• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.841-845
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• 2013

We give a textured front on silicon wafer for high-efficiency solar cells by using micro contact printing method which uses PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) silicon rubber as a stamp and SAM (self assembled monolayer)s as an ink. A random pyramidal texturing have been widely used for a front-surface texturing in low cost manufacturing line although the cell with random pyramids on front surface shows relatively low efficiency than the cell with inverted pyramids patterned by normal optical lithography. In the past two decades, the micro contact printing has been intensively studied in nano technology field for high resolution patterns on silicon wafer. However, this promising printing technique has surprisingly never applied so far to silicon based solar cell industry despite their simplicity of process and attractive aspects in terms of cost competitiveness. We employ a MHA (16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid) as an ink for Au deposited $SiO_2/Si$ substrate. The $SiO_2$ pattern which is same as the pattern printed by SAM ink on Au surface and later acts as a hard resist for anisotropic silicon etching was made by HF solution, and then inverted pyramidal pattern is formed after anisotropic wet etching. We compare three textured surface with different morphology (random texture, random pyramids and inverted pyramids) and then different geometry of inverted pyramid arrays in terms of reflectivity.

• 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.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.293-300
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• 2022

The remarkable mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of graphene have recently sparked tremendous interest in various research fields. One of the most promising methods to produce large quantities of graphene dispersion is liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) which utilizes ultrasonic waves or shear stresses to exfoliate bulk graphite into graphene flakes that are a few layers thick. Graphene dispersion produced via LPE can be transformed into graphene ink to further boost graphene's applications, but producing high-quality graphene more economically remains a challenge. To overcome this shortcoming, an advanced LPE process should be developed that uses relatively cheap natural graphite as a graphene source. In this study, a flow-LPE process was used to exfoliate natural graphite to produce graphene that was three times cheaper and seven times larger than synthetic graphite. The optimal exfoliation conditions in the flow-LPE process were determined in order to produce high-quality graphene flakes. In addition, the structural and electrical properties of the flakes were characterized. The electrical properties of the exfoliated graphene were investigated by carrying out an ink formulation process to prepare graphene ink suitable for inkjet printing, and fabricating a printed graphene pattern. By utilizing natural graphite, this study offers a potential protocol for graphene production, ink formulation, and printed graphene devices in a more industrial-comparable manner.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2007

Tooth loss in elderly is mainly caused by alveolar bone loss via severe periodontitis. Although the severity of periodontitis is known to be affected by age, the aging process or the genetic changes during the aging of periodontal tissue cells are not well characterized. In this study, we investigated the effect of in vitro aging on the change of gene expression pattern in periodontal fibroblasts. Gingival fibroblasts (GF) and periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDL) were obtained from two young patients and replicative senescence was induced by sequential subcultivation. When more than 90% cells were positively stained with senescence-associated ${\beta},-galactosidase$, those cells were regarded as aged cells. In aged GF and PDL, the level of phosphorylated retinoblastoma (RB) and $p16^{INK4A}$ protein was significantly decreased and increased, respectively. However, the protein level of p53 and p21, well known senescence-inducing genes, did not increase in aged GF and PDL. Although $p27^{Kip1}$ and $p15^{INK4B}$, another cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, were reported to be involved in replicative senescence of human cells, they were decreased in aged GF and PDL. Because senescent cells showed flattened and enlarged cell shape and are known to have increased focal adhesion, we examined the protein level of several integrins. Aged GF and PDL showed increased protein level of integrin ${\alpha}2$, ${\alpha}v$, and ${\beta}1$. When the gene expression profiles of actively proliferating young cells and aged cells were compared by cDNA microarray of 3,063 genes and were confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, 7 genes and 15 genes were significantly and commonly increased and decreased, respectively, in aged GF and PDL. Among them, included are the genes that were known to be involved in the regulation of cell cycle, gene transcription, or integrin signaling. The change of gene expression pattern in GF and PDL was minimally similar to that of oral keratinocyte. These results suggest that $p16^{INK4A}/RB$ might be involved in replicative senescence of periodontal fibroblasts and the change of gene expression profile during aging process is cell type specific.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.4.1-4.1
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• 2011

Recently, circuit printing technology has been considered as a promising alternative to conventional PCB fabrication, for it can greatly reduce the manufacturing costs. Even though printed circuit has many advantages over typical subtractive technology such as fewer processes, it has some disadvantages. The major problems are low adhesion and poor resolution. Efforts to overcome these problems have been mainly focused on ink developments with a limited success. And surface treatments showed some improvements. Therefore, various plasma treatments and primer coatings on plastic substrates have been tested. Plasma treatments using hydrocarbon gases including methane and propane improved the pattern quality of the inkjet printed circuit, which are further improved upon heating of substrate. On the other hand, there is little effect on the adhesion, which is improved only by a special primer coating. The adhesion of inkjet printed circuit has been increased more than 10 times upon treatment. As for the screen printed circuits, the overall effects are less significant since there is some organic binder in the ink. Nonetheless, the treatment has strong positive effects on pattern quality and adhesion. The adhesion of 1 kgf/cm2, which is comparable with those of the conventional PCB circuits, is possible through primer coating for both screen and inkjet printed circuits. The resulting circuit also showed good thermal, mechanical and electrical properties.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.1429-1434
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• 2009

Recently electronic circuit pattern printing technologies like antennas of RFID process are paid attention. oven drying system is being used since drying and curing time of RFID Tag Gravure printing normally takes from 5 minutes and up to 30 minutes long. In this case the parental material which is of a sheet shape is possible, however, for a massive and a continuous production drying and curing process must be done on-line. This research compared and analyzed the an oven type drying device and a traditional hot-air drying device. Considering the experiment result, the cell depth that shows low resistivity, which doesn't consider the pattern difference, is $31{\sim}33{\mu}m$. Also, oven drying system showed some resistivity after around 120 seconds of drying time, and showed much better performance in minimum resistivity compared to the hot-air drying system.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.104-105
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• 2007

In this study, characteristics of silver ink-jet printing were investigated under various substrate treatments such as substrate heating, hydrophobic coating, and ultraviolet(UV)/ozone soaking. Fluorocarbon(FC) film was spin-coated on the polyimide (PI) film substrate to obtain a hydrophobic surface. Although hydrophobicity of the FC film could reduce the diameter of the printed droplets, the singlet images printed on the FC film surface showed irregularities in the pattern size and the position of the printed droplet along with droplet merging phenomenon. The proposed UV/ozone soaking of the FC film improved the uniformity of the pattern size and the droplet position after printing and substrate heating was very effective way in preventing droplet merging. By heating of the substrate after UV/ozone soaking of the coated FC film, silver conductive lines of 78-116 ${\mu}m$ line were successfully printed at low substrate temperatures of $40^{\circ}C$.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.37 no.2C
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• pp.168-172
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• 2012

An UHF RFID tag is designed and fabricated using the national code in a bar-code with conductive ink. The bar-code sample was taken from a general bar-code from a general box. The conductivity of the conductive ink was measured, and the measured conductivity was used for the simulation tool to design the printed bar-code shape tag antenna. The tag antenna was fabricated using T-matching to reduce the size of the tag, and the bar-code tag antenna is recognized by both a general bar-code reader and an UHF RFID reader. The input reflection coefficient characteristic, the reading range pattern and the reading rate of the tag antenna are measured.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.476-481
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• 2012

Among the various roll-to-roll printing technologies such as gravure, gravure-offset, and reverse offset printing, reverse offset printing has the advantage of fine patterning, with less than 5 ${\mu}m$ line width. However, it involves complex processes, consisting of 1) the coating process, 2) the off process, 3) the patterning process, and 4) the set process of the ink. Each process demands various ink properties, including viscosity, surface tension, stickiness, and adhesion with substrate or clich$\acute{e}$; these properties are critical factors for the printing quality of fine patterning. In this study, Ag nano ink was developed for reverse offset printing and the effect of polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP), used as a capping agent of Ag nano particles, on the printing quality was investigated. Ag nano particles with a diameter of ~60 nm were synthesized using the conventional polyol synthesis process. Ethanol and ethylene glycol monopropyl ether(EGPE) were used together as the main solvent in order to control the drying and absorption of the solvents during the printing process. The rheological behavior, especially ink adhesion and stickiness, was controlled with washing processes that have an effect on the offset process and that played a critical role in the fine patterning. The electrical and thermal behaviors were analyzed according to the content of PVP in the Ag ink. Finally, an Ag mesh pattern with a line width of 10 ${\mu}m$ was printed using reverse offset printing; this printing showed an electrical resistivity of 36 ${\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ after sintering at $200^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.63-63
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• 2010

나노 구조를 제작은 나노 기술을 기반으로 하는 electronics, optoelectronics, sensing, ultra display등의 여러 분야에서 이용되고 있다. 특히 나노 구조를 갖는 금속 패터닝의 경우 전자빔 리소 그래피 (electron beam lithography)나 레이저 패터닝(laser patterning)과 같은 방법들이 많이 사용되고 있다. 하지만 공정이 복잡하고 그로 인해 공정 비용이 많이 든다는 단점이 있었다. 나노 임프린트 리소그래피 기술은 master mold 표면의 나노 패턴을 가열, 가압 공정을 통해 기판 위의 고분자 레지스트 층으로 전사하는 기술이다. 이 기술은 간단한 공정을 통해 나노 패턴을 형성할 수 있는 기술이기 때용에 차세대 나노 패터닝 기술로써 각광받고 있다. 특히 이 기술은 레지스트 층과의 직접적인 접촉을 통해 나노 패턴을 형성하기 때문에 다양한 방법을 통해 기능성 나노 패턴을 직접적으로 형성할 수 있는 가능성을 지니고 있다. 본 연구는 novel meta1의 하나인 Ag 입자가 첨가된 ink solution를 master mold로부터 복제한 PDMS mold를 이용하여 다양한 구조의 나노 패턴을 만드는 방법에 대한 연구이다.