• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.203-207
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• 2021

This study presents the development of dielectric constant sensors to measure lubricant properties. The lubricant oil sensor is used to measure oil properties and machine conditions. Various condition monitoring methods are applied to diagnose machine conditions. Machine condition monitoring using oil sensors has advantage over other machine condition monitoring methods. The fault conditions can be noticed at the early stages by the detection of wear particles using oil sensors. Therefore, it provides an early warning in the failure procedure. A variety of oil sensors are applied to check the machine condition. Among all oil sensors, only one sensor can measure the tendency of several properties such as acidity and water content. A dielectric constant sensor is also used to measure various oil properties; therefore, it is very useful. The dielectric constant is the ratio of the capacitance of a capacitor using that material as a dielectric to that of a similar capacitor using vacuum as its dielectric. The dielectric constant has an effect on water content, contaminants, base oil, additive, and so forth. In this study, the dielectric constant sensor is fabricated using MEMS process. In the fabrication process, the shape, gap of the electrode array, and thickness of the insulation material are considered to improve the sensitivity of the sensor.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.137-144
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• 2023

Micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) and precision machines require excellent friction and wear characteristics to improve energy efficiency generated during sliding motion. In this study, DLC thin film with high hardness and low friction was deposited on STS304 substrate material by CVD method, and dot-shaped convex and concave micropatterns were fabricated by photolithography process. The diameter of the pattern was 20 ㎛, the pitch was 40 ㎛, and a pattern having a mesh type arrangement was fabricated and an abrasion test was performed. The results of the wear test on the micro pattern confirmed that the friction coefficient characteristics were improved compared to STS 304 and DLC thin films. In addition, in this result, the micro-pattern showed 11.4% more improved friction coefficient than the DLC thin film. The friction coefficient characteristics for convex and concave patterns of the same size showed almost similar results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.573-580
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• 2004

The main goal of this study was to develop a micro-fabrication process for the capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT). In order to achieve this goal, the former research results of the micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) process for the cMUT were analyzed. The membrane deposition, sacrificial layer deposition and etching were found to be a main process of fabricating the cMUT. The optimal conditions for those microfabrication were determined by the experiment. The thickness, uniformity, and residual stress of the $Si_3N_3$ deposition which forms the membrane of the cMUT were characterized after growing the $Si_3N_3$ on Si-wafer under various process conditions. As a sacrificial layer, the growth rate of the $SiO_2$ deposition was analyzed under several process conditions. The optimal etching conditions of the sacrificial layer were analyzed. The microfabrication process developed in this study will be used to fabricate the cMUT.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.6 s.183
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• pp.166-173
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• 2006

In this study, a probe array has been developed for use in a data storage device that is based on scanning probe microscope (SPM) and MEMS technology. When recording data bits by poling the PZT thin layer and reading them by sensing its piezoresponse, commercial probes of which the tip heights are typically shorter than $3{\mu}m$ raise a problem due to the electrostatic forces occurring between the probe body and the bottom electrode of a medium. In order to reduce this undesirable effect, a poly-silicon probe with a high aspect-ratio tip was fabricated using a molding technique. Poly-silicon probes fabricated by the molding technique have several features. The tip can be protected during the subsequent fabrication processes and have a high aspect ratio. The tip radius can be as small as 15 nm because sharpening oxidation process is allowed. To drive the probe, electrostatic actuation mechanism was employed since the fabrication process and driving/sensing circuit is very simple. The natural frequency and DC sensitivity of a fabricated probe were measured to be 18.75 kHz and 16.7 nm/V, respectively. The step response characteristic was investigated as well. Overshoot behavior in the probe movement was hardly observed because of large squeeze film air damping forces. Therefore, the probe fabricated in this study is considered to be very useful in probe-based data storages since it can stably approach toward the medium and be more robust against external shock.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.379-384
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• 2015

An infrared image sensor is a core device in a thermal imaging system. The fabrication method of a focal plane array (FPA) is a key technology for a high resolution infrared image sensor. Each pixels in the FPA have $Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ membranes including legs to deposit bolometric materials and electrodes on Si readout circuits (ROIC). Instead of polyimide used to form a sacrificial layer, the feasibility of an amorphous silicon (${\alpha}-Si$) was verified experimentally in a $8{\times}8$ micro-bolometer array with a $50{\mu}m$ pitch. The elimination of the polyimide sacrificial layer hardened by a following plasma assisted deposition process is sometimes far from perfect, and thus requires longer plasma ashing times leading to the deformation of the membrane and leg. Since the amorphous Si could be removed in $XeF_2$ gas at room temperature, however, the fabricated micro-bolomertic structure was not damaged seriously. A radio frequency (RF) sputtered nickel oxide film was grown on a $Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ membrane fabricated using a low stress silicon nitride (LSSiN) technology with a LPCVD system. The deformation of the membrane was effectively reduced by a combining the ${\alpha}-Si$ and LSSiN process for a nickel oxide micro-bolometer.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.477-485
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• 2005

This paper is concerned with the development of a micro tensile testing machine for optically functional materials such as single or poly crystalline silicon and nickel film. This micro tensile tester has been developed for testing various types of materials and dimensions. PZT type actuation is utilized for precise displacement control. The specifications of the PZT actuated micro tensile testers developed are as follows: the volumetric size of the tester is desktop type of 710mm' 200mm' 270mm; the maximum load capacity and the load resolution in this system are IKgf and 0.0152mgf respectively and; the full stroke and the stoke resolution of the PZT actuator are $1000{\mu}m$ and 10nm respectively. Special automatic specimen installing and setting equipment is applied in order to prevent unexpected deformation and misalignment of specimens during handling of specimens for testing. Nonlinearity of the PZT actuator is compensated to linear control input by an inverse compensation method that is proposed in this paper. The strain data is obtained by ISDG method that uses the laser interference phenomenon. To test the reliance of this micro tensile testing machine, a $200{\mu}m$ thickness nickel thin film and SCS (Single Crystalline Silicon) material that is made with the MEMS fabrication process are used.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 1999

Micro polysilicon actuators, which are widely used in the field of MEMS (Microelectromechanical System) technology, were fabricated using polysilicon thin layers. Polysilicon deposition were carried out to have symmetrical layer structures with a LPCVD (Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition) system, and we have measured physical characteristics by micro test patterns, such as bridges and cantilevers to verify minimal mechanical stress and stress gradient in the polysilicon layers according to the methods of mutilayer deposition, doping, and thermal treatment, also, analyzed the properties of each specimen, which have a different process condition, by XRD, and SIMS etc.. Finally, the fabricated planar polysilicon resonator, symmetrically stacked to $6.5{\mu}m$ thickness, showed Q of 1270 and oscillation ampitude of $5{\mu}m$ under DC 15V, AC 0.05V, and 1000 mtorr pressure. The developed micro polysilicon resonator can be utilized to micro gyroscope and accelerometer sensor.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.131-131
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• 2003

Surface micromachined uncooled IR detector with the optimized VOx bolometric layer was fabricated based on sandwich structure of the V$_2$O$_{5}$V/V$_2$O$_{5}$. In order to improve the detectivity of the IR detector, we optimized a few factors in the viewpoint of bolometric material. Vanadium oxide thin film is a promising material for uncooled microbolometers due to its high temperature coefficient of resistance at room temperature. It is, however, very difficult to deposit vanadium oxide thin films having high temperature coefficient of resistance and low resistance because of process limits in microbolometer fabrication. In order to increase the responsivity and decrease noise, we increase TCR of bolometric material and decrease room temperature resistance based on the sandwich structure of the V$_2$O$_{5}$V/V$_2$O$_{5}$ by conventional sputter. By oxygen diffusion through low temperature annealing of V$_2$O$_{5}$V/V$_2$O$_{5}$ in oxygen ambient, various mixed phase vanadium oxide was formed and we obtained TCR in range of-1.2 ~-2.6%/$^{\circ}C$ at room temperature resistance of 5~100k$\Omega$.mega$.

• KIEE International Transactions on Electrophysics and Applications
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• v.4C no.5
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• pp.241-246
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• 2004

In this paper, we present a novel integrated cell processor to handle individual embryos. Its functions are composed of transporting, isolation, orientation, and immobilization of cells. These functions are essential for biomanipulation of single cells, and have been typically carried out by a proficient operator. The purpose of this study is the automation of these functions for safe and effective cell manipulation using a MEMS based cell processor. This device is realized with a relatively simple design and fabrication process. Experimental results indicate that it can act as an efficient substitute for essential but very tiresome and repetitive manual work while contributing significantly to the improvement of speed and success rate of operation by facilitating cell manipulation. The cell viability test for the device is studied through the distribution of mitochondria in mice embryos and cultivation of cells for 86h.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.685-694
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• 2016

A surface micromachined piezoresistive pressure sensor with a novel internal substrate vacuum cavity was developed. The proposed internal substrate vacuum cavity is formed by selectively etching the silicon substrate under the sensing diaphragm. For the proposed cavity, a new fabrication process including a cavity side-wall formation, dry isotropic cavity etching, and cavity vacuum sealing was developed that is fully CMOS-compatible, low in cost, and reliable. The sensitivity of the fabricated pressure sensors is 2.80 mV/V/bar and 3.46 mV/V/bar for a rectangular and circular diaphragm, respectively, and the linearity is 0.39% and 0.16% for these two diaphragms. The temperature coefficient of the resistances of the polysilicon piezoresistor is 0.003% to 0.005% per degree of Celsius according to the sensor design. The temperature coefficient of the offset voltage at 1 atm is 0.0019 mV and 0.0051 mV per degree of Celsius for a rectangular and circular diaphragm, respectively. The measurement results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed pressure sensor as a highly sensitive circuit-integrated pressure sensor.