• Applied Microscopy
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.277-281
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• 2009

Practical difficulties for preparing a good crosssectional specimen of GaN-based materials for transmission electron microscopy have arisen due to large difference of mechanical properties between hard ceramic substrate and soft GaN-layered materials. Uneven polishing, sudden cracking, delamination, and selective sputtering during the conventional wedge polishing technique are often encountered as experimental hindrances. The preparation technique based on Strecker's method can be applied to overcome these difficulties, which eventually leads to mechanically stable TEM samples independent of the mechanical properties of materials. The basic idea is to use hard ceramic dummy filler for embedding the sample of interest into the dummy frame. In this study, we applied this technique into preparing cross-sectional TEM specimen of the GaN-based materials with mechanical instability and demonstrated usefulness of this hard dummy filler method in which the possible modifications of the sample of interest during the preparation must be avoidable. In addition, practical precautions during the preparation were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.339-344
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• 2017

Highly corrosion resistance performance of CrAlSiN coatings were obtained by applying ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ thin films using atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. CrAlSiN coatings were prepared on Cr adhesion layer/SUS304 substrates by a hybrid coating system of arc ion plating and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) method. And, ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ passivation layer was deposited on the CrAlSiN/Cr adhesion layer/SUS304 sample to protect CrAlSiN coatings by encapsulating the whole surface defects of coating using ALD. Here, the high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) analysis revealed that the ALD $Al_2O_3$ thin films uniformly covered the inner and outer surface of CrAlSiN coatings. Also, the potentiodynamic and potentiostatic polarization test revealed that the corrosion protection properties of CrAlSiN coatings/Cr/SUS304 sample was greatly improved by ALD encapsulation with 50 nm-thick $Al_2O_3$ thin films, which implies that ALD-$Al_2O_3$ passivation layer can be used as an effect barrier layer of corrosion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.414-415
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• 2005

A solar cell is an element to transform the solar light energy into the electric energy in a moment. The single crystal element of high quality on which many studies were conducted in the past has a high efficiency of energy transformation, but its price competitiveness is so poor that it has failed to be popularized However, recently, in terms of an environment-friendly alternative energy, studies on applicability of the polycrystal solar cell have been actively under way. Among subject substances for such solar cell, $CuInSe_2$ has several good physical properties so that the greatest attention is paid to it as an optical absorption layer material for a low-cost solar cell of high efficiency. In order to manufacture the $CuInSe_2$ compound thin film, the unit element was deposited by using the sputtering method and the evaporation method and the heat treatment process was used in an electric furnace. Thereby, we intended to get a single-phase $CuInSe_2$ compound thin film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.448-448
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• 2010

Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) has made a prominent progress in memory performance and has brought a bright prospect for the next generation nonvolatile memory technologies due to its excellent advantages. Dry etching process of magnetic thin films is one of the important issues for the magnetic devices such as magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs) based MRAM. CoFeB is a well-known soft ferromagnetic material, of particular interest for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) and other devices based on tunneling magneto-resistance (TMR), such as spin-transfer-torque MRAM. One particular example is the CoFeB - MgO - CoFeB system, which has already been integrated in MRAM. In all of these applications, knowledge of control over the etching properties of CoFeB is crucial. Recently, transferring the pattern by using milling is a commonly used, although the redeposition of back-sputtered etch products on the sidewalls and the low etch rate of this method are main disadvantages. So the other method which has reported about much higher etch rates of >$50{\AA}/s$ for magnetic multi-layer structures using $Cl_2$/Ar plasmas is proposed. However, the chlorinated etch residues on the sidewalls of the etched features tend to severely corrode the magnetic material. Besides avoiding corrosion, during etching facets format the sidewalls of the mask due to physical sputtering of the mask material. Therefore, in this work, magnetic material such as CoFeB was etched in an ICP etching system using the gases which can be expected to form volatile metallo-organic compounds. As the gases, carbon monoxide (CO) and ammonia ($NH_3$) were used as etching gases to form carbonyl volatiles, and the etched features of CoFeB thin films under by Ta masking material were observed with electron microscopy to confirm etched resolution. And the etch conditions such as bias power, gas combination flow, process pressure, and source power were varied to find out and control the properties of magnetic layer during the process.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2009

Indium tin oxide(ITO) thin films were deposited on the glass substrates by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method. The influence of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment on the optical and electrical properties of the films were investigated for the purpose of fabricating plasma display signboard. Structural properties, surface roughness, sheet resistance and transmittance of the ITO film were analysed by using x-ray diffraction method, atomic force microscopy (AFM), four point prove, and ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, respectively. It was found that the RTA treatment increased the transmittance and decreased the resistivity of the ITO film, respectively. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrated the direct-current plasma signboard by using ITO electrode and phosphors.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.65-65
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• 2012

Copper zinc tin sulfide ($Cu_2ZnSnS_4$, CZTS) is a very promising material as a low cost absorber alternative to other chalcopyrite-type semiconductors based on Ga or In because of the abundant and economical elements. In addition, CZTS has a band-gap energy of 1.4~1.5eV and large absorption coefficient over ${\sim}10^4cm^{-1}$, which is similar to those of $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$(CIGS) regarded as one of the most successful absorber materials for high efficient solar cell. Most previous works on the fabrication of CZTS thin films were based on the vacuum deposition such as thermal evaporation and RF magnetron sputtering. Although the vacuum deposition has been widely adopted, it is quite expensive and complicated. In this regard, the solution processes such as sol-gel method, nanocrystal dispersion and hybrid slurry method have been developed for easy and cost-effective fabrication of CZTS film. Among these methods, the hybrid slurry method is favorable to make high crystalline and dense absorber layer. However, this method has the demerit using the toxic and explosive hydrazine solvent, which has severe limitation for common use. With these considerations, it is highly desirable to develop a robust, easily scalable and relatively safe solution-based process for the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer with a thickness of 1.5~2.0 ${\mu}m$ and micrometer-scaled grains using two different non-vacuum approaches. The first solution-processing approach includes air-stable non-toxic solvent-based inks in which the commercially available precursor nanoparticles are dispersed in ethanol. Our readily achievable air-stable precursor ink, without the involvement of complex particle synthesis, high toxic solvents, or organic additives, facilitates a convenient method to fabricate a high quality CZTS absorber layer with uniform surface composition and across the film depth when annealed at $530^{\circ}C$. The conversion efficiency and fill factor for the non-toxic ink based solar cells are 5.14% and 52.8%, respectively. The other method is based on the nanocrystal dispersions that are a key ingredient in the deposition of thermally annealed absorber layers. We report a facile synthetic method to produce phase-pure CZTS nanocrystals capped with less toxic and more easily removable ligands. The resulting CZTS nanoparticle dispersion enables us to fabricate uniform, crack-free absorber layer onto Mo-coated soda-lime glass at $500^{\circ}C$, which exhibits a robust and reproducible photovoltaic response. Our simple and less-toxic approach for the fabrication of CZTS layer, reported here, will be the first step in realizing the low-cost solution-processed CZTS solar cell with high efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.274-281
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• 1999

Usually sputtering and electroless plating methods were used for manufacturing metal-alloy thin film magnetic memory devices. Since electroless plating method has many merits in mass production and product variety com­pared to sputtering method, many researches about electroless plating have been performed in the United State of America and Japan. However, electroless plating method has not been studied frequently in Korea. In these respects the purpose of this research is manufacturing Co-Mn-P alloy thin film on the corning glass 2948 by electroless plating method using sodium hypophosphite as a reductant, and analyzing deposition rate, alloy composition, microstructure, and magnetic characteristics at various pH's and temperatures. For Co-P alloy thin film, the reductive deposition reaction 0$\alpha$urred only in basic condition, not in acidic condition. The deposition rate increased as the pH and temperature increased, and the optimum condition was found at the pH of 10 and the temperature of $80^{\circ}C$. Also magnetic charac­teristics was found to be most excellent at the pH of 9 and the temperature of $70^{\circ}C$, resulting in the coercive force of 8700e and the squareness of 0.78. At this condition, the contents of P was 2.54% and the thickness of the film was $0.216\mu\textrm{m}$. For crystal orientation, we could not observe fcc for $\beta$-Co. On the other hand,(1010), (0002), (1011) orientation of hcp for a-Co was observed. We could confirm the formation of longitudinal magnetization from dominant (1010) and (1011) orientation of Co-P alloy. For Co-Mn-P alloy deposition, coercive force was about 1000e more than that of Co P alloy, but squareness had no difference. For crystal orientation, (l01O) and (lOll) orientation of $\alpha$-Co was dominant as same as that of Co- P alloy. Likewise we could confirm the formation of longitudinal magnetization.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2017

In this paper, the sizing removal condition for the pretreatment of composite materials is obtained numerically by applying an image processing algorithm and nickel-plated carbon fiber is fabricated by a dry process method to enhance its electromagnetic shielding performance. Sizings that are wrapped in a polymer type material during the manufacturing of carbon fiber should be removed for dry coating. A numerical value, that is the correlation, can be obtained by determining the regular pattern of the carbon fiber in the image taken by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) after the sizing is removed. The application of the proposed numerical method to the SEM image of the fiber after the sizing is removed with solution, compressed air, solution and compressed air (hybrid), showed that this method of eliminating the sizing is superior to the hybrid method. Then, by spreading the carbon fiber roll with the sizing removed, we were able to produce nickel plated carbon fiber by the roll-to-roll sputtering method. The electromagnetic shielding performance of the fabricated 30, 40 and 100 nickel coated carbon fibers was measured. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology evaluated the electromagnetic shielding performance of the 100 nickel-coated carbon fiber to have a maximum value of 73.2 (dB) and a minimum value of 66.7 (dB). This is similar to the electromagnetic shielding rate of copper and shows that this material can be used as a cable for EV / HEV automobiles.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.291-298
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• 2016

Electrochemical water treatment process as a useful treatment method for the removal of non-degradable matter has been consistently studied for several decades. Key process of electrochemical water treatment are oxidation reaction from an anode and reduction from a cathode. In this study, the effect of pre-treatment methods in the insoluble electrode manufacturing process for the water treatment has been evaluated for the life time of electrode The results of this study showed that pre-treatment methods of a base metal such as surface roughness, clean method and interlayer formation influenced to life time of electrode when the same condition (catalyst electrode layer coating method and material system) was applied for pre-treatment methods. This study was conducted by using $IrO_2/Ti$ electrode In the test of sand-blasting process, an electrode manufactured by using sanding media of different sizes resulted in the most effective electrode life time when the size of alumina was used for $212{\sim}180{\mu}m$ praticle size (#80). The most effective method was considered using arc plasma in the additional roughness control and cleaning process, sputtering method to form Ta type interlayer formation process.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.27-31
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• 2009

Now a days, the Medical X-ray equipments has become digitalized from analog type such as film, cassette to CR, DR. And many scientists are still researching and developing the Medical X-ray equipment. In this study, we used the Bismuth tri-iodide to conversion material for digital X-ray equipments and we couldn't get the satisfying result than previous study, but it opened new possibility to cover the disadvantage of a-Se is high voltage aplly and difficultness of make. In this paper, we use $BiI_3$ powder(99.99%) as x-ray conversion material and make films that have thickness of 200um and the film size is $3cm{\times}3cm$. Also, we deposited an ITO(Indium Tin Oxide) electrode as top electrode and bottom electrode using a Magnetron Sputtering System. To evaluate a characteristics of the produced films, an electrical and structural properties are performed. Through a SEM analysis, we confirmed a surface and component part. And to analyze the electrical properties, darkcurrent, sensitivity and SNR(Signal to Noise Ratio) are measured. Darkcurrent is $1.6nA/cm^2$ and sensitivity is $0.629nC/cm^2$ and this study shows that the electrical properties of x-ray conversion material that made by screen printing method are similar to PVD method or better than that. This results suggest that $BiI_3$ is suitable for a replacement of a-Se because of the reduced manufacture processing and improved yield.