• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.539-545
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• 2014

Contact resistivity between silver electrodes and the emitter layer of a silicon solar cell wafer has been measured using either the circular transmission line method or the linear transmission line method. The circular transmission line method has an advantage over the linear transmission line method, in that it does not require an additional process for mesa etching to eliminate the leakage current. In contrast, the linear transmission line method has the advantage that its specimen can be acquired directly from a silicon solar cell. In this study, measured resistance data for the calculation of contact resistivity is compared for these two methods, and the mechanism by which the linear transmission line method can more realistically reflect the impact of the width and thickness of a silver electrode on contact resistivity is investigated.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.7-12
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• 2020

Electromechanical properties of REBCO CC tapes are known to be limited by defects (cracks) that form in the brittle REBCO layer. These defects could be inherently acquired during the CC tapes' manufacturing process, such as slitting, and which can be initiated at the CC tapes' edges. If propagated and long enough, they are believed to cause critical current degradation and can substantially decrease the delamination strength of CC tapes. Currently, commercially available CC tapes from various manufacturers utilize different growth techniques for depositing the REBCO layers on the substrates in their CC tapes preparation. Their epitaxial techniques, unfortunately, cannot perfectly avoid the formation of particles, in which sometimes acts as current blocking defects, known as outgrowths. Collective research regarding the composition, size, and formation of these particles for various CC tapes with different deposition techniques are particularly uncommon in a single study. Most importantly, these particles might interact in one way or another to the existing cracks. Therefore, systematic investigation on the interactions between the cracks' development mechanism and particles on the REBCO superconducting layers of practical CC tapes are of great importance, especially in the design of superconducting devices. Here, a proper etching process was employed for the CC tapes to expose and observe the REBCO layers, clearly. The scanning electron microscope, field emission scanning microscope, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy were utilized to observe the interactions between cracks and particles in various practical CC tapes. Particle compositions were identified whether as non-superconducting or superconducting and in what manner it interacts with the cracks were studied.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.169-175
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• 1998

The plasma etching of polysilicon was performed with the HBr/$Cl_2/He-O_2$ gas mixture. The residual layers after photoresist strip were investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The etch residue was identified as silicon oxide deposited on the top of the patterned polysilicon. In order to clarify the formation mechanism of the etch residue, the effects of various gas mixtures such as $Cl_2/He-O_2$and HBr/$Cl_2$were investigated. We found that the etch residue is well formed in the presence of oxygen, suggesting that the etch residue is caused by the reaction of oxvgen and non-volatile silicon halide compounds. Wet cleaning and dry etch cleaning processes were applied to remove the polysilicon etch residue, which can affect the electrical characteristics and further device processes. XPS results show that the wet cleaning is suitable for the removal of the etch residue.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1996.07c
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• pp.2004-2006
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• 1996

A thermally driven polysilicon micro actuator has been fabricated using surface micromachining techniques. It consists of P-doped polysilicon as a structural layer and TEOS (tetracthylorthosilicate) as a sacrificial layer. The polysilicon was annealed for the relaxation of residual stress which is the main cause to its deformation such as bending and buckling. And the newly developed HF VPE (vapor phase etching) process was also used as an effective release method for the elimination of sacrificial TEOS layer. The thickneas of polysilicon is $2{\mu}m$ and the lengths of active and passive polysilicon cantilevers are $500{\mu}m$ and $260{\mu}m$, respectively. The actuation is incurred by die thermal expansion due to the current flow in the active polysilicon cantilever, which motion is amplified by lever mechanism. The moving distance of polysilicon micro actuator was experimentally conformed as large as $21{\mu}m$ at the input voltage level of 10V and 50Hz square wave. The actuating characteristics are investigated by simulating the phenomena of heat transfer and thermal expansion in the polysilicon layer. The displacement of actuator is analyzed to be proportional to the square of input voltage. These micro actuator technology can be utilized for the fabrication of MEMS (microelectromechanical system) such as micro relay, which requires large displacement or contact force but relatively slow response.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.276-276
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• 2010

Large-area micropatterned array of Co/Ni bilayer anti-dots was fabricated using photolithography and wet etching process. The surface morphology as well as the surface topography was checked by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, whereas the magnetic properties were studied by magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Systematic studies of the magnetic-reversal mechanism, the in-plane anisotropy and the switching field properties were carried out. To get a comprehensive knowledge about the domain configuration, we also employed OOMMF simulations. It was found from the MOKE measurements that a combined effect of configurational and the magneto-crystalline anisotropy simultaneously works in such micropatterned bilayer structures. In addition, the inclusion of holes in the uniform magnetic film drastically affected the switching field. The MFM images show well-defined domain structures which are periodic in nature. The micromagnetic simulations indicate that the magnetization reversal of such a structure proceeds by formation and annihilation of domain walls, which were equally manifested by the field-dependent MFM images. The observed changes in the magnetic properties are strongly related to both the patterning that hinders the domain-wall motion and to the magneto-anisotropic bilayered structure.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.453-457
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• 2007

Interest in use of ink-jet printing for pattern-on-demand fabrication of metal interconnects without complicated and wasteful etching process has been on rapid increase. However, ink-jet printing is a wet process and needs an additional thermal treatment such as an annealing process. Since a metal ink is a suspension containing metal nanoparticles and organic capping molecules to prevent aggregation of them, the microstructure of an ink-jet printed metal interconnect 'as dried' can be characterized as a stack of loosely packed nanoparticles. Therefore, during being treated thermally, an inkjet-printed interconnect is likely to evolve a characteristic microstructure, different from that of the conventionally vacuum-deposited metal films. Microstructure characteristics can significantly affect the corresponding electrical and mechanical properties. The characteristics of change in microstructure and electrical resistivity of inkjet-printed silver (Ag) films when annealed isothermally at a temperature between 170 and $240^{\circ}C$ were analyzed. The change in electrical resistivity was described using the first-order exponential decay kinetics. The corresponding activation energy of 0.44 eV was explained in terms of a thermally-activated mechanism, i.e., migration of point defects such as vacancy-oxygen pairs, rather than microstructure evolution such as grain growth or change in porosity.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.319-325
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• 1999

Direct current(d.c.)leakage current voltage characteristics of radio-frequencymagnetron sputtered BaTa\sub 2\O\sub 6\ film capacitors with aluminum(A1) top and indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom electrodes have been investigatedas a function of applied field and temperature. In order to study surfacetreatment effect on the electrical characteristics of as-deposited film weperformed exposure of oxygen plasma on $BaTa_2O_6$ surface. d. c.current-voltage (I-V), bipolar pulse charge-voltage (Q-V), d. c. current-time (I-t) andcapacitance-frequency (C-f) analysis were performed on films. All ofthe films exhibita low leakage current, a high breakdown field strength (3MV/cm-4.5MV/cm), and high dielectric constant (20-30). From the temperature dependence of leakage current,we can conclude that the dominant conduction mechanism is ascribed toSchottky emission at high electric field (>1MV/cm) and hopping conduction at lowelectric field (<1MV/cm). According to our results, the oxide plasma surfacetreatmenton as-deposited $BaTa_2O_6$ resulted in lowering interfacebarrier height and thus, leakage current when a negative voltage applied to the A1 electrode. This can be explained by reduction of surface contamination via etching surface and filling defects such as oxygen vacancies.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.8-13
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• 2001

Cerium oxide ($CeO_2$) thin film has been proposed as a buffer layer between the ferroelectric thin film and the Si substrate in Metal-Ferroelectric-Insulator-Silicon (MFIS) structures for ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) applications. In this study, $CeO_2$ thin films were etched with $Cl_2$/Ar gas mixture in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). Etch properties were measured for different gas mixing ratio of $Cl_2$($Cl_2$+Ar) while the other process conditions were fixed at RF power (600 W), dc bias voltage (-200 V), and chamber pressure (15 mTorr). The highest etch rate of $CeO_2$ thin film was 230 ${\AA}$/min and the selectivity of $CeO_2$ to $YMnO_3$ was 1.83 at $Cl_2$($Cl_2$+Ar gas mixing ratio of 0.2. The surface reaction of the etched $CeO_2$ thin films was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. There is a Ce-Cl bonding by chemical reaction between Ce and Cl. The results of secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) analysis were compared with the results of XPS analysis and the Ce-Cl bonding was monitored at 176.15 (a.m.u). These results confirm that Ce atoms of $CeO_2$ thin films react with chlorine and a compound such as CeCl remains on the surface of etched $CeO_2$ thin films. These products can be removed by Ar ion bombardment.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.111-116
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• 2002

Electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy was employed to study the evolution of surface morphology during electrochemical preparation of Si(111)-H from Si(111) oxide. Anodic dark current of cyclic voltammogram in 0.2M $NH_4F$ solution (pH 4.7) decreased as the number of cycles increased and remained nearly constant after the second cycle. Then, the Si(111) oxide was entirely stripped, which was followed by H termination on the Si(111) surface. Hydrides at kink and step sites were etched more rapidly than on the terrace, which remained triangle pits with [112] oriented steps where existed stable monohydride. Then, triangle pits deepened. During chronomamperometry at 0.4V anodic dark current shoulder appeared and decreased slowly, indicated the stripping of Si(111) oxide and the formation of stable (112) oriented steps with monohydride. Additionally, the etching mechanism of Si(111)-H in 0.2M $NH_4F(pH 4.7)$ solution at +0.4V was discussed.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.258-265
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• 1992

A low loss optical waveguide of $P_{2}O_{5}-SiO_{2}$on Si substrate is produced by using the chemical vapour deposition method of $SiO_2$ thin films used in Si technology. Propagation loss of the waveguide layer was 1.65 dB/cm as produced and reduced down to 0.1 dB/cm after heat treatment at $1100^{\circ}C$. By using laser lithography and reactive ion etching method $P_{2}O_{5}-SiO_{2}$ waveguide was produced and subsequently annealed at $1100^{\circ}C$.As a result of this annealing the shape of the waveguide core was changed from rectangular to semi-circular form, and the propagation loss was reduced as down to 0.03 dB/cm at 0.6328$\mu$m and 0.04dB/cm at 1.53$\mu$m. We think that the mechanism of the reduction in propagation loss during the heat treatment is the following: 1) The hydrogen bonding in waveguide layer, which causes absorption loss, is dissociated and diffused out. 2) The roughness of the interface and the micro-structure of the waveguide layer is removed. 3) The irregularities in the cross-sectional shape of the waveguide which was induced during the lithographic process were disappeared by flowing of the waveguide core.