• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.84-90
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• 2024

This study investigates the effect of the surface microstructure on the tribological characteristics of glass substrates. Chemical etching using hydrofluoric acid and ammonium hydrogen fluoride was employed to create controlled asperity structures on glass surfaces. By varying the etching time from 10 to 50 min, different surface morphologies were obtained and characterized using optical microscopy, surface roughness measurements, and water contact angle analysis. Friction tests were performed using a stainless steel ball as the counter surface to evaluate the tribological behavior of the etched specimens. The results showed that the specimen etched for 20 min exhibited the lowest and most stable friction coefficient, which was attributed to the formation of a uniform and dense asperity structure that effectively reduced the stress concentration and wear at the contact interface. In contrast, specimens etched for shorter (10 min) or longer (30-50 min) durations displayed higher friction coefficients and accelerated wear owing to nonuniform asperity structures that led to local stress concentration. Optical microscopy of the wear tracks further confirmed the superior wear resistance of the 20-minute etched specimen. These findings highlight the importance of optimizing the etching process parameters to achieve the desired surface morphology for enhanced tribological performance, suggesting the potential of chemical etching as a surface modification technique for various materials in tribological applications.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.49.1-49.1
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• 2010

The particle generation during the plasma enhanced process is highly considered as serious problem in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The material for the plasma processing chamber requires the plasma etching characteristics which are homogeneously etched surface and low plasma etching depth for preventing particulate contamination and high durability. We found that the materials without grain boundaries can prevent the particle generation. Therefore, the amorphous material with the low plasma etching rate may be the best candidate for the plasma processing chamber instead of the polycrystalline materials such as yttria and alumina. Three glasses based on $SiO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ were prepared with various rare-earth elements (Gd, Y and La) which are same content in the glass. The glasses were plasma etched in the same condition and their plasma etching rate was compared including reference materials such as Si-wafer, quartz, yttria and alumina. The mechanical and thermal properties of the glasses were highly related with cationic field strength (CFS) of the rare-earth elements. We assumed that the plasma etching resistance may highly contributed by the thermal properties of the fluorine byproducts generated during the plasma exposure and it is expected that the Gd containing glass may have the highest plasma etching resistance due to the highest sublimation temperature of $GdF_3$ among three rare-earth elements (Gd, Y and La). However, it is found that the plasma etching results is highly related with the mechanical property of the glasses which indicates the cationic field strength. From the result, we conclude that the glass structure should be analyzed and the plasma etching test should be conducted with different condition in the future to understand the plasma etching behavior of the glasses perfectly.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.402-407
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• 2019

Water electrolysis is known as the most sustainable and clean technology to produce hydrogen gas, however, a serious drawback to commercialize this technology is due to the slow kinetics in oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Thus, we report on the nanoporous IrNi thin film that reveals a markedly enhanced OER activity, which is attained through a selective etching of Os from the IrNiOs alloy thin film. Interestingly, electrochemical selective etching of Os leads to the formation of 3-dimensionally interconnected nanoporous structure providing a high electrochemical surface area (ECSA, 80.8 ㎠), which is 90 fold higher than a bulk Ir surface (0.9 ㎠). The overpotential at the nanoporous IrNi electrode is markedly lowered to be 289 mV at 10 mA cm^-2, compared with bulk Ir (375 mV at 10 mA cm^-2). The nanoporous IrNi prepared through the selective de-alloying of Os is promising as the anode material for a water electrolyzer.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.206-211
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• 2015

We investigated the formation of a nanopyramidal structure and fabricated nanotextured Si solar cells using an Ag metal-assisted chemical etching process. The nanopyramidal structure was formed on a Si flat surface and the nanotexturing process was performed on the p-type microtextured Si surface. The nanostructural formation shows a transition from nanopits and nanopores to nanowires with etching time. The nanotextured surfaces also showed the photoluminescence spectra with an enhanced intensity in the wavelength range of 1,100~1,250 nm. The photoreflectance of the nanotextured Si solar cells was strongly reduced in the wavelength range of 337~596 nm. However, the quantum efficiency is decreased in the nanotextured samples due to the increased nanosurface recombination. The nanotexturing process provides a better p-n junction impedance of the nanotextured cells, resulting in an enhanced shunt resistance and fill factor which in turn renders the possibility of the increased conversion efficiency.

• Clean Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.101-105
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• 2003

Plasma etching technology has been developed since it is recognized that silicon etching is very crucial in MEMS(Micro Electro Mechanical System) technology. In this study ICP(Inductive Coupled Plasma) technology was used as a new plasma etching to increase ion density without increasing ion energy, and to maintain the etching directions. This plasma etching can be used for many MEMS applications, but it has been used for PCR(Polymerase Chain Reaction) device fabrication. Platen power, Coil power and process pressure were parameters for observing the etching rate changes. Conclusively Platen power 12W, Coil power 500W, etchng/passivation cycle 6/7sec gives the etching rate of $1.2{\mu}m/min$ and sidewall profile of $90{\pm}0.7^{\circ}$, exclusively. It was concluded from this study that it was possible to minimize the environmental effect by optimizing the etching process using SF6 gas.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.38-43
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• 2019

Electrochemical etching is a popular process to apply metal patterning in various industries. In this study, the electrochemical etching using a patterned copper layer was proposed to fabricate multilayered structures. The process consists of electrodeposition, laser patterning, and electrochemical etching, and a repetition of this process enables the production of multilayered structures. In the fabrication of a multilayered structure, an etch factor that reflects the etched depth and pattern size should be considered. Hence, the etch factor in the electrochemical etching process using the copper layer was calculated. After the repetition process of electrochemical etching using copper layers, the surface characteristics of the workpiece were analyzed by EDS analysis and surface profilometer. As a result, multilayered structures with various shapes were successfully fabricated via electrochemical etching using copper layers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.638-643
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• 2013

Laser beam machining (LBM) is fast, contactless and able to machine various materials. So it is used to cut metal, drill holes, weld or pattern the imprinted surface. However, after LBM, there still leave burrs and recast layers around the machined area. In order to remove these unwanted parts, LBM process often uses electrochemical etching (ECE). But, the total thickness of workpiece is reduced because the etching process removes not only burrs and recast layers, but also the entire surface. In this paper, surface coating was performed using enamel after LBM on metal. The recast layer can be selectively removed without decreasing total thickness. Comparing with LBM process only, the surface quality of enamel coating process was better than that. And edge shape was also maintained after ECE.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.1 s.256
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• pp.50-54
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• 2007

Nickel nano and microstructures are fabricated with simple process. The fabrication process consists of nickel deposition, lithography, nickel ion etching and plasma ashing. Well-aligned nickel nanowalls and nickel self-encapsulated microchannels were fabricated. We found that the ion etching condition as a key fabrication process of nickel nanowalls and self-encapsulated microchannels, i.e., 40 sccm Ar flow, 550 W RF power, 15 mTorr working pressure, and $20^{\circ}C$ water cooled platen without using He backside cooling unit and with using it, respectively. We present the experimental results and discuss the formational conditions and the effect of nickel redeposition on the fabrication of nickel nano and microstructures.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.225-234
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• 1993

Titanium nitride coatings were deposited onto SUS304 stainless steel substrates pretreated by mechanical scrubbing, chemical etching at 50% HCl solution and Ar ion etching. Adhesion strength were measured by scratch tester and confirmed by SEM with EDS. Adhesion strength of Ar ion etched substrate was 10 to 15 times higher than that of mechanical scrubbed or chemical etched substrate. Ar ion etching brought about an uniform and fine spherical shaped surface, while chemical etching gave rise to a rough and irregular surface on SEM micrograph. It was suggested that higher adhesion strength might be caused by anchoring effect of Ar ion etched surface prior to TiN deposition.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.46-49
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• 2005

Recently, many research results have been reported about nano-tip using carbon nanotube because of its better sensing ability compared to a conventional silicon tip. However, it is very difficult to identify the carbon nanotube having proper length for nano-tip and to attach it on a conventional tip. In this paper, a new method is proposed to make a nano-tip and to control its length. The electrochemical etching method was used to control the length by cutting the carbon nanotube of arbitrary length and it was possible to monitor the process through current measurement. The etched volume of carbon nanotube was determined by the amount of applied charge. The carbon nanotube was successfully cut and could be used in the nanogripper.