• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.15-27
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• 2007

Polyimide (PI) surface modification was carried out by ion-beam treatment and silane-imidazole coupling agent to improve the adhesion between polyimide film and copper. Silane-imidazole coupling agent contains imidazole functional groups for the formation of a complex with copper metal through a coordination bonding and methoxy silane groups for the formation of siloxane polymers. The PI film surface was first treated by argon (Ar)/oxygen ($O_2$) ion-beam, followed by dipping it into a modified silane-imidazole coupling agent solution. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra revealed that the $Ar/O_2$ plasma treatment formed oxygen functional groups such as hydroxyl and carbonyl groups on the polyimide film surface and confirmed that the PI surface was modified by a coupling reaction with imidazole-silane coupling agent. Adhesion between copper and the treated PI film by ion-beam and coupling agent was superior to that with untreated PI film. In addition, adhesion of PI film treated by an $Ar/O_2$ plasma to copper was better than that of PI film treated by a coupling agent. The peeled-off layers from the copper-PI film joint were completely different in chemical composition each other. The layer of PI film side showed similar C1s, N1s, O1s spectra to the original Upilex-S and no Si and Cu atoms appeared. On the other hand the layer of copper side showed different C1s and N1s spectra from the original PI film and many Si and Cu atoms appeared. This indicates that the failure occurs at an interface between the imidazole-silane and PI film layers rather than within the PI layers.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.450-455
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• 2000

For further scaling down of the silicon devices, the application of low dielectric constant materials instead of silicon oxide has been considered to reduce power consumption, crosstalk, and interconnection delay. In this paper, the effect of $O_2/SF_6$ plasma chemistry on the etching characteristics of polyimide-one of the promising low-k interlayer dielectrics-has been studied. The etch rate of polyimide decreases with the addition of $SF_6$ gas due to formation of nonvolatile fluorine compounds inhibiting reaction between oxygen and hydrocarbon polymer, while applying substrate bias enhances etching process through physical attack. However, addition of small amount of $SF_6$ is desirable for etching topography. $SiO_2$ hard mask for polyimide etching is effective under $O_2$plasma etching(selectivity~30), while $O_2/SF_6$ chemistry degrades etching selectivity down to 4. Based on the above results, $1-2\mu\textrm{m}$ L&S PI2610 patterns were successfully etched.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.209-212
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• 2001

Polyimide(PI) films have been considered as the interlayer dielectric materials due to low dielectric constant, low water absorption, high gap-fill and planarization capability. The PI mm Was etched with using inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The etching characteristics such as etch rate and selectivity were evaluated to gas mixing ratio. High etch rate was $8300{\AA}/min$ and vertical profile was approximately acquired $90^{\circ}$ at $CF_{4}/(CF_{4}+O_{2})$ of 0.2. The selectivies of polyimide to PR and $SiO_{2}$ were 1.2, 5.9, respectively. The etching profiles of PI films with an aluminum pattern were measured by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The chemical states on the PI film surface were investigated by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Radical densities of oxygen and fluorine in different gas mixing ratio of $O_{2}/CF_{4}$ were investigated by optical emission spectrometer (OES).

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.115-119
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• 2011

Si Nanowire (NW) field effect transistors (FETs) were fabricated on hard Si and flexible polyimide (PI) substrates, and their electrical characteristics were compared. Si NWs used as channels were synthesized by electroless etching method at low temperature, and these NWs were refined using a centrifugation method to get the NWs to have an optimal diameter and length for FETs. The gate insulator was poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP), prepared using a spin-coating method on the PI substrate. Gold was used as electrodes whose gap was 8 ${\mu}m$. These gold electrodes were deposited using a thermal evaporator. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the device were measured using a semiconductor analyzer, HP-4145B. The electrical properties of the device were characterized through hole mobility, $I_{on}/I_{off}$ ratio and threshold voltage. The results showed that the electrical properties of the TFTs on PVP were similar to those of TFTs on $SiO_2$. The bending durability of SiNWs TFTs on PI substrate was also studied with increasing bending times. The results showed that the electrical properties were maintained until the sample was folded about 500 times. But, after more than 1000 bending tests, drain current showed a rapid decrease due to the defects caused by the roughness of the surface of the Si NWs and mismatches of the Si NWs with electrodes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.247-253
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• 2018

We examined the characteristics of indium tin zinc oxide (ITZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) on polyimide (PI) substrates for next-generation flexible display application. In this study, the ITZO TFT was fabricated and analyzed with a SiOx/SiNx gate insulator deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) below $350^{\circ}C$. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) results revealed that the oxygen vacancies and impurities such as H, OH and $H_2O$ increased at ITZO/gate insulator interface. Our study suggests that the hydrogen related impurities existing in the PI and gate insulator were diffused into the channel during the fabrication process. We demonstrate that these impurities and oxygen vacancies in the ITZO channel/gate insulator may cause degradation of the electrical characteristics and bias stability. Therefore, in order to realize high performance oxide TFTs for flexible displays, it is necessary to develop a buffer layer (e.g., $Al_2O_3$) that can sufficiently prevent the diffusion of impurities into the channel.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.334-342
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• 2015

4-O-Methylhonokiol (MH), a bioactive compound derived from Magnolia officinalis, is known to exhibit antitumor effects in various cancer cells. However, the precise mechanism of its anticancer activity in cervical cancer cells has not yet been studied. In this study, we demonstrated that MH induces apoptosis in SiHa cervical cancer cells by enhancing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ) activation, followed by inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway and intrinsic pathway induction. MH upregulated PPARγ and PTEN expression levels while it decreased p-Akt in the MH-induced apoptotic process, thereby supporting the fact that MH is a PPARγ activator. Additionally, MH decreased the expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL, inducing the intrinsic pathway in MH-treated SiHa cells. Furthermore, MH treatment led to the activation of caspase-3/caspase-9 and proteolytic cleavage of polyADP ribose polymerase. The expression levels of Fas (CD95) and E6/E7 oncogenes were not altered by MH treatment. Taken together, MH activates PPARγ/PTEN expression and induces apoptosis via suppression of the PI3K/Akt pathway and mitochondria-dependent pathways in SiHa cells. These findings suggest that MH has potential for development as a therapeutic agent for human cervical cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.393-397
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• 2002

Polyimide (PI) films have been studied widely as the interlayer dielectric materials due to a low dielectric constant, low water absorption, high gap-fill and planarization capability. The polyimide film was etched using inductively coupled plasma system. The etcying characteristics such as etch rate and selectivity were evaluated at different $CF_4/(CF_4+O_2)$chemistry. The maximum etch rate was 8300 ${\AA}/min$ and the selectivity of polyimide to SiO$_2$was 5.9 at $CF_4/(CF_4+O_2)$ of 0.2. Etch profile of polyimide film with an aluminum pattern was measured by a scanning electron microscopy. The vertical profile was approximately $90^{\circ}$ at $CF_4/(CF_4+O_2)$ of 0.2. As 20% $CF_4$ were added into $O_2$ plasma from the results of the optical emission spectroscopy, the radical densities of fluorine and oxygen increased with increasing $CF_4$ concentration in $CF_4/O_2$ from 0 to 20%, resulting in the increased etch rate. The surface reaction of etched PI films was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.337-338
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• 2006

The 200 nm thick-NiCr films grew on $SiO_2$/Si substrates at various deposition temperatures by a dc magnetron co-sputtering technique were characterized for the variation of film texture. The resistivity of the films decreases with increasing deposition temperature and temperature coefficient of electrical resistance (TCR) varies from negative value to a positive one with increasing deposition temperature. The NiCr films deposited at $300^{\circ}C$ exhibit 4 ppm/K being near zero TCR, resulting in TCR suitable for $\pi$-type attenuator applications.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1990.02a
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• pp.264-268
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• 1990

A guided-wave electro-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometric modulator was fabricated on X-cut LiNbO3 . The channel waveguides were formed by proton diffusion with self-aligned SiO2-cladding. A mach-Zehnder interferometric modulator with arm lengths of 7mm has been fabricated and tested at 0.6328${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Its modulation depth with V$\pi$ of only 3.5V was 85% and the 3dB bandwidth was 1.6KHz. For high speed operation, the electrode dimension should be reduced to have smaller R, L, and C.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.143-150
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• 2016

The thickness of each layer in a multilayered system is determined by a Fourier-transform method using spectroscopic reflectance measurements. To verify this method, we first generate theoretical reflectance spectra for three layers, and these are fast-Fourier-transformed using our own Matlab program. Each peak of the Fourier-transformed delta function denotes the optical thickness of each layer, and these are transformed to physical thicknesses. The relative thickness error of the theoretical model is less than 1.0% while a layer's optical thickness is greater than 730 nm. A PI-(thin $SiO_2$)-PImultilayeredstructure produced by the bar-coating method was analyzed, and the thickness errors compared to SEM measurements. Even though this Fourier-transform method requires knowing the film order and the refractive index of each layer prior to analysis, it is a fast and nondestructive method for the analysis of multilayered structures.