• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.282-282
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• 2008

Quasi-ordered arrays of hollow $SnO_2$ hemispheres were prepared by utilizing the colloidal templating route and RF-sputtering methods. Hollow $SnO_2$ hemispheres with shell thickness of 20nm exhibited an uniform continuity and open porosity, resulting in high gas sensitivity due to enhanced surface area as well as reduced interfacial effects. Multilayered hollow $SnO_2$ hemispheres and hollow $SnO_2$ hemispheres with controlled wall thickness were fabricated by controlling processing steps.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.639-645
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• 2012

Embossed $TiO_2$ thin films with high surface areas are achieved using soft-templates composed of monolayer polystyrene beads. The form of links between the beads in the templates is controlled by varying the $O_2$ plasma etching time on the templates, resulting in various templates with close-linked, nano-linked, and isolated beads. Room-temperature deposition of $TiO_2$ on the plasma-treated templates and calcination at $550^{\circ}C$ result in embossed films with tailored links between anatase $TiO_2$ hollow hemispheres. Although all the embossed films have similar surface areas, the sensitivity of films with nano-linked $TiO_2$ hollow hemispheres to 500 ppm CO and ethanol gases are much higher than that of films with close-linked and isolated hollow hemispheres, and the detection limits of them are as low as 0.6 ppm for CO and 0.1 ppm for ethanol. The strong correlation of sensitivity with the form of links between hollow hemispheres reveals the critical role of potential barriers formed at the links. The facile, large-scale, and on-chip fabrication of embossed $TiO_2$ films with nano-linked hollow hemispheres on Si substrate and the high sensitivity without the aid of additives give us a sustainable competitive advantage over various methods for the fabrication of highly sensitive $TiO_2$-based sensors.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.16.1-16.1
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• 2011

$TiO_2$ is a promising material for gas sensors. To achieve high sensitivities, the material should exhibit a large surface-to-volume ratio and possess the high accessibility of the gas molecules to the surface. Accordingly, a wide variety of porous $TiO_2$ nanomaterials synthesized by wet-chemical methods have been reported for gas sensor applications. Nonetheless, achieving the large-area uniformity and comparability with well-established semiconductor production processes of the methods is still challenging. An alternative method is soft-templating which utilizes nanostructured inorganic or organic materials as sacrificial templates for the preparation of porous materials. Fabrication of macroporous $TiO_2$ films and hollow $TiO_2$ tubes by soft-templating and their gas sensing applications have been reported recently. In these porous materials composed of assemblies of individual micro/nanostructures, the form of links or necks between individual micro/nanostructures is a critical factor to determine gas sensing properties of the material. However, a systematic study to clarify the role of links between individual micro/nanostructures in gas sensing properties of a porous metal oxide matrix is thoroughly lacking. In this work, we have demonstrated a fabrication method to prepare highly-ordered, embossed $TiO_2$ films composed of anatase $TiO_2$ hollow hemispheres via soft-templating using polystyrene beads. The form of links between hollow hemispheres could be controlled by $O_2$ plasma etching on the bead templates. This approach reveals the strong correlation of gas sensitivity with the form of the links. Our experimental results highlight that not only the surface-to-volume ratio of an ensemble material composed of individual micro/nanostructures but also the links between individual micro/nanostructures play a critical role in evaluating the sensing properties of the material. In addition to this general finding, the facileness, large-scale productivity, and compatability with semiconductor production process of the proposed fabrication method promise applications of the embossed $TiO_2$ films to high-quality sensors.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.667-671
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• 2013

We present an easy method of preparing two-dimensional (2D) periodic hollow tin oxide ($SnO_2$) hemisphere array gas sensors using polystyrene (PS) spheres as a template. The structures were fabricated by the sputter deposition of thin tin (Sn) metal over an array of PS spheres on a planar substrate followed by calcination at an elevated temperature to oxidize Sn to $SnO_2$ while removing the PS template cores. The $SnO_2$ hemisphere array structures were examined by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The structures were calcined at various temperatures and their sensing properties were examined with varying operation temperatures and concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) gas. Their gas-sensing properties were investigated by measuring the electrical resistances in air and the target gases. The measurements were conducted at different NO concentrations and substrate temperatures. A minimum detection limit of 30 ppb, showing a sensitivity of S = 1.6, was observed for NO gas at an operation temperature of $150^{\circ}C$ for a sample having an Sn metal layer thickness corresponding to 30 sec sputtering time and calcined at $600^{\circ}C$ for 2 hr in air. We proved that high porosity in a hollow $SnO_2$ hemisphere structure allows easy diffusion of the target gas molecules. The results confirm that a 2D hollow $SnO_2$ hemisphere array structure of micronmeter sizes can be a good structural morphology for high sensitivity gas sensors.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.197-206
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• 2003

A three-dimensional (3-D) method of analysis is presented for determining the free vibration frequencies and mode shapes of solid and hollow hemispherical shells of revolution of arbitrary wall thickness having arbitrary constraints on their boundaries. Unlike conventional shell theories, which are mathematically two-dimensional (2-D), the present method is based upon the 3-D dynamic equations of elasticity. Displacement components μ/sub Φ/, μ/sub z/, and μ/sub θ/ in the meridional, normal, and circumferential directions, respectively, are taken to be sinusoidal in time, periodic in θ, and algebraic polynomials in the Φ and z directions. Potential (strain) and kinetic energies of the hemispherical shells are formulated, and the Ritz method is used to solve the eigenvalue problem, thus yielding upper bound values of the frequencies obtained by minimizing the frequencies. As the degree of the polynomials is increased, frequencies converge to the exact values. Novel numerical results are presented for solid and hollow hemispheres with linear thickness variation. The effect on frequencies of a small axial conical hole is also discussed. Comparisons are made for the frequencies of completely free, thick hemispherical shells with uniform thickness from the present 3-D Ritz solutions and other 3-D finite element ones.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.247-247
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• 2006

Chemical and physical synthesis routes were combined to prepare macroporous thin films of semiconducting metal-oxides such as $CaCu_{3}Ti_{4}O_{12}\;and\;TiO_{2}$ by sputtering onto (PMMA) microsphere templated substrates. Subsequently, the colloidal templates were removed by thermal decomposition. The remaining inorganic films comprised a monolayer of hollow hemispheres with diameter commensurate with that of the microspheres. This unique morphology increases the surface area and reduces the interfacial area between film and substrate. Consequently, the surface activity is markedly enhanced while deleterious interfacial effects between film and substrate are significantly reduced. Both effects are highly advantageous for gas sensing applications.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.110-115
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• 2009

Polystyrene (PS) microspheres were used to good advantage as a template material to prepare macroporous $TiO_2$ thin films. This is enabled to run the thermal decomposition of the PS without the collapsing of the 3-D macroporous framework during the calcination step. $TiO_2$ thin films were deposited onto the colloidal templated substrates at room temperature by RF sputtering, and then samples were thermally treated at $450^{\circ}C$ for 40.min in air to remove the organic colloidal template and induce crystallization of the $TiO_2$ film. The macroporous $TiO_2$ thin film exhibited a quasi-ordered partially hexagonal close-packed structure. Burst holes, estimated to be formed during PS thermal decomposition, are seen as the hemisphere walls. the inner as well as the outer surfaces of the hollow hemispheres formed by the method of thermal decomposition can be easily accessed by the diffusing gas species. As a consequence, the active surface area interacting with the gas species is expected to be enlarged about by a factor of fourth as large as compared to that of a planar films. Also the thickness at neighboring hemisphere could be controlled a few nm thickness. If the acceptor density becomes as large that depletion width reaches those thickness, the device is in the pinch off-situation and a strong resistance change should be observed.