• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.552-555
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• 2004

The reliability issue of the probe tip/recording media interface is one of the most crucial concerns in the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)-based recording technology. In this work, the tribological characteristics of the probe/media interface were investigated by performing wear tests using an AFM. The ranges of applied normal load and sliding velocity for the wear test were 10 to 50nN and 2 to 20$\mu$m/s respectively. The damage of the probe tip was quantitatively as well as qualitatively characterized by Field Emission Scanning Probe Microscope (FESEM) analysis and calculated based on Archard s wear equation. It was shown that the wear coefficient of the probe tip was in the order of 10$^{-4}$ ~ 10$^{-3}$ , and significant contamination at the end of the probe tip was observed. Thus in order to implement the AFM-based recording technology, tribological optimization of the probe/media interface must be achieved.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2000.06a
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• pp.1528-1532
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• 2000

The conventional optics and near field optics are compared numerically in the view points of the spot size and propagation characteristics. The decaying characteristics of near field light require the optics to access the object within several tens of nanometers. Therefore the gap control is one of the main issues in the near field optics area. In this paper the gap control is done by using the shear force of the NF(Near Field) probe and the characteristics are examined. The probe is modeled as a 2'nd order mass-spring-damper system driven by a harmonic force. The primary cause of the decrease in vibration amplitude is due to the damping force - shear force - between the surface and the probe. Using the model, damping constant and resonance frequency of the probe is calculated as a function of probe-sample distance. Detecting the amplitude and phase shift of the NF probe attached to the high Q-factor piezoelectric tuning fork, we can control the position of the NF probe about 0 to 50nm above the sample. The feedback signal to regulate the probe-sample distance can be used independently for surface topography imaging. 3-D view of the shear force image of a testing sample with the period of $1{\mu}m$ will be shown.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.506-511
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• 1996

This paper deals with an inexpensive, simple and fast Langmuir probe sweeping circuit and its application. This sweeper completes a probe trace in a 1 ms order. Futhermore, the circuit drives a maximum probe voltage of $\pm$30V and has a maximum probe current capability of a few amperes. The plasma parameters are successfully determined using the fast Langmuir probe method.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.324-329
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• 2018

This study examined the effects of the contact position and structure of the test probe on its signal transmission characteristics. The contact position in the operating of the test probe was considered and then divided into the plunger inner contact and barrel inlet contact. The high frequency performance of the test probes was investigated for both contact positions. The signal transmission characteristics of the test probes with the structures of double, single, and out-spring was also analyzed. The insertion and return losses were calculated using the HFSS and the characteristic impedance of the test probes was analyzed using a Q3D simulation. The insertion loss of the barrel inlet contact was smaller than that of the plunger inner contact. The contact position of the test probe may result in a change in the high frequency performance. The out-spring probe has better frequency characteristics at -1 dB insertion loss and -10 dB return loss. The double probe and single probe have the same characteristic impedance with $30.8{\Omega}$. On the other hand, the out-spring probe has an impedance of $47.1{\Omega}$. The out-spring probe is closer to $50{\Omega}$ than the other probes and then shows higher signal transmission characteristics. The out-spring probe has superior high-frequency characteristics and is expected to be suitable for high-speed applications.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.10
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• pp.1706-1711
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• 2016

Electromagnetic wave simulation was performed to predict characteristics of manufactured cutoff probe at low temperature magnetized plasma medium. Microwave cutoff probe is designed for research the properties of magnetized inductively coupled plasma. It was shown that the cutoff probe method can safely be used for weakly magnetized high density plasma sources. Cutoff probe system with two port network analyzer has been prepared and applied to measure electron density distributions in large area, 13.56MHz driven weakly magnetized inductively coupled plasma source. The results shown that, the plasma frequency confirmed cut-off characteristics in low temperature plasma. Especially, cut-off characteristics was found at upper hybrid resonance frequency in the environment of the magnetic field. In case of a induced weak magnetic field in inductively coupled plasma, plasma density estimated from the cutoff frequency in the same way at unmagnetized plasma due to nearly same plasma frequency and upper hybrid resonance frequency. The plasma density is increased and uniformity is improved by applying a induced weak magnetic field in inductively coupled plasma.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.81-88
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• 2012

Probe tip, which should have not only superior electrical characteristics but also good abrasion resistance for numerous contacts with semiconductor pads to confirm their availability, is essential for MEMS probe card. To obtain good durability of probe tip, it needs thick and crack-free rhodium layer on the tip. However, when the rhodium thickness deposited by electroplating increased, unwanted cracks by high internal stress led to serious problem of MEMS probe tip. This article reported the method of thick Rh deposition with Au buffer layer on the probe tip to overcome the problem of high internal stress and studied mechanical and electrical properties of that. MEMS probe tip with double-Rh layer had good contact resistance and durability during long term touch downs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.576-576
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• 2013

Recently, diagnostics of plasma becomes more important due to requirement of precise control of plasma processing based on measurement of plasma characteristics. The Langmuir probe has been used for the diagnostics but it has an inevitable uncertainty and error sources such as incorrect tip length and RF noise. Instead of the Langmuir probe, various diagnostic methods have been developed and researched. The cutoff probe is promising one for plasma density using microwaves and resonance phenomenon at the plasma frequency. The cutoff probe has various advantages as follows; (i) it is simple and robust, (ii) it uses few assumptions, and (iii) it is free from deposition by reactive gas. However, the cutoff probe also has uncertainty and error sources such as gap between tips, tip length, direction of tip plane, and RF noise. In this study, the uncertainty and error sources in manufacturing both probes and in diagnostics process were analyzed via comparative experiment at various discharge conditions. Furthermore, to reveal the user dependence of both probes, three well trained Ph. D students made the Langmuir probe and the cutoff probe, respectively, and it were analyzed. Thought this study, it is established that reliability and validity of the Langmuir probe and the cutoff probe related with not only the intrinsic characteristics of probes but also probe user.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.33-37
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• 2012

This paper describes the characteristics for ground impedance of counterpoise according to position of auxiliary probe and frequency using the fall-of-potential method and the testing techniques to minimize the measuring errors are proposed. The fall-of-potential method is theoretically based on the potential and current measuring principle and the measuring error is primarily caused by the position of auxiliary probes. In order to analyze the effects of ground impedance due to the distance of the current probe and frequency, ground impedances were measured in case that the distance of current probe was located from 10[m] to 100[m] and the measuring frequency was ranged in 55 [Hz], 128[Hz], 342[Hz], and 513[Hz]. The results could be help to determine the position of auxiliary probe when the ground impedance was measured at grounding system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2006

In this paper, the eddy current signals come from a pair oi transmit-receive (T/R) pancake coil on ECT array Probe are analyzed with the variations of the lift-of and of the distance between transmit and receive coils. To obtain the electromagnetic characteristics of the probes, the governing equation describing the eddy current problems is derived from Maxwell's equation and is solved using three-dimensional finite element method. Eddy current signals from T/R coils on ECT array probe have quite different characteristics compared with ones from impedance coil on rotating pancake coil probe. The results in this paper ran be helpful when the field eddy current signals from ECT array probe are evaluated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.218.1-218.1
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• 2014

In order to measure the absolute plasma density, various probes are proposed and investigated and microwave probes are widely used for its advantages (Insensitivity to thin non-conducting material deposited by processing plasmas, High reliability, Simple process for determination of plasma density, no complicate assumptions and so forth). There are representative microwave probes such as the cutoff probe, the hairpin probe, the impedance probe, the absorption probe and the plasma transmission probe. These probes utilize the microwave interactions with the plasma-sheath and inserted structure (probe), but frequency range used by each probe and specific mechanisms for determining the plasma density for each probe are different. In the recent studies, behaviors of each microwave probe with respect to the plasma parameters of the plasma density, the pressure (the collision frequency), and the sheath width is abundant and reasonably investigated, whereas relative diagnostic characteristics of the probes by a comparative study is insufficient in spite of importance for comprehensive applications of the probes. However, experimental comparative study suffers from spatially different plasma characteristics in the same discharge chamber, a low-reproducibility of ignited plasma for an uncertainty in external discharge parameters (the power, the pressure, the flow rate and so forth), impossibility of independently control of the density, the pressure, and the sheath width as well as expensive and complicate experimental setup. In this paper, various microwave probes are simulated by finite-different time-domain simulation and the error between the input plasma density in FDTD simulations and the measured that by the unique microwave spectrums of each probe is obtained under possible conditions of plasma density, pressure, and sheath width for general low-temperature plasmas. This result shows that the each probe has an optimum applicable plasma condition and reliability of plasma density measurement using the microwave probes can be improved by the complementary use of each probe.