• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

Bioelectrical impedance (BI) at popliteal regions was measured using a bioelectrical impedance measurement system (BIMS), which employs the multi-frequency and the two-electrode method. Experiments were performed as follows. First, a constant AC current of $800{\mu}A$ was applied to the popliteal regions (left and right) and the BI was measured at eight different frequencies from 10 to 500 kHz. When the applied frequency greater than 50 kHz was applied to human's popliteal regions, the BI was decreased significantly. Logarithmic plot of impedance vs. frequency indicated two different mechanisms in the impedance phenomena before and after 50 kHz. Second, the relationship between resistance and reactance was obtained with respect to the applied frequency using BI (resistance and reactance) acquired from the popliteal regions. The phase angle (PA) was found to be strongly dependent on frequency. At 50 kHz, the PA at the right popliteal region was $7.8^{\circ}$ slightly larger than $7.6^{\circ}$ at the left popliteal region. Third, BI values of extracellular fluid (ECF) and intracellular fluid (ICF) were calculated using BIMS. At 10 kHz, the BI values of ECF at the left and right popliteal regions were $1664.14{\Omega}$ and $1614.08{\Omega}$, respectively. The BI values of ECF and ICF decreased sharply in the frequency range of 10 to 50 kHz, and gradually decreased up to 500 kHz. Logarithmic plot of BI vs. frequency shows that the BI of ICF decreased noticeably at high frequency above 300 kHz because of a large decrease in the capacitance of the cell membrane.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.711-716
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the modulation method affects the effectiveness of eliciting tactile sensations by electrical stimulation. Two methods were employed and the results were compared and analyzed; pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and pulse width modulation (PWM). Thirty-five healthy subjects participated in the experiments to measure the stimulation intensity that began to elicit a tactile sensation - activation threshold (AT). Constant-current monophasic rectangular pulse trains were employed, and the stimulation intensity was varied from zero until the subject felt any uncomfortable sensation. The step size of the stimulation intensity was 100nC/pulse. After each experiment, the subject described the sensation both quantitatively and qualitatively. The two modulation methods did not make a significant difference as far as the AT values were concerned, but most of the subjects showed 'intra-individual' consistency. Also, it was confirmed that our range of the stimulation parameters enabled us to obtain three major tactile sensations; tickling, pressure and vibration. The results suggested that the stimulation parameters and the modulation type should be selected for each individual and that selective electrical stimulation of the mechanoreceptors needs more diversified researches on the electrode design, multi-channel stimulation protocol, waveforms of the pulse train, etc.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.276-279
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• 2004

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon nitride (SiN) is a proven technique for obtaining layers that meet the needs of surface passivation and anti-reflection coating. In addition, the deposition process appears to provoke bulk passivation as well due to diffusion of atomic hydrogen. This bulk passivation is an important advantage of PECVD deposition when compared to the conventional CVD techniques. A further advantage of PECVD is that the process takes place at a relatively low temperature of 300t, keeping the total thermal budget of the cell processing to a minimum. In this work SiN deposition was performed using a horizontal PECVD reactor system consisting of a long horizontal quartz tube that was radiantly heated. Special and long rectangular graphite plates served as both the electrodes to establish the plasma and holders of the wafers. The electrode configuration was designed to provide a uniform plasma environment for each wafer and to ensure the film uniformity. These horizontally oriented graphite electrodes were stacked parallel to one another, side by side, with alternating plates serving as power and ground electrodes for the RF power supply. The plasma was formed in the space between each pair of plates. Also this paper deals with the fabrication of multicrystalline silicon solar cells with PECVD SiN layers combined with high-throughput screen printing and RTP firing. Using this sequence we were able to obtain solar cells with an efficiency of 14% for polished multi crystalline Si wafers of size 125 m square.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.697-702
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• 2019

In this study, using a wet chemical process, we evaluate the effectiveness of different solution concentrations in removing layers from a solar cell, which is necessary for recovery of high-purity silicon. A 4-step wet etching process is applied to a 6-inch back surface field(BSF) solar cell. The metal electrode is removed in the first and second steps of the process, and the anti-reflection coating(ARC) is removed in the third step. In the fourth step, high purity silicon is recovered by simultaneously removing the emitter and the BSF layer from the solar cell. It is confirmed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy(ICP-MS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) analyses that the effectiveness of layer removal increases with increasing chemical concentrations. The purity of silicon recovered through the process, using the optimal concentration for each process, is analyzed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy(ICP-AES). In addition, the silicon wafer is recovered through optimum etching conditions for silicon recovery, and the solar cell is remanufactured using this recovered silicon wafer. The efficiency of the remanufactured solar cell is very similar to that of a commercial wafer-based solar cell, and sufficient for use in the PV industry.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 2022

The purpose of the direct cortical and subcortical stimulation technique is to prevent false positives caused by transcranial electrical motor evoked potentials (TceMEP) in surgery on patients with brain tumors that have occurred around the motor cortex and to preserve the correct mapping of motor areas during surgery and the corticospinal tract. In addition, it reduces the trial and error that occurs during the intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (INM) process and minimizes the test time, so that accurate information is communicated to the surgeon with quick feedback on the test results. The most important factors of this technique are, first, examination at a stimulus threshold of a certain intensity, and second, maintaining anesthesia depth at an appropriate level to prevent false positives from occurring during surgery. The third is the installation of a multi-level channel recording electrode on the opposite side of the area of operation to measure the TceMEP waveform and the response to direct cortical and subcortical stimulation in as many muscles as possible. If these conditions are maintained, it is possible to predict causes that may occur in other factors, not false positives, from the INM test.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 2022

In this study, a reaction study between Ga, which has recently been spotlighted as a low-temperature bonding material, and Cu, a representative electrode material, was conducted to investigate information necessary for low-temperature soldering applications. Interfacial reaction and intermetallic compound (IMC) growth were observed and analyzed by reacting Ga and Cu/Au substrates in the temperature range of 80-200℃. The main IMC growing at the reaction interface was CuGa₂ phase, and AuGa₂ IMC with small particle sizes was formed on the upper part and Cu₉Ga₄ IMC with a thin band shape on the lower part of the CuGa₂ layer. CuGa₂ particles showed a scallop shape, and the particle size increased without significant shape change as the reaction time increased, similar to the case of Cu₆Sn₅ growth. As a result of analyzing the CuGa₂ growth mechanism, the time exponent was calculated to be ~3.0 in the temperature range of 120-200℃, and the activation energy was measured to be 17.7 kJ/mol.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.409-416
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• 2022

Since the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is increasing due to regular cervical cancer screening, there is a high demand for simpler tools to diagnose and treat CIN in the clinic. In this study, we proposed an electric property of cervical tissue to verify treatment using a laser. At first, we observed the depth and width of ablated cervical tissues for 29 samples according to four different pulse energy of the fractional CO₂ laser to find enough pulse energy to reach the basement layer for initiated CIN. And then, the relative frequency differences in impedance spectrum before and after laser irradiation for ten non-CIN samples were collected using bioimpedance spectroscopy with a multi-electrode probe. As a result, the laser ablated the cervical tissues with a depth of more than 300 ㎛ at 100 mJ pulse energy. Also, we confirmed that the relative changes of electrical property for cervical tissue increased as the pulse energy of laser output increased, and the variation between samples decreased. Since the relative change in electrical properties of cervical tissue can be easily and quickly measured, the proposed technique paves the way for further verification and follow-up study of laser treatment for CIN.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.423-432
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• 2023

With the increasing demand for mobile devices featuring multi-touch operation, extensive research is being conducted on touch screen panel (TSP) Readout ICs (ROICs) that should possess low power consumption, compact chip size, and immunity to external noise. Therefore, this paper discusses capacitive touch sensors and their readout circuits, and it introduces research trends in various circuit designs that are robust against external noise sources. The recent state-of-the-art TSP ROICs have primarily focused on minimizing the impact of parasitic capacitance (Cp) caused by thin panel thickness. The large Cp can be effectively compensated using an area-efficient current compensator and Current Conveyor (CC), while a display noise reduction scheme utilizing a noise-antenna (NA) electrode significantly improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Based on these achievements, it is expected that future TSP ROICs will be capable of stable operation with thinner and flexible Touch Screen Panels (TSPs).

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.541-553
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• 2023

Retinal prostheses have shown some clinical success in restoring vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. However, the post-implantation visual acuity does not exceed that of legal blindness. The reason for the poor visual acuity might be that (1) degenerate retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are less responsive to electrical stimulation than normal RGCs, and (2) electrically-evoked RGC spikes show a more widespread not focal response. The single-biphasic pulse electrical stimulation, commonly used in artificial vision, has limitations in addressing these issues. In this study, we propose the benefit of multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation. We used C57BL/6J mice and C3H/HeJ (rd1) mice for the normal retina and retinal degeneration model. An 8 × 8 multi-electrode array was used to record electrically-evoked RGC spikes. We compared RGC responses when increasing the amplitude of a single biphasic pulse versus increasing the number of consecutive biphasic pulses at the same stimulus charge. Increasing the amplitude of a single biphasic pulse induced more RGC spike firing while the spatial resolution of RGC populations decreased. For multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation, RGC firing increased as the number of pulses increased, and the spatial resolution of RGC populations was well preserved even up to 5 pulses. Multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation using two or three pulses in degenerate retinas induced as much RGC spike firing as in normal retinas. These findings suggest that the newly proposed multiple consecutive-biphasic pulse stimulation can improve the visual acuity in prosthesis-implanted patients.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.223-229
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• 2024

Laser-induced plasmonic sintering of metal nanoparticles (NPs) holds significant promise as a technology for producing flexible conducting electrodes. This method offers immediate, straightforward, and scalable manufacturing approaches, eliminating the need for expensive facilities and intricate processes. Nevertheless, the metal NPs come at a high cost due to the intricate synthesis procedures required to ensure long-term reliability in terms of chemical stability and the prevention of NP aggregation. Herein, we induced the self-generation of metal nanoparticles from Ag organometallic ink, and fabricated highly conductive electrodes on flexible substrates through laser-assisted plasmonic annealing. To demonstrate the practicality of the fabricated flexible electrode, it was configured in a mesh pattern, realizing multi-touchable flexible touch screen panel.