• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.471-478
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• 2010

Thin films play an important role in many technological applications including microelectronic devices, magnetic storage media, MEMS and surface coatings. It is well known that a thin film's material properties can be very different from the corresponding bulk properties and thus there has been a strong need for the development of a reliable test method to measure the mechanical properties of a thin film. We have developed an alternative and convenient test method to overcome the limitations of previous membrane deflection experiment and uniaxial tensile test by adopting a white light interferometer having sub-nanometer out-of-plane displacement resolution. The freestanding aluminium specimens are tested to verity the effectiveness of the test method developed and get the tensile properties. The specimens are 0.5 rum wide, $1{\mu}m$ thick and fabricated through MEMS processes including sputtering. 1 to 5 specimens are fabricated on Si dies. The membrane deflection experiments are carried out by using a homemade tester consisted of a motor-driven loading tip, a load cell, and 6 DOF alignment stages. The test system is compact enough to set it up beneath a commercial white light interferometric microscope. The white light fringes are utilized to align a specimen with the tester. The Young's modulus and yield point stress of the aluminium film are 62 GPa and 247 MPa, respectively.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.145-152
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• 2013

The growth behavior of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) film has been studied for three different substrates, i.e. bare Si wafer, 1 ${\mu}m$ thick W and Ti films deposited on Si wafer by DC sputter. The surface roughness values of the substrates measured by AFM were Si < W < Ti. After ultrasonic seeding treatment using nanometer sized diamond powder, surface roughness remained as Si < W < Ti. The contact angles of the substrates were Si ($56^{\circ}$) > W ($31^{\circ}$) > Ti ($0^{\circ}$). During deposition in the microwave plasma CVD system, NCD particles were formed and evolved to film. For the first 0.5h, the values of NCD particle density were measured as Si < W < Ti. Since the energy barrier for heterogeneous nucleation is proportional to the contact angle of the substrate, the initial nucleus or particle densities are believed to be Si < W < Ti. Meanwhile, the NCD growth rate up to 2 h was W > Si > Ti. In the case of W substrate, NCD particles were coalesced and evolved to the film in the short time of 0.5 h, which could be attributed to the fact that the diffusion of carbon species on W substrate was fast. The slower diffusion of carbon on Si substrate is believed to be the reason for slower film growth than on W substrate. The surface of Ti substrate was observed as a vertically aligned needle shape. The NCD particle formed on the top of a Ti needle should be coalesced with the particle on the nearby needle by carbon diffusion. In this case, the diffusion length is longer than that of Si or W substrate which shows a relatively flat surface. This results in a slow growth rate of NCD on Ti substrate. As deposition time is prolonged, NCD particles grow with carbon species attached from the plasma and coalesce with nearby particles, leaving many voids in NCD/Ti interface. The low adhesion of NCD films on Ti substrate is related to the void structure of NCD/Ti interface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.289-289
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• 2012

터치패널은 키보드나 마우스와 같은 입력장치를 사용하지 않고, 스크린에 손가락, 펜 등을 접촉하여 입력하는 방식이다. 누구나 쉽게 입력할 수 있는 장점으로 인해 기존에는 현금인출기, 키오스크 등 공공분야에 주로 많이 사용되어 왔으나, 최근의 터치스크린은 휴대폰, 게임기, 네비게이션, 노트북 모니터 등 개인정보기기의 입력장치로 활용분야가 넓어져가고 있다. 최근의 정전용량 방식의 터치패널은 디스플레이 패널 위에 올여지는 형태의 Add on type이며, 테블렛의 출현으로 터치패널의 사이즈가 커지면서 인듐산화물 투명성 전도막의 두께가 두꺼워지고, 이로 인하여 광학적 특성인 투과율이 저하되는 문제가 발생하여 투과율을 높여주기 위한 새로운 전도박막 제조방법이 요구되는 상황이다. 현재의 고글절 산화물(TiO2)과 저굴절 산화물(SiO2)의 적층형태의 저반사 특성의 다층막은 주로 플라즈마 보조의 전자빔 증착기를 이용하여 제조되기 때문에, 저반사 특성이 우수하지만 대면적 크기의 대량생산에는 적합하지가 않다. 그리고 태양전지의 에너지 변환효율도 태양전지로 흡수되는 태양광의 량에 크게 의존하기 때문에, 태양전지로 흡수되는 태양광 량을 높이기 위하여 태양전지의 가장 위층에 혹은 모듈 제작시 커버유리의 내부에 저반사 특성을 갖는 박막을 코팅한다. 특히 박막태양전지의 경우는 대면적의 유리위에 저반사 코팅을 해야 한다. 본 연구에서는 In-line magnetron sputtering system을 사용하여 소다라임 유리 기판 위에 고글절 산화물(Nb2O5)과 저굴절 산화물(SiO2)의 2층 적층형태의 "SiO2/Nb2O5/SiO2/Nb2O5/SLG" 다층 박막을 증착하고, 저반사의 광학적 특성을 하였고, 이를 논하고자한다. 일반적으로 빛이 투과되는 투명한 기판이 공기층에 노출되어있을 경우에 기판의 양면에서 공기층과의 계면에서 각각 4%의 반사율 즉, 총 8%의 반사율을 갖는데, 본 연구의 다층 박막에서는 530에서 540nm 파장 영역에서 투과율은 95% 이상, 반사율은 4.8% 이하이었다. 이 결과는 터치패널과 박막태양전지 시장의 Needs에 대응할 수 있기 때문에 산업의 응용측면에서 매우 중요한 연구 성과를 얻었다고 말할 수 있다. (본 연구는 지식경제부 사업화연게기술개발 연구지원금으로 일부 이루어졌음).

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.101-112
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• 2015

II~VI compound semiconductors, $Zn_xCd_{1-x}S$ thin films have been synthesized onto indium-tin-oxide(ITO) coated glass substrates using thermal evaporation technique. The composition ratio x($0{\leq}x{\leq}1$) was varied to fabricate different kinds of $Zn_xCd_{1-x}S$ thin films including CdS(x=0) and ZnS(x=1) thin films. Then, the deposited thin films were thermally annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ to enhance their crystallinity. The chemical composition and electronic structure of films were investigated by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). The optical energy gaps of the samples were determined by ultra violet-visible-near infrared(UV-Vis-NIR) spectroscopy and were found to vary in the range of 2.44 to 3.98 eV when x changes from 0 to 1. Finally, we measured the THz characteristics of the $Zn_xCd_{1-x}S$ thin films using THz-TDS(time domain spectroscopy) system to identify the capability for electronic and optical devices in THz region.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.115-122
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• 2017

The antiferromagnet IrMn based four different GMR-SV multilayers on Corning glass were prepared by using ion beam deposition and DC magnetron sputtering system. The magnetoresistance (MR) properties for single-type and dual-type GMR-SV multilayer films were investigated through the measured major and minor MR curves. The exchange bias coupling field ($H_{ex}$) and coercivity ($H_c$) of pinned layer, the $H_c$ and interlayer exchange coupling field ($H_{int}$) of free layer for the dual-type structure GMR-SV multilayer films consisted of top IrMn layer were 410 Oe, 60 Oe, 1.6 Oe, and 7.0 Oe, respectively. The minor MR curve of two free layers was performed the squarelike feature having a MR ratio of 8.7 % as the sum of 3.7 % and 5.0 %. The value of average magnetic field sensitivity (MS) was maintained at 2.0 %/Oe. Also, the magnetoresistance properties of the single-type and dual-type structure GMR-SV multilayer films consisted of bottom IrMn layer were decreased more than those of top IrMn layer. Two antiparallel states of magnetization spin arrays of the pinned and free layers in the dual-type GMR-SV multilayer films occurred the maximum MR value by the effect of spin dependence scattering.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.189-195
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• 2001

We prepared TMR junctions of NiFe(170 )/CoFe(48 )/Al(13 )-O/CoFe(500 )/Ta(50 ) structure on 2.5$\times$2.5 $\textrm{cm}^2$ area Si/SiO$_2$ substrates in order to investigate the uniformity of magnetoresistance(MR) value using a ICP magnetron sputter. Each layer was deposited by the ICP magnetron sputter and tunnel barrier was formed by the plasma oxidation method. We measured MR ratio and resistance of TMR devices with four-terminal probe system by applying external magnetic field. Although we used ICP sputter which is known as superior to make uniform films, the standard variation of MR ratio was 2.72. The variation was not dependent on the TMR devices location of a substrate. We found that MR ratio and spin-flip field (H's) increased as the resistance increased, which may be caused by local interface irregularity of the insulating layer. The variation of resistance value was 64.19 and MR ratio was 2.72, respectively. Our results imply that to improve the insulating layer fabrication process including annealing process to lessen interface modulation in order to mass produce the TMR devices.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.211-216
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• 2001

Top synthetic spin valves wi th structure Ta/NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe(Pl)/Ru/CoFe(P2)/FeMn/Ta on Si (100) substrate with SiO$_2$ of 1500 were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering system. We have changed only the thickness of the free layer and the thickness difference (Pl-P2) in the two ferromagnetic layers separated by Ru, and investigated the effect of magnetic film thickness on the GMR properties and the interlayer coupling field in a spin valve with a synthetic antiferromagnet. As thickness difference of pinned layer was decreased from +25 to -25 , MR ratio was decreased gradually. However, there was a dip zone indicating a big change of MR ratio around Pl = P2, which can be due to the large canting of pinned layers. The modified Neel model was suggested for the top synthetic spin valve to explain the interlayer coupling field according to the thickness change of ferromagnetic layers. The interlayer coupling field was decreased due to the magnetostatic coupling (orange peel coupling) as suggested by model. However, the interlayer coupling field was not explained at the dip zone by the modified Neel model. The deviation of modified Neel model at the dip zone could be due to the largely canting of the pinned layers as well, which depends on different thickness in synthetic antiferromagnetic structure.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.89-94
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• 2004

We have investigated magnetic properties of monolayer (ML)-thickness Co film deposited on InP(2${\times}$4) reconstruction surface using in situ Surface Magneto-Optical Kerr Effects (SMOKE) measurement system. InP(2${\times}$4) reconstruction surface, obtained by repeated sputtering and annealing, was confirmed by reflection hish energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscope (STM) measurements. From both longitudinal and polar SMOKE measurements, we have observed three distinguishable regions showing different magnetic properties depending on the Co thickness. In the Co film thickness smaller than 7 $m\ell$, no SMOKE signal was detected. In the following thickness between 8 $m\ell$ and 15 $m\ell$, both longitudinal and polar Kerr hysteresis loops were observed, which implies a metastable phase coexisted of in-plane and perpendicular anisotropies. In the film thickness larger than 16 $m\ell$, only longitudinal MOKE signal without polar signal was detected, which implies existence of in-plane anisotropy in this thickness region.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.196-202
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• 2000

Top synthetic spin valves with structure Ta/NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe(P1)/Ru/CoFe(P2)/FeMn/Ta on Si(100) substrate with natural oxide were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering system, and investigated on the magnetoresistance properties and effective exchange bias field. As the thickness of FeMn increased above 150 $\AA$, MR ratio was decreased due to the current shunting effect. As the thickness of free layer decreased below 40$\AA$, MR ratio was reduced rapidly. In case of 40 $\AA$ thick of free layer, spin valve film with a structure Si(100)/Ta(50 $\AA$)/NiFe(27 $\AA$)/CoFe(13 $\AA$)/Cu(26 $\AA$)/CoFe(30 $\AA$)/Ru(7 $\AA$)/CoFe(15 $\AA$)/FeMn(100 $\AA$)/Ta(50 $\AA$) exhibited maximum MR ratio of 7.5 % and an effective exchange bias field of 600 Oe, respectively. Thickness difference dependence in this synthetic spin valve structure on effective exchange field was investigated and interpreted by the analytical method. It should be noted that thickness increase of CoFe(P 1) and decrease of CoFe(P2) in synthetic antiferromagnet leaded to the decrease in effective exchange bias field by experimentally and analytically.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.203-209
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• 2000

Top synthetic spin valves with structure Ta/NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe(P 1)/Ru/CoFe(P2)/FeMn/Ta on Si (100) substrate with natural oxide were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering system. We have changed only the thickness in free layers and the thickness difference (Pl-P2) in two ferromagnetic layers separated by Ru, and investigated the effect of magnetic film thickness on interlayer coupling field in spin valve with synthetic antiferromagnet. According to the decrease of free layer thickness, interlayer coupling field was increased due to the magnetostatic coupling(orange peel coupling). In case of t$\_$P1/>t$\^$P2/, interlayer coupling field agreed well with the modified Neel model suggested in conventional spin valve structures by Kools et al. However, in case of t$\_$P1/>t$\^$P2/, it was found that the interlayer coupling field was not explained by the Modified Neel Model and was confirmed the necessity of further remodeling. The dependence of Cu thickness on the interlayer coupling field was investigated and 10 Oe of interlayer coupling field was obtained when the Cu thickness is 32 $\AA$.