• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.536-539
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• 2000

The effects of annealing on the electrical and structural characteristics for the rf sputter deposited WO$_3$thin film. The sputtered thin films are annealed at 773K for 1 hour in air atmosphere. Oxygen flow rate were changed from 0 to 70% during sputtering. It is observed from the results of the AFM measurement that the average roughness for the rf sputter deposited WO$_3$thin film would be increased from 2.45 angstrom to 152 angstrom by annealing. The sheet resistance of the sputtered WO$_3$film is changed from insulting to MOhm after annealing. According to the results of the XRD, the as-deposited films revealed the amorphous state whereas the peaks of X-ray diffraction at 2 theta= 28 degrees and 2 theta = 25 degrees corresponding to the (111) and (200) plane of the WO$_3$film respectively are observed after annealing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.205-206
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• 2005

PRAM (Phase change Random Access Memory) is one of the most promising candidates for next generation Non-volatile Memories. The Phase change material has been researched in the field of optical data storage media. Among the phase change materials, $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$(GST) is very well known for its high optical contrast in the state of amorphous and crystalline. However, the characteristics required in solid state memory are quite different from optical ones. In this study, the structural properties of GST thin films with bottom electrode were investigated for PRAM. The 100-nm thick GST films were deposited on TiN/Si and TiAlN/Si substrates by RF sputtering system. In order to characterize the crystal structure and morphology of these films, we performed x-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

• Membrane Journal
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.28-40
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• 2002

The primary objective of this study is to elucidate the contribution of the electrostatic and molecula structural properties of an active layer of the thin film compsite (TFC) membranes to fouling tendency. The studies of surface morphology and surface charge were very effective in understanding fouling behaviors of the reverse osmosis (RO) membranes which were the thin film composite type of ployamide. Results of microscopic morphology analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and surface charge analyzed by electrokinetic analyzer (EKA) showed important factors affecting the fouling of RO membranes. The active layer of the composite membrane possessing realtively neutral streaming charge and less roughness provided a RO membrane with slowly decreasing flux.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.737-740
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• 1997

The influence of cyclic treatments with H2O2/DIW (1 : 10) and HF/DIW (1 : 100) on the roughness of silicon surface in the wet chemical processing was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). During the step of the SC-1 cleaning, there is a large increase in roughness on the silicon surface which will result in the poor gate oxide breakdown properties. The roughness of the silicon wafer after the SC-1 cleaning step was reduced by cyclic treatments of hydrogen peroxide solution and hydrofluoric acid solution instead of HF-only cleaning. AFM images after each step clearly illustrated that the average roughness of silicon surface after three times treatments with H2O2 and HF solutions was reduced by 10 times compared with that after the SC-1 cleaning step.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 2008

Metal nanohoneycomb structures were fabricated by E-beam evaporation and a two-step anodization process in phosphoric acid. Their tribological properties of adhesion and friction were investigated by AFM in relation to the pore size of the nanohoneycomb structures. Variations of the adhesive force are not found with pore size, but formation of the pore greatly reduces the adhesive force compared to the absence of pore structure. The coefficient of friction increased nonlinearly with pore size, due to surface undulation around the pore. Tribological properties do not differ greatly between the original nanohoneycomb structure and the metal nanohoneycomb structure.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 2004

Nano-wear behavior of amorphous carbon films was studied by Atomic Force Microscopy. The a-C films are deposited on Si(100) substrate by DC magnetron sputtering method. The influences of different surface roughness on the nano-wear are investigated. Nano-wear tests were carried out using a very sharp diamond coated tip. Its spring constant was 1.6 N/m and radius of curvature was 110 nm. Normal force used in the wear tests ranged 0 to 400 nN. It was found that surface depression occurred during scratching because of plastic deformation and abrasive wear (cutting St ploughing). Wear depth increased linearly with normal force. Changing the surface roughness variables according to the bias pulse control, the less surface roughness decreased the wear depth. The thickness did not affect the wear resistance.

• Clean Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2005

A metal ion detector with a submicron size electrode was fabricated by field-induced AFM oxidation. The square frame of the mesa pattern was functionalized by APTES for the metal ion detection, and the remaining portion was used as an electrode by the self-assembly of MPTMS for Au metal deposition. The conductance changed with the quantity of adsorbed copper ions, due to electron tunneling between the mobile and surface electrodes. The smaller electrode has a lower limit of detection due to the enhancement in electron tunneling through metal ions that are adsorbed between the conductive-tip (mobile) and the surface (fixed) electrode. This two-electrode system immobilized with different functional groups was successfully used in the selective adsorption and detection of target materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1398-1401
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• 2005

The nano/microstructure, the aging response (in T5 heat treatment), and the mechanical/tribological properties of the eutectic regions in squeeze-cast A356 alloy were investigated using nano/micro-indentation and mechanical scratching, combined wit optical microscopy and atomic force microscope(AFM). Most eutectic Si crystals in the A356 alloy showed a modified morphology as fine-fibers. The loading curve for the eutectic region was more irregular than that of the primary Al region due to the presence of various particles of varying strength. In addition, the eutectic region showed lower pile-up and higher elastic recovery than the primary Al region. The aging responses of the eutectic regions in the squeeze-cast A356 alloys aged at $150^{\circ}C$ for different times(0, 2, 4, 8, 10, 16, 24, 36 and 72 h) were investigated. As the aging time increased, acicular Si particles in the eutectic regions gradually came to a fine structure. Both Vickers hardness ($H_V$) and indentation ($H_{IT}$) test results showed almost the same trend of aging curves, and the peak was obtained at the same aging time of 10 h. A remarkable size-dependence of the tests was found. The friction coefficient for the eutectic region was lower than that for the primary Al region.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.218-223
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• 2014

This paper presents a method of controlling the stiffness of a tungsten probe for an atomic force microscope (AFM) in order to provide high-quality phase contrast images in accordance with sample characteristics. While inducing sufficient deformation on sample surfaces with commercial Si or $Si_3N_4$ probes is difficult because of their low stiffness, a tungsten probe fabricated by electrochemical etching with appropriately high stiffness can generate relatively large elastic deformation without damaging sample surfaces. The fabrication of the tungsten probe involves two separate procedures. The first procedure involves immersing a tungsten wire with both ends bent parallel to the surface of an electrolyte and controlling the stiffness of the tungsten cantilever by decreasing its diameter using electrochemical etching in the direction of the central axis. The second procedure involves immersing the end of the etched tungsten cantilever in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the electrolyte and fabricating a tungsten tip with a tip radius of 20-50 nm via the necking phenomenon. The latter etching process applies pulse waves every 0.25 seconds to the manufactured tip to improve its yield. Finite element analysis (FEA) of the stiffness of the tungsten probe as a function of its diameter showed that the stiffness of the tungsten probes greatly varies from 56 N/m to 3501 N/m according to the cantilever diameters from $30{\mu}m$ to $100{\mu}m$, respectively. Thus, the proposed etching method is effective for producing a tungsten probe having specific stiffness for optimal use with an AFM and certain samples.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.584-588
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• 2011

The ZnO thin films doped with Ga and Ge (GZO:Ge) were prepared on glass substrate using RF sputtering system. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the films deposited in different temperatures were studied. Proportion of the element of using target was 97 wt% ZnO, 2.5 wt% Ga and 0.5 wt% Ge with 99.99% highly purity. Structural properties of the samples deposited in different temperatures with 200 w RF power were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy, FE-SEM images and x-ray diffraction XRD analysis. Atomic force microscopy, AFM images were able to show the grain scales and surface roughness of each film rather clearly than SEM images. it was showed that increasing temperature have better surface smoothness by FE-SEM and AFM images. Transmittance study using UV-Vis spectrometer showed that all the samples have highly transparent in visible region (300~800 nm). In addition, it can be able to calculate bandgap energy from absorbance data obtained with transmittance. The hall resistivity, mobility, and optical band gap energy are influenced by the temperature.