(Mm=misch metal) alloy powders rapidly solidified by the gas atomization method were subjected to mechanical milling(MM). The morphology, microstructure and hardness of the powders were investigated as a function of milling time using scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and Vickers microhardness tester. Microstructural evolution in gas-atomized Al-l4wt.%Ni-l4wt.% Mm(Mm=misch metal) alloy powders was studied during mechanical milling. It was noted that the as-solidified particle size of $200\mutextrm{m}$ decreases during the first 48 hours and then increases up to 72 hours of milling due to cold bonding and subsequently there was continuous refinement to $20\mutextrm{m}$ on milling to 200 hours. Two microstructurally different zones, Zone A, which is fine microstructure area and Zone B, which has the structure of the as-solidified powder, were observed. The average thickness of the Zone A layer increased from about 10 to $15\mutextrm{m}$ in the powder milled for 24 hours. Increasing the milling time to 72 hours resulted in the formation of a thicker and more uniform Zone A layer, whose thickness increased to about $30~50\mutextrm{m}$. The TEM micrograph of ball milled powder for 200 hours shows formation of nano-particles, less than 20 nm in size, embedded in an Al matrix.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.169-175
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• 2020

Silicon nitride thin films are deposited by RF (13.57 MHz) magnetron sputtering process using a Si (99.999 %) target and with different ratios of Ar/N₂ sputtering gas mixture. Corning G type glass is used as substrate. The vacuum atmosphere, RF source power, deposit time and temperature of substrate of the sputtering process are maintained consistently at 2 ~ 3 × 10^-3 torr, 30 sccm, 100 watt, 20 min. and room temperature, respectively. Cross sectional views and surface morphology of the deposited thin films are observed by field emission scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The hardness values are determined by nano-indentation measurement. The thickness of the deposited films is approximately within the range of 88 nm ~ 200 nm. As the amount of N₂ gas in the Ar:N₂ gas mixture increases, the thickness of the films decreases. AFM observation reveals that film deposited at high Ar:N₂ gas ratio and large amount of N₂ gas has a very irregular surface morphology, even though it has a low RMS value. The hardness value of the deposited films made with ratio of Ar:N₂=9:1 display the highest value. The XPS spectrum indicates that the deposited film is assigned to non-stoichiometric silicon nitride and the transmittance of the glass with deposited SiO₂-Si_xN_y thin film is satisfactory at 97 %.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.163-168
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• 2004

We prepared ultra thin film structure of Si(100)/ $SiO_2$(200 nm)/Ta(5 nm)/Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20/(l～15 nm)}$Ta(5 nm) using an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) helicon sputter. Magnetic properties and cross-sectional microstructures were investigated with a superconduction quantum interference device(SQUID) and a transmission electron microscope(TEM), respectively. We report that NiFe films of sub-3 nm thickness show the B$_{bulk}$ = 0 and B$_{surf}$=-3 ${\times}$ 10$^{-7}$(J/$m^2$). Moreover, Curie temperature may be lowered by decreasing thickness. Coercivity become larger as temperature decreased with 0.5 nm - thick Ta/NiFe interface intermixing. Our result implies that effective magnetic properties of magnetoelastic anisotropy, saturation magnetization, and coercivity may change abruptly in nano-thick films. Thus we should consider those abrupt changes in designing nano-devices such as MRAM applications.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.37-41
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• 2001

Photo catalytic characteristics of nano-sized TiO$_2$ powder with rutile phase produced using homogeneous precipitation process at low temperatures (HPPLT) were compared with those of commercial P-25 powder by Degussa Co. The TiO$_2$ powder by HPPLT showed very higher photoactivity in the removal rate, showing lower pH values in the solution, than the P-25 powder when eliminating metal ions such as Pb and Cu from aqueous metal-EDTA solutions. This can be inferred the more rapid photo-oxidation or -reduction of metal ions from the aqueous solution, together with relatively higher efficiencies in the use of electron-hole pair formed on the surface of TiO$_2$ particle, under UV light irradiation. Also, in the view of the TiO$_2$ particle morphology, compared to the well-dispersed spherical P-25 particle, the agglomerated TiO$_2$ particle by HPPL T consists of acicular typed primary particle with the thickness ranged of 3∼7 nm, which would be more effective to the photocatalytic reactions without electron-hole recombination on the surface of the TiO$_2$ particle under the UV light irradiation. It is, therefore, thought that the higher photo activity of the rutile TiO$_2$ powder by HPPLT in the aqueous solutions resulted from having its higher specific surface area as well as acicular shape primary particle with very thin thickness.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2013

Effects of material surface property, hydrophobic or hydrophilic, on the bio-fouling occurred on the bodies submerged in the sea water are investigated experimentally. 4 test models are used in the experiment, which includes aluminum foil in common use, AAO applied hydrophobic surface, HDFS coated hydrophobic surface and hydrophilic surface. Hydrophobic surfaces with numerous micro & nano-scale pillars on it seems to play very important role of preventing them from fouling in initial stage while the effects disappear in long term sense of fouling process. It is concluded that the surface hydrophobicity retards the initial fouling until the fouling thickness is smaller than the heights of the pillars on it but the effects diminish with the fouling proceeds so that the thickness grows bigger than the pillar heights.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.259-265
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• 2014

$ZrO_2$ films were coated on aluminum etching foil by the sol-gel method to apply $ZrO_2$ as a dielectric material in an aluminum(Al) electrolytic capacitor. $ZrO_2$ films annealed above $450^{\circ}C$ appeared to have a tetragonal structure. The withdrawal speed during dip-coating, and the annealing temperature, influenced crack-growth in the films. The $ZrO_2$ films annealed at $500^{\circ}C$ exhibited a dielectric constant of 33 at 1 kHz. Also, uniform $ZrO_2$ tunnels formed in Al etch-pits $1{\mu}m$ in diameter. However, $ZrO_2$ film of 100-200 nm thickness showed the withstanding voltage of 15 V, which was unsuitable for a high-voltage capacitor. In order to improve the withstanding voltage, $ZrO_2$-coated Al etching foils were anodized at 300 V. After being anodized, the $Al_2O_3$ film grew in the directions of both the Al-metal matrix and the $ZrO_2$ film, and the $ZrO_2$-coated Al foil showed a withstanding voltage of 300 V. However, the capacitance of the $ZrO_2$-coated Al foil exhibited only a small increase because the thickness of the $Al_2O_3$ film was 4-5 times thicker than that of $ZrO_2$ film.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.187-193
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• 2018

In this study, the electrical conductivity, transmittance and gas barrier properties of diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films were studied. DLC is an insulator, and has transmittance and oxygen gas barrier properties varying depending on the thickness of the thin film. Recently, many researchers have been trying to apply DLC properties to specific industrial conditions. The DLC thin films were deposited by PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) process. The doping gas was used for the DLC film to have electrical conductivity, and the optimum conditions of transmittance and gas barrier properties were established by adjusting the gas ratio and DLC thickness. In order to improve the electrical conductivity of the DLC thin film, $N_2$ doping gas was used for $CH_4$ or $C_2H_2$ gas. Then, a heat treatment process was performed for 30 minutes in a box furnace set at $200^{\circ}C$. The lowest sheet resistance value of the DLC film was found to be $18.11k{\Omega}/cm^2$. On the other hand, the maximum transmittance of the DLC film deposited on the PET substrate was 98.8%, and the minimum oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of the DLC film of $C_2H_2$ gas was 0.83.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.191-195
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• 2023

Three-layer nano-coated films in applications for the back cover of mobile cellular phones were prepared utilizing a roll-to-roll continuous process. By introducing a coating layer with a ceramic/metal/ceramic three-layer structure, the inherent reflective properties of the metals were maintained while electrically insulating properties were maintained. The thickness of the composite coating layer on a large area PET film with a length of 1,500 nm and width of 500 nm was less than 60 nm, and a uniform thickness was maintained in all areas. The transmittance according to the wavelength range (240~1600 nm) of the nanocoating film gradually increases as the wavelength increases, and is about 48 % at 1,000 nm, which is within the infrared region, and about 35.5 % at 550 nm, which is within the visible region. These results meet the required level of coated backcover (< 40 %).

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.273-278
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• 2012

Over the last decade, the hafnium-based gate dielectric materials have been studied for many application fields. Because these materials had excellent behaviors for suppressing the quantum-mechanical tunneling through the thinner dielectric layer with higher dielectric constant (high-K) than $SiO_2$ gate oxides. Although high-K materials compensated the deterioration of electrical properties for decreasing the thickness of dielectric layer in MOSFET structure, their nano-mechanical properties of $HfO_2$ thin film features were hardly known. Thus, we examined nano-mechanical properties of the Hafnium oxide ($HfO_2$) thin film in order to optimize the gate dielectric layer. The $HfO_2$ thin films were deposited by rf magnetron sputter using hafnium (99.99%) target according to various oxygen gas flows. After deposition, the $HfO_2$ thin films were annealed after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$ and $800^{\circ}C$ for 20 min in nitrogen ambient. From the results, the current density of $HfO_2$ thin film for 8 sccm oxygen gas flow became better performance with increasing annealing temperature. The nano-indenter and Weibull distribution were measured by a quantitative calculation of the thin film stress. The $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ had tensile stress. However, the $HfO_2$ thin film with increasing the annealing temperature up to $800^{\circ}C$ had changed compressive stress. This could be due to the nanocrystal of the $HfO_2$ thin film. In particular, the $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ had lower tensile stress, such as 5.35 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 4 sccm and 5.54 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 8 sccm. While the $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $800^{\circ}C$ had increased the stress value, such as 9.09 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 4 sccm and 8.17 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 8 sccm. From these results, the temperature dependence of stress state of $HfO_2$ thin films were understood.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.181-188
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• 2008

A.C. impedance properties of HA/Ti compound layer coated Ti-30Ta-($3{\sim}15$)Nb alloys have been studied by electrochemical method. Ti-30Ta binary alloys contained 3, 7, 10 and 15 wt% Nb were manufactured by the vacuum furnace system. And then specimen was homogenized at $1000^{\circ}C$ for 24 hrs. The sample was cut and polished for corrosion test and coating. It was coated with HA/Ti compound layer by magnetron sputter. The non-coated and coated morphology of Ti alloy were analyzed by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy X-ray dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) and filed emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). The corrosion behaviors were investigated using A.C. impedance test (PARSTAT 2273, USA) in 0.9% NaCl solution at $36.5{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. Ti-30Ta-($3{\sim}15\;wt%$)Nb alloys showed the ${\alpha}+{\beta}$ phase, and $\beta$ phase peak was predominantly appeared in the case of increasingly Nb contents. The microstructures of Ti alloy were transformed from needle-like structure to equiaxed structure as Nb content increased. From the analysis of coating surface, HA/Ti composite surface uniformed coating layer with 750 nm thickness. The growth directions of film were (211), (112), (300) and (202) for HA/Ti composite coating on the surface after heat treatment at $550^{\circ}C$, whereas, the growth direction of film was (110) for Ti coating. The polarization resistance ($R_p$) of HA/Ti composite coated Ti-alloys were higher than those of the Ti and HA coated samples in 0.9% NaCl solution at $36.5{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. Especially, corrosion resistance of Ti-Ta-Nb system increased as Nb content increased.