• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.388-393
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• 2020

The enamel powders used traditionally in Korea are produced by a ball-milling process. Because of their irregular shapes, enamel powders exhibit poor flowability. Therefore, polygonal enamel powders are only used for handmade cloisonné crafts. In order to industrialize or automate the process of cloisonné crafts, it is essential to control the size and shape of the powder. In this study, the flowability of the enamel powders was improved using the spheroidization process, which employs the RF plasma treatment. In addition, a simple grid structure and logo were successfully produced using the additive manufacturing process (powder bed fusion), which utilizes spherical enamel powders. The additive manufacturing technology of spherical enamel powders is expected to be widely used in the field of cloisonné crafting in the future.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.166-169
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• 2010

In this study, we changed the etch parameters (gas mixing ratio, radio frequency [RF] power, direct current [DC]-bias voltage, and process pressure) and then monitored the effect on the $HfAlO_3$ thin film etch rate and the selectivity with $SiO_2$. A maximum etch rate of 108.7 nm/min was obtained in $Cl_2$ (3 sccm)/$BCl_3$ (4 sccm)/Ar (16 sccm) plasma. The etch selectivity of $HfAlO_3$ to $SiO_2$ reached 1.11. As the RF power and the DC-bias voltage increased, the etch rate of the $HfAlO_3$ thin film increased. As the process pressure increased, the etch rate of the $HfAlO_3$ thin films increased. The chemical state of the etched surfaces was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. According to the results, the etching of $HfAlO_3$ thin film follows the ion-assisted chemical etching.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.582-582
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• 2013

Oxide TFT (thin film transistor) active channel layer에 대한 저온 열처리 공정은 투명하고 flexibility을 기반으로하는 display 산업과 AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) 분야 등 다양한 분야에서 필요로 하는 기술로서 많은 연구가 이루어지고 있다. 과거 active layer는 ALD (atomic layer deposition), CVD (chemical vapor deposition), pulse laser deposition, radio frequency-dc (RF-dc) magnetron sputtering 등과 같은 고가의 진공 장비를 이용하여 증착 되어져 왔으나 현재에는 진공 장비 없이 spin-coating 후 열처리 하는 저가의 공정이 주로 연구되어 지고 있다. Flexible 기판들은 일반적인 OTFT (oxide thin films Transistor)에 적용되는 열처리 온도로 공정 진행시 열에 의한 기판의 손상이 발생한다. Flexible substrate의 열에 의한 기판 손상을 막기 위해 저온 열처리 공정이 연구되고 있지만 기존 열처리와 비교하여 소자의 특성 저하가 동반 되었다. 본 연구에서는 Si 기판위에 SiO2 (100)를 절연층으로 증착하고 그 위에 IZO (indium zinc oxide) solution을 spin-coating 한뒤 $250^{\circ}C$ 이하의 온도에서 열처리하였다. 저온 공정으로 인하여 소자의 특성 저하가 동반 되었으므로 소자의 저하된 특성 복원하고자 post-treatment로 고가의 진공장비가 필요 없고 roll-to roll system 적용이 수월한 remote-type의 APP (atmospheric pressure plasma) 처리를 하였다. Post-treatment로 APP를 이용하여 $250^{\circ}C$ 이하에서 소자에 적용 가능한 on/off ratio를 얻을 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.244-248
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• 2018

We propose a method for improving the reliability of a solar cell by applying a fluorinated surface coating to protect the cell from the outdoor environment using an atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) treatment. An APP source is operated by radio frequency (RF) power, Ar gas, and $O_2gas$. APP treatment can remove organic contaminants from the surface and improve other surface properties such as the surface free energy. We determined the optimal APP parameters to maximize the surface free energy by using the dyne pen test. Then we used the scratch test in order to confirm the correlation between the APP parameters and the surface properties by measuring the surface free energy and adhesive characteristics of the coating. Consequently, an increase in the surface free energy of the cover glass caused an improvement in the adhesion between the coating layer and the cover glass. After treatment, adhesion between the coating and cover glass was improved by 35%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.249-254
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• 2020

An 80 nm thick zinc aluminate thin film was deposited on a glass substrate via radio-frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering and heat treated to analyze changes in the wetting angles due to a surface modification. The thin films were modified from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by a simple thermal treatment. The surface modification from a heat treatment increased the wetting angles up to 111°, which was explained by the relationship with the excess surface area. The wetting angles of the annealed thin films decreased with increasing exposure time under ambient conditions, which was attributed to the oxygen vacancies in the films that were introduced during deposition. The annealed thin films were treated by ionized oxygen via oxygen plasma. After the oxygen plasma treatment, the decreased wetting angles were maintained at ~95° for 11 days.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.28-34
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• 2004

The polarizing film application exploits the unique physicochemical properties between PVA(Poly vinyl alcohol) film and CTA(Cellulose triacetate) film. However, hardly any research was aimed at improving the adhesion characteristics of the CTA film by radio frequency(RF) plasma treatment at argon(Ar) gaseous state. In this report, we deal with surface treatment technology for protective CTA film developed specifically for high adhesion applications. After Ar plasma, surface of the films is analyzed by atomic force microscopy(AFM), roughness parameter and peel strength. Furthermore, the wetting properties of the CTA film were studied by contact angle analysis. Results obtained for CTA films treated with a glow discharge showed that this technique is sensitive to newly created physical functions. The roughness and peel strength value increased with an increase in treatment time for initial treatment, but showed decreasing trend for continuous treatment time. The result of contact angle measurement refer that the hydrophilicity of surface was increased. AFM studies indicated that no considerable change of surface morphology occurred up to 3 minutes of treatment time, but a considerable uneven of surface structure resulted from treating time after 5 minutes.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.622-628
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• 2001

We developed 1- and 2-dimensional fluid model for the analysis of a capacitively coupled Ar RF(Radio Frequency) glow discharge. This discharge is in pure Ar gas at the pressure 100[mTorr], frequency 13.56[MHz] and voltage amplitude 120[V}. This model is based on the equations of continuity and electron energy conservation coupled with Poison equation. 2-dimensional model is simulated on the condition of GEC(Gaseous Electronic Conference cell). The geometry of the discharge chamber and the electrodes used in the model is cylindrically simmetric; tow cylinders for the electrodes are surrounded by the grounded chamber. It is shown that 1-dimensional model is very useful on the understanding of RF glow discharge property and of the movement of charged particles. 2-dimensional model predicts off-axis maximum structure as in the experiments and has the results in qualitatively and quantitatively good agreement with the experiments. Effects of dc self-bias voltage, guard ring and reactor geometry is discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.96-96
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• 2016

Nanotechnology mostly employs nano-materials and nano-structures with distinctive properties based on their size, structure, and composition. It is quite difficult to produce nano-materials and nano-structures with identical sizes, structures, and compositions in large quantities, because of spatiotemporal fluctuation of production processes. In other words, fluctuation is the bottleneck in nanotechnology. We propose three strategies to suppress such fluctuations: employing 1) difference between linear and nonlinear phenomena, 2) difference in time constants, and 3) nucleation as a bottleneck phenomenon. We are also developing nano- and micro-scale guided assembly using plasmas as a plasma nanofabrication.1-5) We manipulate nano- and micro-objects using electrostatic, electromagnetic, ion drag, neutral drag, and optical forces. The accuracy of positioning the objects depends on fluctuation of position and energy of an object in plasmas. Here we evaluate such fluctuations and discuss the mechanism behind them. We conducted in-situ evaluation of local plasma potential fluctuation using tracking analysis of fine particles (=objects) in plasmas. Experiments were carried out with a radio frequency low-pressure plasma reactor, where we set two quartz windows at the top and bottom of the reactor. Ar plasmas were generated at 200 Pa by applying 13.56MHz, 450V peak-to-peak voltage. The injected fine particles were monodisperse methyl methacrylate-polymer spheres of $10{\mu}m$ in diameter. Fine particles were injected into the reactor and were suspended around the plasma/sheath boundary near the powered electrode. We observed binary collision of fine particles with a high-speed camera. The frame rate was 1000-10000 fps. Time evolution of their distance from the center of mass was measured by tracking analysis of the two particles. Kinetic energy during the collision was obtained from the result. Potential energy formed between the two particles was deduced by assuming the potential energy plus the kinetic energy is constant. The interaction potential is fluctuated during the collision. Maximum amplitude of the fluctuation is 25eV, and the average is 8eV. The fluctuation can be caused by neutral molecule collisions, ion collisions, and fluctuation of electrostatic force. Among theses possible causes, fluctuation of electrostatic force may be main one, because the fine particle has a large negative charge of -17000e and the corresponding electrostatic force is large compared to other forces.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.112-118
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• 2001

Magnetic field is commonly used in low temperature processing plasmas to enhance the performance of the plasma reactors. E$\times$B magnetron or surface multipole configuration is the most popular. However, the properties of capacitively coupled rf plasma confined by axial static magnetic field have rarely been studied. With these background, the effect of magnetic field on the characteristics of capacitively coupled 13.56 MHz/40 KHz argon plasma was studied, Ion saturation current, electron temperature and plasma potential were measured by Langmuir probe and emissive probe. At low pressure region (~10 mTorr), ion current increases by a factor of 3-4 due to reduction of diffusion loss of charged particles to the wall. Electron temperature slightly increases with magnetic field for 13.56 MHz discharge. However, for 40 KHz discharge, electron temperature decreased from 1.8 eV to 0.8 eV with magnetic field. It was observed that the magnetic field induces large temporal variation of the plasma potential. Particle in cell simulation was performed to examine the behaviors of the space potential. Experimental and simulation results agreed qualitatively.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.135-140
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• 2015

Decomposition of carbon dioxide is studied using $Ar/CO_2$ mixture inductively coupled plasmas (ICP). Argon gas was added to generate plasma which has high electron density. To measure decomposition rate of $CO_2$, optical emission actinometry is used. Changing input power, pressure and mixture ratio, the plasma parameters and the spectrum intensity were measured using single Langmuir probe and spectroscope. The source characteristic of Carbon dioxide ICP observed from the obtained plasma parameters. The decomposition rate is evolved depending on the reaction and discharge mode. This result is analyzed with both the measurement of the plasma parameters and the dissociation mechanism of $CO_2$.