• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.51-57
• /
• 2019

To protect the Cu surface from oxidation in air, a two-step plasma process using Ar and $N_2$ gases was studied to form a copper nitride passivation as an anti-oxidant layer. The Ar plasma removes contaminants on the Cu surface and it activates the surface to facilitate the reaction of copper and nitrogen atoms in the next $N_2$ plasma process. This study investigated the effect of Ar plasma on the formation of copper nitride passivation on Cu surface during the two-step plasma process through the full factorial design of experiment (DOE) method. According to XPS analysis, when using low RF power and pressure in the Ar plasma process, the peak area of copper oxides decreased while the peak area of copper nitrides increased. The main effect of copper nitride formation in Ar plasma process was RF power, and there was little interaction between plasma process parameters.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2011.08a
• /
• pp.121-121
• /
• 2011

Graphene formed by chemical vapor deposition was exposed to the various plasmas of Ar, O2, N2, and H2 to examine its effects on the bonding properties of graphene to metal. Upon the Ar plasma exposure of patterned graphene, the subsequently deposited metal electrodes remained intact, enabling successful fabrication of field effect transistor (FET) arrays. The effects of enhancing adhesion between graphene and metals were more evident from O2 plasmas than Ar, N2, and H2 plasmas, suggesting that chemical reaction of O radicals induces hydrophilic property of graphene more effectively than chemical reaction of H and N radicals and physical bombardment of Ar ions. From the electrical measurements (drain current vs. gate voltage) of field effect transistors before and after Ar plasma exposure, it was confirmed that the plasma treatment is very effective in controlling bonding properties of graphene to metals accurately without requiring buffer layers.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.137-144
• /
• 2012

The surface of polyethylene (PE) was modified through Ar atmospheric pressure plasma treatment and subsequent grafting of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). Optimum plasma treatment conditions were determined through analyzing the surface free energies calculated from the contact angles between PE samples and three probe liquids, which were RF-power of 200 W, plasma treatment time of 600 sec, Ar flow rate of 5 LPM, and sample-holder moving speed of 20 mm/sec. To introduce the maximum amount of GMA on PE surface treated under the conditions, graft copolymerization conditions such as GMA concentration, temperature, and time were carefully controlled. Grafting degree (GD) was obtained through weight difference analysis of PE film before and after graft copolymerization. A maximum GD was achieved at the GMA concentration of 20 vol%, the temperature of $80^{\circ}C$, and the treatment time of 4 hr.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.134-140
• /
• 2004

Semi-crystalline poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film surfaces were modified with argon and oxygen plasmas by radio-frequency (RF) glow discharge at 240 mTorr/40 W; the changes in topography and surface structure were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) in conjunction with specular reflectance of infrared microspectroscopy (IMS). Under our operating conditions, analysis of the AFM images revealed that longer plasma treatment results in significant ablation on the film surface with increasing roughness, regardless of the kind of plasma used. The basic topographies, however, were different depending upon the kind of gas used. The specular reflectance analysis showed that the ablative mechanisms of the argon and oxygen plasma treatments are entirely different with one another. For the Ar-plasma-treated PET surface, no observable difference in the chemical structure was observed before and after plasma treatment. On the other hand, the oxygen-plasma-treated PET surface displays a significant decrease in the number of aliphatic C-H groups. We conclude that a constant removal of material from the PET surface occurs when using the Ar-plasma, whereas preferential etching of aliphatic C-H groups, with respect to, e.g. , carbonyl and ether groups, occurs upon oxygen plasma.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.101-103
• /
• 2009

Minimizing the residual impurity level on the MgO layer is the key factor for reducing temporal dark image sticking on bright screen. In this paper, to reduce the residual impurity level on the MgO layer of 50-in. full-HD ac-PDP with He (35%) - Xe (11%) contents, RF-plasma treatments on the MgO layer are adopted under various gases for plasma treatment. As a result of monitoring the difference in the display luminance between the before and after 5-min. sustain discharge with a square-type image at peak luminance, the Ar and Ar>$O_2$ plasma treatments can reduce the temporal dark image sticking on the bright screen in an ac-PDP.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.269-274
• /
• 2015

In this experiment, post-nitriding treatment was performed at $400^{\circ}C$ on AISI 316 stainless steel which was plasma carburized previously at $430^{\circ}C$ for 15 hours. Plasma nitriding was implemented on AISI 316 stainless steel at various gas compositions (25% $N_2$, 50% $N_2$ and 75% $N_2$) for 4 hours. Additionally, during post nitriding Ar gas was used with $H_2$ and $N_2$ to observe the improvement of surface properties. After treatment, the behavior of the hybrid layer was investigated by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and micro-hardness testing. Potentiodynamic polarization test was also used to evaluate the corrosion resistance of the samples. Meanwhile, it was found that the surface hardness increased with increasing the nitrogen gas content. Also small percentage of Ar gas was introduced in the post nitriding process which improved the hardness of the hardened layer but reduced the corrosion resistance compared with the carburized sample. The experiment revealed that AISI 316L stainless steel showed better hardness and excellent corrosion resistance compared with the carburized sample, when 75% $N_2$ gas was used during the post nitriding treatment. Also addition of Ar gas during post nitriding treatment degraded the corrosion resistance of the sample compared with the carburized sample.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 2003

Abstract: The surfaces of poly (methylpentene)(PMP) were modified by Af and $NH_3$ plasma treatment, and their effects on permeation characteristics were investigated. The mole ratio of O/C in the surface was increased with Ar plasma treatment and consequently the surface became hydrophilic because of the possible formation of -OH, -COOH and C=O. The surface treated by $NH_3$ plasma also became hydrophilic due to the formation of amine and/or amide groups. The $CO_2$ permeability and its actual selectivity over N_2$ were 182 baller and 6.17 for the optimum condition of Ar-30W-6min, while 144 Baller and 6.13 for that of $NH_3$-30 W-8 min.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.456-461
• /
• 2007

In this study, a surface treatment method using accelerated Ar ions was experimented for exposing the carbon nanotubes (CNT) from the screen-printed CNT paste. After making a cathode electrode on the glass substrate, photo sensitive CNT paste was screen-printed, and then back-side was exposed by UV light. Then, the exposed CNT paste was selectively remained by development. After post-baking, the remained CNT paste was bombarded by accelerated Ar ions for removing some binders and exposing only CNTs. As results, the field emission characteristics were strongly depended on the accelerating energy, bombardment time, and the power of RF plasma ion source. When Ar ions accelerated with 100 eV energy from the 100 W RF plasma source are bombarded on the CNT paste surface for 10 min, the emission level and the uniformity were best.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.40 no.6
• /
• pp.687-693
• /
• 2002

The surface of polyethersulfone(PES) membrane treated by Ar, $NH_3$ plasma, and the effects were observed before and after the treatment. The membrane treated by Ar plasma was increased the O/C ratio and measured the hydrophilic group, and the one by $NH_3$ plasma was attached the amine group and the amino group. In addition, with the wettability of polyethersulfone membrane $CO_2$ and the polar functional groups of surface interacted increasingly. Thus by comparable increase of the soluble selectivity $CO_2$ to $N_2$ both the permeability and the selectivity of $CO_2$ was improved. The optimum condition for the $CO_2$ permeation and actual separation factor of the plasma treated membrane was as follows; the measurement of Ar-10 W-2 min plasma treatment was $13.19{\times}10^{-10}cm^3(STP)cm/cm^2{\cdot}s{\cdot}cmHg$ and 20.12, and the measurement of $NH_3$-50 W-2 min plasma treatment was $15.40{\times}10^{-10}cm^3(STP)cm/cm^2{\cdot}s{\cdot}cmHg$ and 20.06.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.147-155
• /
• 1998

In this study, we prepared non-porous plasma membrane for having high permeability and selectivity and this membrane was deposited on the $Al_{2}O_{3}$ membrane by using $CHF_{3}$ & $SiH_{4}$ monomer. Also, we investigated for the permeation characteristics of the plasma polymer membrane by Ar plasma treatment. When the position of substrate was near cathode, the selectivity was increased with Ar plasma treatment time and rf-power. The pore size of $Al_{2}O_{3}$ membrane had an effect on the permeability and the position of substrate affected selectivity.