• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.08a
• /
• pp.254-255
• /
• 2012

Interest in nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films has been growing because of their favorable processing conditions for certain electronic devices. In particular, there has been an increase in the use of nc-Si thin films in photovoltaics for large solar cell panels and in thin film transistors for large flat panel displays. One of the most important material properties for these device applications is the macroscopic charge-carrier mobility. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) or nc-Si is a basic material in thin film transistors (TFTs). However, a-Si:H based devices have low carrier mobility and bias instability due to their metastable properties. The large number of trap sites and incomplete hydrogen passivation of a-Si:H film produce limited carrier transport. The basic electrical properties, including the carrier mobility and stability, of nc-Si TFTs might be superior to those of a-Si:H thin film. However, typical nc-Si thin films tend to have mobilities similar to a-Si films, although changes in the processing conditions can enhance the mobility. In polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films, the performance of the devices is strongly influenced by the boundaries between neighboring crystalline grains. These grain boundaries limit the conductance of macroscopic regions comprised of multiple grains. In much of the work on poly-Si thin films, it was shown that the performance of TFTs was largely determined by the number and location of the grain boundaries within the channel. Hence, efforts were made to reduce the total number of grain boundaries by increasing the average grain size. However, even a small number of grain boundaries can significantly reduce the macroscopic charge carrier mobility. The nano-crystalline or polymorphous-Si development for TFT and solar cells have been employed to compensate for disadvantage inherent to a-Si and micro-crystalline silicon (${\mu}$-Si). Recently, a novel process for deposition of nano-crystralline silicon (nc-Si) thin films at room temperature was developed using neutral beam assisted chemical vapor deposition (NBaCVD) with a neutral particle beam (NPB) source, which controls the energy of incident neutral particles in the range of 1~300 eV in order to enhance the atomic activation and crystalline of thin films at room temperature. In previous our experiments, we verified favorable properties of nc-Si thin films for certain electronic devices. During the formation of the nc-Si thin films by the NBaCVD with various process conditions, NPB energy directly controlled by the reflector bias and effectively increased crystal fraction (~80%) by uniformly distributed nc grains with 3~10 nm size. The more resent work on nc-Si thin film transistors (TFT) was done. We identified the performance of nc-Si TFT active channeal layers. The dependence of the performance of nc-Si TFT on the primary process parameters is explored. Raman, FT-IR and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to study the microstructures and the crystalline volume fraction of nc-Si films. The electric properties were investigated on Cr/SiO2/nc-Si metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors.

• Advanced Composite Materials
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.365-379
• /
• 2009

Epoxy/S2-glass reinforced composites (SGRPs) infused with Cloisite 30B nanoclays were manufactured using the vacuum assisted resin infusion molding (VARIM) process. Prior to infusion, the matrix and clays were thoroughly mixed using a direct mixing technique (DMT) and a high shear mixing technique (HSMT) to ensure uniform dispersion of the nanoclays. Structures with varying clay contents (1-3 wt%) were manufactured. Both pristine and SGRP nanocomposites were then subjected to mechanical testing. For the specimens manufactured by DMT, the tensile, flexural, and compressive modulus increased with increasing the clay content. Similarly, the tensile, flexural, compressive, interlaminate shear and impact strength increased with the addition of 1 wt% clay: however the trend reversed with further increase in the clay content. Specimens manufactured by HSMT showed superior properties compared to those of nanocomposites containing 1 wt% clay produced by DMT. In order to understand these phenomena a morphological study was conducted. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs revealed that HSMT led to better dispersion and changed the nanoclay structure from orderly intercalation to disorderly intercalation giving multi-directional strength.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2006.04a
• /
• pp.15-20
• /
• 2006

Real time health monitoring system was studied to detect the . generation of defects in the composite structures during service life. The PZT sensors were embedded into the woven-glass/phenol composite plate during the fabrication. VARTM (Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding) process were used to fabricate the composite plate. A Teflon tape was embedded between glass fiber layers to mimic delamination induced during service. Normalized maximum amplitude and energy analyses were used for the acquired signals. Both amplitude and energy of acquired signals were extremely sensitive to the delamination. Therefore, it was successful to detect and to locate the defects in composite plate by monitoring signals from sensors and using the proposed method.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.179-186
• /
• 2014

Fluid model based numerical simulation was carried out for an inductively coupled plasma assisted sputter deposition system. Power absorption, electron temperature and density distribution was modeled with drift diffusion approximation. Effect of an electrically conducting substrate was analyzed and showed confined plasma below the substrate. Part of the plasma was leaked around the substrate edge. Comparison between the quasi-neutrality based compact model and Poisson equation resolved model showed more broadened profile in inductively coupled plasma power absorption than quasi-neutrality case, but very similar Ar ion number density profile. Electric potential was calculated to be in the range of 50 V between a Cr rod source and a conductive substrate. A new model including Cr sputtering by Ar+was developed and used in simulating Cr deposition process. Cr was modeled to be ionized by direct electron impact and showed narrower distribution than Ar ions.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
• /
• v.45 no.6
• /
• pp.193-199
• /
• 2011

An efficient transient expression system has been developed and characterized for the production of foreign genes in seedlings. The seedlings can be easily produced from commercial seeds used for vegetable sprouts. In principal, a chemical abrasive was employed to generate wounds in seedlings prior to vacuum-infiltration with Agrobacterium tumefaciens bearing the target gene. This optimized chemical wounding-assisted agro-infiltration process resulted in up to 15-fold increase in $\beta$-glucuronidase (GUS) enzyme activity. This procedure has been used efficiently to express hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) protein in a transient mode. Therefore, seedlings with proper wounds can be suggested as a convenient tool for the production of useful recombinant proteins.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.7 no.6
• /
• pp.350-361
• /
• 2008

Canada's oil sands contain one of the largest reserves of oil in the world. According to recent estimates, there are nearly 180 billion barrels of oil in the Canadian oil sands trapped in a complex mixture of sand, water and clay. More than 40 companies have been currently operating or developing oil sands facilities since the first production in 1967. The process of oil sands upgrading is similar with down stream refinery, but the corrosion environment in upgrading refinery is often more severe than in the refinery because of high chlorides, mineral contents, carbonic acid, heavy viscosity and fouling, higher naphthenic acid [$NA-R(CH_{2})nCOOH$], and greater sulfur contents. Naphthenic acid corrosion (NAC) which is one of the most critical corrosion issues in up & downstream refinery plants was observed for the first time in 1920's in refinery distillation processes of Rumania, Azerbaizan (Baku), Venezuela, and California. As a first API report, the 11th annual meeting stated sources and mechanism of NAC in early 1930's. API has been developing the risk base standards, such as API RP580, 571, and Publication 581 which are based on the worst NAC damage in the world since 2000. Nevertheless not only the NAC phenomena and control in Canadian sands oil process are not much widely known but also there are still no engineering guidances for the Canadian sands oil in API standards. This paper will give NAC phenomina and materials selection guidance against NA environment in Canadian oil sands upgrading processes.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.43 no.10 s.293
• /
• pp.607-612
• /
• 2006

In VARTM (Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding) process, the permeability generally controls the filling time of the resin and it also affects the void characteristics of the fiber composite. In this study, carbon and glass fiber inter-layered hybrid composites (carbon fiber centered stack) with an epoxy matrix were fabricated by VARTM process and evaluated the resin flow and macro void characteristics. The permeability of glass fiber was higher than that of carbon fiber used in this study. Using Darcy's equation, the permeability of hybrid composites could be predicted and experimentally confirmed. After curing, the macro void content of hybrid composites was investigated using image analyzer. The calculated filling time was well agreed with experimental result and the void content was significantly changed in hybrid composites.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.90-95
• /
• 2008

We studied the effect of thermal annealing and hydrofluoric (HF) acid treatment on the field emission properties of carbon nanotube field emitter arrays (CNT-FEAs) grown with the resist-assisted patterning (RAP) process. After thermal and HF treatment, it was observed that the electron emission properties were remarkably improved. The enhanced electron emission was also found to depend strongly on the sequence of the treatments; the electronemission current density is 656 $mA/cm^2$ with the process of thermal treatment prior to HF treatment while the current density is reduced by 426 $mA/cm^2$ with the reversal processes. This is due to the increased crystalline structure by thermal annealing and then strong fluorine bond was formed by HF treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.296-301
• /
• 2009

An inductively coupled plasma assisted atomic layer deposition(ICP-ALD) system has been constructed for the deposition of ZnO thin films, and various experiments of ZnO thin films on p-type Si(100) substrates have been carried out to find the self-limiting reaction conditions for the ICP-ALD system under non-plasma circumstances. Diethyl zinc[$Zn(C_2H_5)_2$, DEZn] was used as the zinc precursor, $H_2O$ as the oxidant, and Ar as the carrier and purge gas. At the substrate temperature of $150^{\circ}C$, atomic layer deposition conditions based on self-limiting surface reaction were successfully obtained by series of experiments through the variation of exposure times for DEZn, $H_2O$, and Ar. ZnO deposition was repeated at different substrate temperatures of $90{\sim}210^{\circ}C$. As a result, the thermal process window(ALD window) for ZnO thin films was observed to be $110{\sim}190^{\circ}C$ and the average growth rate was measured to be constant of 0.29 nm/cycle. Properties of the film's microstructure and composition(Zn, O, etc.) were also studied. As the substrate temperature increases, the crystallinity was improved and ZnO(002) peak became dominant. The films deposited at all temperatures were high purity, and the films deposited at high temperatures had the composition ratio between Zn and O closer to one of a stable hexagonal wurtzite structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.146-149
• /
• 2005

The using of composite material is an aviation field but it changes into a general industry. Especially composites are expanding the use on transportation vehicles like automobiles, ships, and aircrafts. The main factor of this expansion is high specific strength. It can supply a high quality and efficiency of energy. But manufacturing of composite products requires many raw materials and tooling cost for special process, so we needs a reduction of these costs to achieve best efficiency. In the present study, we contrast the change of mechanical and physical properties between VaRTM(Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding) and hand lay-up process. VaRTM process can offer a high quality the same as autoclave products, and low cost like hand lay-up process. In the results of mechanical tests, VaRTM specimen is stronger than hand lay-up specimen and hand lay-up specimen became delamination. In the results of physical tests, the resin content of VaRTM specimen is lower than hand lay-up specimen. On micrograph, the strength of specimen by VaRTM between fiber and resin is stronger than that of one by hand lay-up. And the specimen by hand lay-up contains more defects than one by VaRTM. So, VaRTM process can practically apply for automobile engine hood. This paper shows that VaRTM process is one of the most suitable processes for composite parts of automobile.