• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권8호
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• pp.3242-3254
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• 2024

With the increasing usage of nuclear energy, how to properly dispose nuclear waste becomes a critical issue. In this study, a multiscale modeling approach combining the experimental findings is presented to address the illitization process, its impact on transport properties, and system behavior of bentonite buffer in engineered barrier systems (EBS). Through the pore-scale modeling, reactive transport properties such as illite generation rate and effective diffusion coefficient of potassium ion as a function of porosity and temperature are quantified by employing the findings of hydrothermal reaction experiments of Bentonil-WRK. The capability of pore-scale modeling has been developed based on the Darcy-Brinkmann-Stokes equation, involving the processes of smectite illitization and clay swelling. Obtained reactive transport properties are utilized as input parameters for the macroscale modeling to predict the long-term behavior of bentonite buffer in EBS. As such, this study involves the whole workflow of quantifying the reaction parameters of smectite illitization through the hydrothermal reaction experiments, and numerically modeling the reactive transport process of smectite illitization in bentonite buffer of EBS from pore-scale to macroscale. The presented multiscale modeling findings are expected to provide reliable solution for safe nuclear waste disposal with EBS.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2008년도 하계학술대회 논문집 Vol.9
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• pp.189-190
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• 2008

The electrical characteristics of band-gap engineered tunneling barriers consisting of thin $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ dielectric layers were investigated. The band structure of stacked tunneling barriers was studied and the effectiveness of these tunneling barriers was compared with that of the conventional tunneling barrier. The band-gap engineered tunneling barriers show the lower operation voltage, faster speed and longer retention time than the conventional $SiO_2$ tunnel barrier. The thickness of each $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ layer was optimized to improve the performance of non-volatile memory.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2010년도 제39회 하계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.255-255
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• 2010

Recently, nonvolatile memories (NVM) of various types have been researched to improve the electrical performance such as program/erase voltages, speed and retention times. Also, the charge trap memory is a strong candidate to realize the ultra dense 20-nm scale NVM. Furthermore, the high charge efficiency and the thermal stability of SiC nanocrystals NVM with single $SiO_2$ tunnel barrier have been reported. [1-2] In this study, the SiC charge trap NVM was fabricated and electrical properties were characterized. The 100-nm thick Poly-Si layer was deposited to confined source/drain region by using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LP-CVD). After etching and lithography process for fabricate the gate region, the $Si_3N_4/SiO_2/Si_3N_4$ (NON) and $SiO_2/Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ (ONO) barrier engineered tunnel layer were deposited by using LP-CVD. The equivalent oxide thickness of NON and ONO tunnel layer are 5.2 nm and 5.6 nm, respectively. By using ultra-high vacuum magnetron sputtering with base pressure 3x10-10 Torr, the 2-nm SiC and 20-nm $SiO_2$ were successively deposited on ONO and NON tunnel layers. Finally, after deposited 200-nm thick Al layer, the source, drain and gate areas were defined by using reactive-ion etching and photolithography. The lengths of squire gate are $2\;{\mu}m$, $5\;{\mu}m$ and $10\;{\mu}m$. The electrical properties of devices were measured by using a HP 4156A precision semiconductor parameter analyzer, E4980A LCR capacitor meter and an Agilent 81104A pulse pattern generator system. The electrical characteristics such as the memory effect, program/erase speeds, operation voltages, and retention time of SiC charge trap memory device with barrier engineered tunnel layer will be discussed.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2009년도 하계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.129-130
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• 2009

The P/E characteristics of $HfO_2$ CTF memory capacitor with $SiO_2/HfO_2/Al_2O_3$(OHA) engineered tunnel barrier were investigated. After a growth of thermal oxide with a thickness of 2 nm, 1 nm $HfO_2$ and 3 $Al_2O_3$ layers were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) system. The band offset was calculated by analysis of conduction mechanisms through Fowler-Nordheim (FN) plot and Direct Tunneling (DT) plot. Moreover the PIE characteristics of $HfO_2$ CTF memory capacitor with OHA tunnel barrier was presented.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2008년도 하계학술대회 논문집 Vol.9
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• pp.127-128
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• 2008

The electrical characteristics of VARIOT (variable oxide thickness) with various $HfO_2$ thicknesses on thin $SiO_2$ or $Al_2O_3$ layer were investigated. Especially, the charge trapping characteristics of $HfO_2$ layer were intensively studied. The thin $HfO_2$ layer has small charge trapping characteristics while the thick $HfO_2$ layer has large memory window. Therefore, the $HfO_2$ layer is superior material and can be applied to charge storage as well as tunneling barrier of the non-volatile memory applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4173-4180
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• 2023

The stability of engineered barriers in high-level radioactive waste disposal systems can be influenced by the decay heat generated by the waste. This study focuses on the thermal analysis of various canister designs to effectively lower the maximum temperature of the engineered barrier. A numerical model was developed and employed to investigate the heat dissipation potential of copper rings placed across the buffer. Various canister designs incorporating copper rings were presented, and numerical analysis was performed to identify the design with the most significant temperature reduction effect. The results confirmed that the temperature of the buffer material was effectively lowered with an increase in the number of copper rings penetrating the buffer. Parametric studies were also conducted to analyze the impact of technical gaps, copper thickness, and collar height on the temperature reduction. The numerical model revealed that the presence of gaps between the components of the engineered barrier significantly increased the buffer temperature. Furthermore, the reduction in buffer temperature varied depending on the location of the gap and collar. The methods proposed in this study for reducing the buffer temperature hold promise for contributing to cost reduction in radioactive waste disposal.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2009년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.53-53
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• 2009

Charge trap flash memory devices with modified tunneling barriers were fabricated using the tunneling barrier engineering technique. Variable oxide thickness (VARIOT) barrier and CRESTED barrier consisting of thin $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$ dielectric layers were used as engineered tunneling barriers. The VARIOT type tunneling barrier composed of oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) layers revealed reliable electrical characteristics; long retention time and superior endurance. On the other hand, the CRESTED tunneling barrier composed of nitride-oxide-nitride (NON) layers showed degraded retention and endurance characteristics. It is found that the degradation of NON barrier is associated with the increase of interface state density at tunneling barrier/silicon channel by programming and erasing (P/E) stress.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2009년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.34-34
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• 2009

The electrical characteristics of tunnel barrier engineered charge trap flash (TBE-CTF) memory with $SiO_2/Si_3N_4/SiO_2/Si$ engineered tunnel barrier, $HfO_2$ charge trap layer and $Al_2O_3$ blocking oxide layer (MAHONOS) were investigated. The energy bad diagram was designed by using the quantum-mechanical tunnel model (QM) and then the CTF memory devices were fabricated. As a result, the best thickness combination of MAHONOS is confirmed. Moreover, not enhanced P/E speed (Program: about $10^6$ times) (Erase: about $10^4$ times) but also enhanced retention and endurance characteristics are represented.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권3호
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• pp.1041-1048
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• 2021

An engineered barrier system (EBS) for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) is composed of a disposal canister with spent fuel, a buffer material, a gap-filling material, and a backfill material. As the buffer is located in the empty space between the disposal canisters and the surrounding rock mass, it prevents the inflow of groundwater and retards the spill of radionuclides from the disposal canister. Due to the fact that the buffer gradually becomes saturated over a long time period, it is especially important to investigate its thermal-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) properties considering variations of saturated condition. Therefore, this paper suggests a new method of measuring thermal conductivity and water suction for single compacted bentonite at various levels of saturation. This paper also highlights a convenient method of saturating compacted bentonite. The proposed method was verified with a previous method by comparing thermal conductivity and water suction with respect to water content. The relative error between the thermal conductivity and water suction values obtained through the proposed method and the previous method was determined as within 5% for compacted bentonite with a given water content.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권4호
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• pp.1495-1506
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• 2023

For the safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste using Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS), bentonite buffer is used by its high swelling capability and low hydraulic conductivity. When the bentonite buffer is contacted to heated pore water containing ions by radioactive decay, chemical alterations of minerals such as illitization reaction occur. Illitization of bentonite indicates the alteration of expandable smectite into non-expandable illite, which threatens the stability and integrity of EBS. This study intends to provide a thorough review on the information underlying in the illitization of bentonite, by covering basic clay mineralogy, smectite expansion, mechanisms and observation of illitization, and illitization in EBS. Since understanding of smectite illitization is crucial for securing the safety and integrity of nuclear waste disposal systems using bentonite buffer, this thorough review study is expected to provide essential and concise information for the preventive EBS design.