• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.275-281
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• 2017

In this work, we have fabricated anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) with ordered nanoscale porosity through an anodization process. We deposited gold and nano-organic thin films on the porous AAO surface to protect its structure and reduce friction. We investigated the tribological characteristics of the porous AAO with respect to the protective surface coatings using tribometers. While investigating the frictional characteristics of the samples by applying normal forces of the order of micro-Newton, we observed that AAO without a protective coating exhibits the highest friction coefficient. In the presence of protective surface coatings, the friction coefficient decreases significantly. We applied normal forces of the order of milli-Newton during the tribotests to investigate the wear characteristics of AAO, and observed that AAO without protective surface coatings experiences severe damage due to the brittle nature of the oxide layer. We observed the presence of several pieces of fractured particles in the wear track; these fractured particles lead to an increase in the friction. However, by using surface coatings such as gold thin films and nano-organic thin films, we confirmed that the thin films with nanoscale thickness protect the AAO surface without exhibiting significant wear tracks and maintain a stable friction coefficient for the duration of the tribotests.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.207-211
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• 2005

In this work a multi-layered nanostructured TiAIN/CrN superlattice coatings was synthesized using closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering method and the relationships between their superlattice period (1), micro-structure, hardness and elastic modulus were investigated. In addition, wear test at $500^{\circ}C$ and oxidation resistance test at $900^{\circ}C$ were performed to investigate high temperature properties of these thin films. The coatings were characterized in terms of microstructure and mechanical properties by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nano-indentation test. Results from TEM analysis showed that superlattice periods was inversely proportional to the jig rotation speed. The maximum hardness and elastic modulus of 37 GPa and 375 GPa were observed at superalttice period of 6.1 nm and 4.4 nm, respectively. An higher value of microhardness from TiAIN/CrN thin films than either TiAIN (30 GPa) or CrN (26 GPa) was noted while the elastic modulus was approximately an average of TiAIN and CrN films. These enhancement effects in superlattice films could be attributed to the resistance to dislocation glide across interface between the CrN and TiAIN layers. Much improved plastic deformation resistance ($H^3/E^2$) of 0.36 from TiAIN/CrN coatings was observed, compared with 0.15 and 0.16 from TiAIN and CrN, respectively. Also the wear resistance at $500^{\circ}C$ was largely increased than those of single TiAIN and CrN coatings and TiAIN/CrN coatings showed much reduced weight gain after exposure at $900^{\circ}C$ for 20 hours.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.128-132
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• 2009

Transparent conducting thin films of indium tin oxide(ITO) co-sputtered with aluminum-doped zinc oxide(AZO) were deposited on glass substrate by dual magnetron sputtering. It was found that the electrical properties and structural characteristics of the films are significantly changed according to the sputtering power of the AZO target. The IAZTO film prepared with D.C power of ITO at 100 W and R.F power of AZO at 50 W shows an electrical resistivity of $4.6{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and a sheet resistance of $30{\Omega}/{\square}$ (for 150 nm thick). Besides of the improvement of the electrical properties, compared to the ITO films deposited at the same process conditions, the IAZTO films have very smooth surface, which is due to the amorphous nature of the films. However, the electrical conductivity of the IAZTO films was found to be deteriorated along with the crystallization in case of the high temperature deposition (above $310^{\circ}C$). In this work, high quality amorphous transparent conductive oxide layers could be obtained by mixing AZO with ITO, indicating possible use of IAZTO films as the transparent electrodes in OLED and flexible display devices.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.6 no.S1
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• pp.166-171
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• 1997

IBED is a very promosing thin film deposition method because of its many advantages, such as excellent adhesion property of films to substrates, room temperature processing, ease of control over the composition and thickness of films, and so on, over the conventional techniques, It has been widely applied in the field of surface modification of materials in the last decade. In our laboratory, many kinds of thin films, such as wear-resistant hard coatings, corrosion and oxidation protective coatings, biomaterial films, buffer layer for high temperature superconductor films, and oxygen sensitive film, have been synthesized by IBED, and several industrial applications of the IBED films have been conducted.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.267-271
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• 2009

Multicomponent transparent conducting oxide films were deposited on glass substrates at 150 by dual magnetron sputtering of AZO and ITO targets. In the case of mixing a limited amount of ITO (10W), resistivity of TCO films was significantly increased compared to the AZO film; from $3.5{\times}10^{-3}$ to $9.7{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. Deterioration of the electrical conductivity is attributed to the decreases in carrier concentration and Hall mobility. Improvement of the conductivity could be obtained for the films prepared with ITO powers larger than 40 W. The lowest resistivity ($\rho$) of $7.3{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ was achieved when ITO power was 100 W. Effects of $H_2$ incorporation on the electrical and optical properties of AZO-ITO films were investigated in this work. Addition of small amount of hydrogen resulted in the increase of carrier concentration and the improvement of electrical conductivity. It is apparent that the roughness of AZO-ITO films decreases dramatically after the transition of microstructure from polycrystalline to amorphous phase, which gives practical advantages such as an excellent uniformity of surface and a high etching rate. AZO-ITO films grown at sputtering ambient with hydrogen gas are expected to be applicable to optoelectronic devices such as organic light emitting diodes and flexible displays due to their sufficient electrical and structural properties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.54-54
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• 2011

The demand for low-friction, wear and corrosion resistant components, which operate under severe conditions, has directed attentions to advanced surface engineering technologies. The Filtered Vacuum Arc Cathode Deposition (FVACD) process has demonstrated atomically smooth surface at relatively high deposition rates over large surface areas. Preparation of Ti-Si-C-N nanocomposite coatings on (100) Si and stainless steel substrates with tetramethylsilane (TMS) gas pressures to optimize the film preparation conditions. Ti-S-C-N coatings were characterized using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, nanoindentation, Rockwell C indentation and ball-on-disk wear tests. The XRD results have confirmed phase formation information of TiSiCN coatings, which shows mixing of TiN and TiC structure, corresponding to (111), (200) and (220) planes of TiCN. The chemical composition of the film was investigated by XPS core level spectra. The binding energy of the elements present in the films was estimated using XPS measurements and it shows present of elemental information corresponding to Ti2p, N1s, Si 2p and C1. Film hardness and elastic modulus were measured with a nano-indenter, and film hardness reached 40 GPa. Tribological behaviors of the films were evaluated using a ball-on-disk tribometer, and the films demonstrated properties of low-friction and good wear resistance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.14-14
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• 2001

Nitride films such as TiN, CrN etc. deposited on glass by PVD processes have been developed for many industrial applications. These nitride films deposited on glass were widely used for not only decorative and optical coatings but also wear and corrosion resistance coatings employed as dies and molds made of glass for the example of lens forming molds. However, the major problem of nitride coatings on glass by PVD process is non-uniform film owing to pin-hole and micro crack. It is estimated that nonuniform coating is influenced by a different surface energy between metal nitrides and glass due to binding states. In this work, therefore, for the evaluation of nucleation and growth mechanism of nitride films on glass TiN and CrN film were synthesized on glass with various nitrogen partial pressure by unbalanced magnetron sputtering. Prior to deposition, for the examination of relationship between surface energy and film microstructure plasma pre-treatment process was carried out with various argon to hydrogen flow rate and substrate bias voltage, duty cycle and frequency by using pulsed DC power supply. Surface energy owing to the different plasma pre-treatment was calculated by the measurement of wetting angle and surface conditions of glass were investigated by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy(XPS) and Atomic Force Microscope(AFM). The microstructure change of nitride films on glass with increase of film thickness were analyzed by X-Ray Diffraction(XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM).

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.357-363
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• 2003

The aim of this work is the synthesis of a-C:H films from methane gas using surface spark discharge at the atmospheric pressure. Properties of these films have been investigated as functions of energy W delivered per a methane molecule in the discharge. The method enables the coatings to be deposited with high growth rates (up to $100 \mu\textrm{m}$/hour) onto large-area substrates. It is shown that the films consist of spherical granules with diameter of 20∼50 nm formed in the spark channel and then deposited onto the substrate. The best film characteristics such as minimum hydrogen-to-carbon atoms ratio H/C=0.69, maximum hardness $H_{v}$ =3 ㎬, the most dense packing of the granules and highest scratch resistance has been obtained under the condition of highest energy W of 40 eV. The deposited a-C:H coatings were found to be more soft and hydrogenated compared to the diamond-like hydrogenated (a-C:H) films which obtained by traditional plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition methods at low pressure (＜10 Torr). Nevertheless, these coatings can be potentially used for scratch protection of soft plastic materials since they are of an order harder than plastics but still transparent (the absorption coefficient is about $10^4$∼$10^{5}$ $m^{-1}$ At the same time the proposed method for fast deposition of a-C:H films makes this process less expensive compared to the conventional techniques. This advantage can widen the application field of. these films substantially.y.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10b
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• pp.43-44
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• 2002

Langmuir-Blodgett mono- and multilayer films from 2,4-heneicosanedione have been examined as lubrication coatings In the process of wear. Tribological properties of the films have been studied by atomic force microscopy and microtribometer. It has been observed that the wear resistance of silicon surface coated with OTS/LB multilayer system increased by several orders of magnitude compared to uncoated surfaces at low normal load. The results obtained suggest that the system constructed on silicon surface reduces surface energy, friction coefficient and increases life of substrate due to a possibility of LB film self-repairing during frictional contact.