• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.75-81
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• 2011

Growth behaviors of iron-nitride on S45C steels at low pressure gas nitriding were examined. Surfaces of the steels covered with fine and porous oxide during the pre-oxidation using $N_2O$ gas. Well faceted particles connected with them were observed after 1 min nitriding. They grew steadily and filled inter-pores during additional nitriding process. From the X-ray diffraction analysis, ${\gamma}'$-iron nitride was dominantly formed at the initial stage but the amount of ${\varepsilon}$-iron nitride was rapidly increased as nitriding treatment time. The porous layer was formed on the particles and thickened up to half of nitride layer after 60 min nitriding. The observed growth behaviors were discussed in internal stress related with volume expansion involved in transforming from iron to iron-nitrides.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.111-116
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• 2019

Chromium was coated on a steel substrate by the Cr(III) electroplating method, and corroded at $500-900^{\circ}C$ for 5 h in $N_2/0.1%H_2S-mixed$ gas to study the high-temperature corrosion behavior of the Cr(III) coating in the highly corrosive $H_2S-environment$. The coating consisted of (C, O)-supersaturated, nodular chromium grains with microcracks. Corrosion was dominated by oxidation owing to thermodynamic stability of oxides compared to sulfides and nitrides. Corrosion initially led to formation of the thin $Cr_2O_3$ layer, below which (S, O)-dissolved, thin, porous region developed. As corrosion progressed, a $Fe_2Cr_2O_4$ layer formed below the $Cr_2O_3$ layer. The coating displayed relatively good corrosion resistance due to formation of the $Cr_2O_3$ scale and progressive sealing of microcracks.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.109-124
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• 2023

For decades, sputtering as a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method has been a widely used technique for film coating processes. The sputtering enables oxides, metals, alloys, nitrides, etc to be deposited on a wide variety of substrates from silicon wafers to polymer substrates. Meanwhile, transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) have played important roles as electrodes in electrical applications such as displays, sensors, solar cells, and thin-film transistors. TCO films fabricated through a sputtering process have a higher quality leading to an improved device performance than other films prepared with other methods. In this review, we discuss the mechanism of sputtering deposition and detail the TCO materials. Related technologies (processing conditions, materials, and applications) are introduced for electrical applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.96-97
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• 2012

In nitride and oxide film deposition, sputtered metals react with nitrogen or oxygen gas in a vacuum chamber to form metal nitride or oxide films on a substrate. The physical properties of sputtered films (metals, oxides, and nitrides) are strongly influenced by magnetron plasma density during the deposition process. Typical target power densities on the magnetron during the deposition process are ~ (5-30) W/cm2, which gives a relatively low plasma density. The main challenge in reactive sputtering is the ability to generate a stable, arc free discharge at high plasma densities. Arcs occur due to formation of an insulating layer on the target surface caused by the re-deposition effect. One current method of generating an arc free discharge is to use the commercially available Pinnacle Plus+ Pulsed DC plasma generator manufactured by Advanced Energy Inc. This plasma generator uses a positive voltage pulse between negative pulses to attract electrons and discharge the target surface, thus preventing arc formation. However, this method can only generate low density plasma and therefore cannot allow full control of film properties. Also, after long runs ~ (1-3) hours, depends on duty cycle the stability of the reactive process is reduced due to increased probability of arc formation. Between 1995 and 1999, a new way of magnetron sputtering called HIPIMS (highly ionized pulse impulse magnetron sputtering) was developed. The main idea of this approach is to apply short ${\sim}(50-100){\mu}s$ high power pulses with a target power densities during the pulse between ~ (1-3) kW/cm2. These high power pulses generate high-density magnetron plasma that can significantly improve and control film properties. From the beginning, HIPIMS method has been applied to reactive sputtering processes for deposition of conductive and nonconductive films. However, commercially available HIPIMS plasma generators have not been able to create a stable, arc-free discharge in most reactive magnetron sputtering processes. HIPIMS plasma generators have been successfully used in reactive sputtering of nitrides for hard coating applications and for Al2O3 films. But until now there has been no HIPIMS data presented on reactive sputtering in cluster tools for semiconductors and MEMs applications. In this presentation, a new method of generating an arc free discharge for reactive HIPIMS using the new Cyprium plasma generator from Zpulser LLC will be introduced. Data (or evidence) will be presented showing that arc formation in reactive HIPIMS can be controlled without applying a positive voltage pulse between high power pulses. Arc-free reactive HIPIMS processes for sputtering AlN, TiO2, TiN and Si3N4 on the Applied Materials ENDURA 200 mm cluster tool will be presented. A direct comparison of the properties of films sputtered with the Advanced Energy Pinnacle Plus + plasma generator and the Zpulser Cyprium plasma generator will be presented.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.413-417
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• 2014

The effect of calcination treatment of raw powders prior to high temperature synthesis of Ca-${\alpha}$-SiAlON:$Eu^{2+}$ phosphor was investigated. Based on data acquired from thermogravimetric analysis, calcination temperatures were set at 600, 750, and $900^{\circ}C$. Compared to the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of direct synthesis without calcination, a similar intensity was found for the $600^{\circ}C$ treatment, a 19% increased PL intensity was found for the $750^{\circ}C$ treatment, and a 23% decreased PL intensity was found for the $900^{\circ}C$ treatment. Observation of the particle morphology of the synthesized phosphors revealed that the material transport promoted through the agglomerates formed by the $750^{\circ}C$ treatment led to enhanced PL intensity. On the other hand, the oxidation of the starting AlN particles during the $900^{\circ}C$ treatment resulted in decreased photoluminescence.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.146-149
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• 2016

The CrN/TiN/Al thin films for solar selective absorber were prepared by dc reactive magnetron sputtering with multi targets. The binary nitride CrN layer deposited with change in N₂ gas flow rates. The gas mixture of Ar and N2 was an important parameter during sputtering deposition because the metal volume fraction (MVF) was controlled by the N2 gas flow rate. In this study, the crystallinity and surface properties of the CrN/TiN/Al thin films were estimated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The composition and depth profile of thin films were investigated using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The absorptance and reflectance with wavelength spectrum were recorded by UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry at a range of 300~1,100 nm.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.32A no.11
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• pp.35-43
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• 1995

To obtain high quality of $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ film, two dielectric layers of $Si_{3}N_{4}$ and $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ were subsequently formed on Si wafer. Silicon nitride films were thermally grown in 10 Torr ammonia ambient by R.F induced heating system. The thickness of thermally grown $Si_{3}N_{4}$ film was able to be controlled in the range of tens $\AA$ due to the self-limited growth property. $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ film of 200$\AA$ thickness was then deposited on the as-grown $Si_{3}N_{4}$ film about 25$\AA$ thickness by sputtering method and annealed at $900^{\circ}C$in $O_{2}$ ambient for 1hr. Stoichiometry film was prepared by the annealing in oxygen ambient. Despite the high temperature anneal process, silicon oxide layer was not grown at the interface of the layered films because of the oxidation barrier effect of Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ film. The fabricated $Ta_{2}O_{5}$/$Si_{3}N_{4}$ film showed low leakage current less than several nA and high dielectric breakdown strength.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.334.2-334.2
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• 2016

Silicon nitride (SiNx:H) films are generally used as passivation layer on solar cell and they are usually made by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). In this study, we investigated the properties of silicon nitride (SiNx:H) films made by PECVD. Effects of mixture ratio of process gases with silane (SiH4) and ammonia (NH3) on the passivation qualities of silicon nitride film are evaluated. Passivation properties of SiNx:H are focused by making antireflection properties identical with thickness and refractive index controlled. The absorption coefficient of each film was evaluated by spectrometric ellipsometery and the minority carrier lifetimes were evaluated by quasi-steady-state photo-conductance (QSSPC) measurement. The optical properties were obtained by UV-visible spectrophotometer. The interface properties were measured by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement and the film components were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy detection (RBS) - elastic recoil detection (ERD).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.311-320
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• 1998

The cryogenic fracture behaviors of austenitic stainless steel HN2 developed for nuclear fusion reactor were evaluated quantitatively by using the small punch(SP) test. The electrochemical polarization test was applied to study thermal aging degradation of HN2 steel. The X-ray diffraction(XRD) analysis was conducted to detect carbides and nitrides precipitated on the grain boundary of the heat treated HN2 steel. The mechanical properties of the HN2 steel significantly decreased with increasing time and temperature of heat treatment or with decreasing testing temperature. The integrated charge(Q) obtained from electrochemical polarization test showed a good correlation with the SP energy(ESP) obtained by means of SP tests. From the results observed in the x-ray diffraction and anodic polarization curve, it was known that the material the grain boundary. Combining SP test and electrochemical polarization test, it could be useful tools to non-destructively evaluate the cryogenic fracture behaviors and the aging degradation for cryogenic structural material.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.14-14
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• 2011

AlInN has been studied extensively over the past few years due to its interesting material properties that are not present in other ternary nitrides. However, basic material study of AlInN has not been reported as much compared to device applications due to the difficulty in the growth. We have performed the material studies from various aspects. A secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has shown high oxygen content above $1{\times}10^{18}\;cm^{-3}$ with its insensitivity to the growth conditions. While the free carrier concentration observed by the capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements was about $3{\times}10^{17}\;cm^{-3}$, the activation energy measured by temperature dependent C-V was only about 4 meV. Si doped AlInN (Si level ${\sim}2{\times}10^{18}\;cm^{-3}$) showed almost no carrier freeze-out at carrier density of $1{\times}10^{18}\;cm^{-3}$. More studies were carried out with a transmission electron microscopy, time-resolved photoluminescence and other analytical techniques to understand the results from SIMS and C-V studies. In this report, we will discuss the possible correlations between the abnormal characteristics in AlInN.