• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.237.1-237.1
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• 2016

Electrical properties of graphene-based field effect transistors (G-FETs) can be degraded in ambient conditions owing to physisorbed oxygen or water molecules on the graphene surface. Passivation technique is one of a fascinating strategy for fabrication of G-FETs, which allows to sustain electrical properties of graphene in the long term without disrupting its inherent properties: transparency, flexibility and thinness. Ironically, despite its importance in producing high performance graphene devices, this method has been much less studied compared to patterning or device fabrication processes. Here we report a novel surface passivation method by using atomically thin self-assembled alkane layers such as C18- NH2, C18-Br and C36 to prevent unintentional doping effects that can suppress the degradation of electrical properties. In each passivated device, we observe a shift in charge neutral point to near zero gate voltage and it maintains the device performance for 1 year. In addition, the fabricated PG-FETs on a plastic substrate with ion-gel gate dielectrics exhibit not only mechanical flexibility but also long-term stability in ambient conditions. Therefore, we believe that these highly transparent and ultra-thin passivation layers can become a promising candidate in a wide range of graphene based electronic applications.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.133-137
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• 2011

Gold have been used as an electrode materials having a good mechanical flexibility as well as electrical conductivity, however the stretchability of the gold on a flexible substrate is poor because of its small elastic modulus. To overcome this mechanical inferiority, the reinforcing gold is necessary for the stretchable electronics. Among the reinforcing materials having a large elastic modulus, carbon nanotube (CNT) is the best candidate due to its good electrical conductivity and nanoscale diameter. Therefore, similarly to ferroconcrete technology, here we demonstrated gold electrodes mechanically reinforced by inserting fabrics of CNTs into their bodies. Flexibility and stretchability of the electrodes were determined for various densities of CNT fabrics. The roles of CNTs in resisting electrical disconnection of gold electrodes from the mechanical stress were confirmed using field emission scanning electron microscope and optical microscope. The best mechanical stability was achieved at a density of CNT fabrics manufactured by 1.5 ml spraying. The concept of the mechanical reinforced metal electrode by CNT is the first trial for the high stretchable conductive materials, and can be applied as electrodes materials in various flexible and stretchable electronic devices such as transistor, diode, sensor and solar cell and so on.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2024

The heating element utilizing the Joule heating generated when current flows through a conductor is widely researched and developed for various industrial applications such as moisture removal in automotive windshield, high-speed train windows, and solar panels. Recently, research utilizing heating elements with various nanostructures has been actively conducted to develop flexible heating elements capable of maintaining stable heating even under mechanical deformation conditions. In this study, flexible polyurethane possessing excellent flexibility was selected as the substrate, and silver (Ag) thin films with low electrical resistivity (1.6 μΩ-cm) were fabricated as the heating layer using magnetron sputtering. The 2D heating structure of the Ag thin films demonstrated excellent heating reproducibility, reaching 95% of the target temperature within 20 seconds. Furthermore, excellent heating characteristics were maintained even under mechanically deforming environments, exhibiting outstanding flexibility with less than a 3% increase in electrical resistance observed in repetitive bending tests (10,000 cycles, based on a curvature radius of 5 mm). This demonstrates that polyurethane/Ag planar heating structure bears promising potential as a flexible/wearable heating element for curved-shaped appliances and objects subjected to diverse stresses such as human body parts.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2020

The intermittent characteristics of renewable energy complicates the process of balancing supply with demand. Electrolysis technology can provide flexibility to grid management by converting electricity to hydrogen. Alkaline electrolysis has been recognized as established technology and utilized in industry for over 100 years. However, high overpotential of oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline water electrolysis reduces the overall efficiency and therefore requires the development of anode catalyst. In this study, Raney Ni-Zn-Fe electrode was prepared by electroplating and the electrode characteristics was studied by varying electroplating parameters like electrodeposition time, current density and substrate. The prepared Raney Ni-Zn-Fe electrode was electrochemically evaluated using linear sweep voltammetry. Physical and chemical analysis were conducted by scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometer, and X-ray diffraction. The plating time did not changed the morphology and composition of the electrode surface and showed a little effect on overpotential reduction. As the plating current density increased, Fe content on the surface increased and cauliflower-like structure appeared on the electrode surface. In particular, the overpotential of the electrode, which was prepared at the plating current density of 320 mA/㎠, has showed the lowest value of 268 mV at 50 mA/㎠. There was no distinguishable overpotential difference between the type of substrate for the electrodes prepared at 80 mA/㎠.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.43.2-43.2
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• 2011

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are transparent in the visible and show conductivity comparable to copper, and are environmentally stable. SWCNT films have high flexibility, conductivity and transparency approaching that indium tin oxide (ITO), and can be prepared inexpensively without vacuum equipment. Transparent conducting Films (TCF) of SWCNTs has the potential to replace conventional transparent conducting oxides (TCO, e.g. ITO) in a wide variety of optoelectronic devices, energy conversion and photovoltaic industry. However, the sheet resistance of SWCNT films is still higher than ITO films. A decreased in the resistivity of SWCNT-TCFs would be beneficial for such an application. We fabricated SWCNT sheet with $KAuBr_4$ on PET substrate. Arc-discharge SWCNTs were dispersed in deionized water by adding sodum dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant and sonicated, followed by the centrifugation. The dispersed SWCNT was spray-coated on PET substrate and dried on a hotplate at $100^{\circ}C$. When the spray process was terminated, the TCF was immersed into deionized water to remove the surfactant and then it was dried on hotplate. The TCF film was then treated with AuBr4-, rinsed with deionized water and dried. The surface morphology of TCF was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The sheet resistance and optical transmission properties of the TCF were measured with a four-point probe method and a UV-visible spectrometry, respectively. $HNO_3$ treated SWCNT films with Au nano-particles have the lowest 61 ${\Omega}$/< sheet resistance in the 80% transmittance. Sheet resistance was decreased due to the increase of the hole concentration at the washed SWCNT surface by p-type doping of $AuBr_4{^-}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.154-154
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• 2012

Flexible complementary inverters based on thin-film transistors (TFTs) are important because they have low power consumption and high voltage gain compared to single type circuits. We have manufactured flexible complementary inverters using pentacene and amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) for the p-channel and n-channel, respectively. The circuits were fabricated on polyimide (PI) substrate. Firstly, a thin poly-4-vinyl phenol (PVP) layer was spin coated on PI substrate to make a smooth surface with rms surface roughness of 0.3 nm, which was required to grow high quality IGZO layers. Then, Ni gate electrode was deposited on the PVP layer by e-beam evaporator. 400-nm-thick PVP and 20-nm-thick ALD Al2O3 dielectric was deposited in sequence as a double gate dielectric layer for high flexibility and low leakage current. Then, IGZO and pentacene semiconductor layers were deposited by rf sputter and thermal evaporator, respectively, using shadow masks. Finally, Al and Au source/drain electrodes of 70 nm were respectively deposited on each semiconductor layer using shadow masks by thermal evaporator. The characteristics of TFTs and inverters were evaluated at different bending radii. The applied strain led to change in voltage transfer characteristics of complementary inverters as well as source-drain saturation current, field effect mobility and threshold voltage of TFTs. The switching threshold voltage of fabricated inverters was decreased with increasing bending radius, which is related to change in parameters of TFTs. Throughout the bending experiments, relationship between circuit performance and TFT characteristics under mechanical deformation could be elucidated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.479-479
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• 2011

Flexible inverters based on complementary thin-film transistor (CTFTs) are important because they have low power consumption and other advantages over single type TFT inverters. In addition, integrated CTFTs in flexible electronic circuits on low-cost, large area and mechanically flexible substrates have potentials in various applications such as radio-frequency identification tags (RFIDs), sensors, and backplanes for flexible displays. In this work, we introduce flexible complementary inverters using pentacene and amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) for the p-channel and n-channel, respectively. The CTFTs were fabricated on polyimide (PI) substrate. Firstly, a thin poly-4-vinyl phenol (PVP) layer was spin coated on PI substrate to make a smooth surface with rms surface roughness of 0.3 nm, which was required to grow high quality IGZO layers. Then, Ni gate electrode was deposited on the PVP layer by e-beam evaporator. 400-nm-thick PVP and 20-nm-thick ALD Al2O3 dielectric was deposited in sequence as a double gate dielectric layer for high flexibility and low leakage current. Then, IGZO and pentacene semiconductor layers were deposited by rf sputter and thermal evaporator, respectively, using shadow masks. Finally, Al and Au source/drain electrodes of 70 nm were respectively deposited on each semiconductor layer using shadow masks by thermal evaporator. Basic electrical characteristics of individual transistors and the whole CTFTs were measured by a semiconductor parameter analyzer (HP4145B, Agilent Technologies) at room temperature in the dark. Performance of those devices then was measured under static and dynamic mechanical deformation. Effects of cyclic bending were also examined. The voltage transfer characteristics (Vout- Vin) and voltage gain (-dVout/dVin) of flexible inverter circuit were analyzed and the effects of mechanical bending will be discussed in detail.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2016

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a new technology paradigm demanding one packaged system of various semiconductor and MEMS devices. Therefore, the development of electronic packaging technology with very high connectivity is essential for successful IoT applications. This paper discusses both fan-out wafer level packaging (FOWLP) and 3D stacking technologies to achieve the integrattion of heterogeneous devices for IoT. FOWLP has great advantages of high I/O density, high integration, and design flexibility, but ultra-fine pitch redistribution layer (RDL) and molding processes still remain as main challenges to resolve. 3D stacking is an emerging technology solving conventional packaging limits such as size, performance, cost, and scalability. Among various 3D stacking sequences wafer level via after bonding method will provide the highest connectivity with low cost. In addition substrates with ultra-thin thickness, ultra-fine pitch line/space, and low cost are required to improve system performance. The key substrate technologies are embedded trace, passive, and active substrates or ultra-thin coreless substrates.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.473-478
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• 2015

In this paper, we suggest a flexible multiband antenna which can be equipped on an inflatable life-jacket. The antenna can send distress alert and location data of survivors to assist rescue operation when crew or people are in distress. The antenna operate in three frequency bands such as VHF-DSC band (156MHz), COSPAS-SARSAT band (406MHz) and GPS band (1,575MHz). The GPS band is implemented with a square ring-slot planar antenna, the COSPAS-SARSAT band and the VHF-DSC band antenna is implemented by monopole type. In order to give flexibility of substrate to be equipped on life-jacket, FR4-epoxy substrate of thickness 0.2mm is used to make antenna. The reflection coefficients of the fabricated antenna are -8.8dB, -20.4dB and -10.7dB at each bandwidth like VHF-DSC, COSPAS-SARSAT and GPS band, respectively, when people are wearing life-jacket integrated multiband antenna.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.515-523
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• 2015

While commercial polystyrene-based ion exchange membranes have simple manufacturing processes, they also possess poor durability due to their brittleness. Poly(ethylene glycol)methyl ether methacrylate with hydrophilic side chains of poly(ethylene glycol) was used as a co-monomer to make the membranes have improved flexibility. Hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of the anion exchange membranes were able to be adjusted by varying the chain lengths of the poly(ethylene glycol). For the preparation of the anion exchange membranes, a porous PE substrate was immersed into monomer solutions and thermally polymerized. The prepared membranes were subsequently reacted with trimethylamine to produce anion exchange functional groups, Quaternary ammonium salts. The prepared pore-filled anion exchange membranes were evaluated in terms of ion exchange capacity, electric resistance, elongation at break and water uptake.