• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.105-112
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• 2009

In this paper, we investigated abnormal ESD failure on guard-rings in the smart power IC fabricated with $0.35{\mu}m$ Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) technology. Initially, ESD failure occurred below 200 V in the Machine Model (MM) test due to current crowding in the parasitic diode associated with the guard-rings which are generally adopted to prevent latch-up in high voltage devices. Optical Beam Induced Resistance Charge (OBIRCH) and Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) were used to find the failure spot and 3-D TCAD was used to verify cause of failure. According to the simulation results, excessive current flows at the comer of the guard-ring isolated by Local Oxidation of Silicon (LOCOS) in the ESD event. Eventually, the ESD failure occurs at that comer of the guard-ring. The modified comer design of the guard-ring is proposed to resolve such ESD failure. The test chips designed by the proposed modification passed MM test over 200 V. Analyzing the test chips statistically, ESD immunity was increased over 20 % in MM mode test. In order to avoid such ESD failure, the automatic method to check the weak point in the guard-ring is also proposed by modifying the Design Rule Check (DRC) used in BCD technology. This DRC was used to check other similar products and 24 errors were found. After correcting the errors, the measured ESD level fulfilled the general industry specification such as HBM 2000 V and MM 200V.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.557-575
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• 2020

Plasma blasting which is generated by high voltage arc discharge of electricity is applied to soil mass to improve permeability of soil and cleaning efficiency of oil contamination. A new high voltage generator was manufactured and three types of soil including silty sand, silty sand mixed with lime and silty sand mixed with cement were prepared. Small and large soil columns were produced using these types of soil and plasma blasting was performed within soil columns to investigate the variation of soil volume penetrated by fluid and permeability. Soil volume penetrated by fluid increased by 11~71% when plasma blasting was applied in soil. Although plasma blasting with low electricity voltage induced horizontal fracture and fluid penetrated along this weak plane, plasma blasting with high voltage induced spherical penetration of fluid. Plasma blasting increased the permeability of soil. Permeabilty of soils mixed with lime and cement increased by 450~1,052% with plasma blasting. Permeability of soil increased as discharge voltage increased when plasma blasing was applied once. However, several blastings with the same discharge voltage increase or decrease permeability of soil. Oil contaminated soil was prepared by adding diesel into soil artificially and plasma blasting was performed in these oil contaminated soil. Cleaning efficiency increased by average of 393% for soil located nearby the blasting and by average of 239% for soil located far from the blasting. Cleaning efficiency did not show any correlation with discharge voltage. All these results indicated that plasma blasting might be used for in-situ cleaning of oil contaminated soil because plasma blasting increased permeability of soil and cleaning efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.331-340
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• 2008

A method of measuring the current and voltage is suggested in the circuit of cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) which are driven at a high frequency of $50{\sim}100\;kHz$ and a high voltage of several kV. It is difficult to measure the current and voltage in the lamp circuit, because the impedance of the probe at high voltage side causes the leakage current and the variation of luminance. According to the analysis of equivalence circuit with the probe impedance and leakage current, the proper measuring method is to adjust the input DC voltage and to keep the specific luminance when the probe is installed at a high voltage circuit. The lamp current is detected with a current probe or a high frequency current meter at the ground side and the voltage is measured with a high voltage probe at the high voltage side of lamp. The lamp voltage($V_C$) is measured between the ballast capacitor and the lamp electrode, and the output voltage($V_I$) of inverter is measured between inverter output and ballast capacitor. As the phases of lamp voltage($V_C$) and current ($I_G$) are nearly the same values, the real power of lamp is the product of the lamp voltage($V_C$) by the lamp current($I_G$). The measured value of the phase difference between inverter output voltage($V_I$) and lamp current($I_G$) is appreciably deviated from the calculated value at $cos{\theta}=V_C/V_I$.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.433-445
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• 2021

Plasma blasting by high voltage arc discharge were performed in laboratory-scale soil samples to investigate the fluid penetration efficiency. A plasma blasting device with a large-capacity capacitor and columnar soil samples with a diameter of 80 cm and a height of 60 cm were prepared. Columnar soil samples consist of seven A-samples mixed with sand and silt by ratio of 7:3 and three B-samples by ratio of 9:1. When fluid was injected into A-sample by pressure without plasma blasting, fluid penetrated into soil only near around the borehole, and penetration area ratio was less than 5%. Fluid was injected by plasma blasting with three different discharge energies of 1 kJ, 4 kJ and 9 kJ. When plasma blasting was performed once in the A-samples, penetration area ratios of the fluid were 16-25%. Penetration area ratios were 30-48% when blastings were executed five times consecutively. The largest penetration area by plasma blasting was 9.6 times larger than that by fluid injection by pressure. This indicates that the higher discharge energy of plasma blasting and the more numbers of blasting are, the larger are fluid penetration areas. When five consecutive plasma blasting were carried out in B-sample, fluid penetration area ratios were 33-59%. Penetration areas into B-samples were 1.1-1.4 times larger than those in A-samples when test conditions were the same, indicating that the higher permeability of soil is, the larger is fluid penetration area. The fluid penetration radius was calculated to figure out fluid penetration volume. When the fluid was injected by pressure, the penetration radius was 9 cm. Whereas, the penetration radius was 27-30 cm when blasting were performed 5 times with energy of 9 kJ. The radius increased up to 333% by plasma blasting. All these results indicate that cleaning agent penetrates further and remediation efficiency of contaminated soil will be improved if plasma blasting technology is applied to in situ cleaning of contaminated soil with low permeability.