• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 2023

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has attracted much attention due to its process simplicity, excellent patternability, process scalability, high productivity, and low processing cost for pattern formation. However, the pattern size that can be implemented on metal materials through conventional NIL technologies is generally limited to the micro level. Here, we introduce a novel hard imprint lithography method, extreme-pressure imprint lithography (EPIL), for the direct nano-to-microscale pattern formation on the surfaces of metal substrates with various thicknesses. The EPIL process allows reliable nanoscopic patterning on diverse surfaces, such as polymers, metals, and ceramics, without the use of ultraviolet (UV) light, laser, imprint resist, or electrical pulse. Micro/nano molds fabricated by laser micromachining and conventional photolithography are utilized for the nanopatterning of Al substrates through precise plastic deformation by applying high load or pressure at room temperature. We demonstrate micro/nanoscale pattern formation on the Al substrates with various thicknesses from 20 ㎛ to 100 mm. Moreover, we also show how to obtain controllable pattern structures on the surface of metallic materials via the versatile EPIL technique. We expect that this imprint lithography-based new approach will be applied to other emerging nanofabrication methods for various device applications with complex geometries on the surface of metallic materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.254-255
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• 2012

Interest in nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films has been growing because of their favorable processing conditions for certain electronic devices. In particular, there has been an increase in the use of nc-Si thin films in photovoltaics for large solar cell panels and in thin film transistors for large flat panel displays. One of the most important material properties for these device applications is the macroscopic charge-carrier mobility. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) or nc-Si is a basic material in thin film transistors (TFTs). However, a-Si:H based devices have low carrier mobility and bias instability due to their metastable properties. The large number of trap sites and incomplete hydrogen passivation of a-Si:H film produce limited carrier transport. The basic electrical properties, including the carrier mobility and stability, of nc-Si TFTs might be superior to those of a-Si:H thin film. However, typical nc-Si thin films tend to have mobilities similar to a-Si films, although changes in the processing conditions can enhance the mobility. In polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films, the performance of the devices is strongly influenced by the boundaries between neighboring crystalline grains. These grain boundaries limit the conductance of macroscopic regions comprised of multiple grains. In much of the work on poly-Si thin films, it was shown that the performance of TFTs was largely determined by the number and location of the grain boundaries within the channel. Hence, efforts were made to reduce the total number of grain boundaries by increasing the average grain size. However, even a small number of grain boundaries can significantly reduce the macroscopic charge carrier mobility. The nano-crystalline or polymorphous-Si development for TFT and solar cells have been employed to compensate for disadvantage inherent to a-Si and micro-crystalline silicon (${\mu}$-Si). Recently, a novel process for deposition of nano-crystralline silicon (nc-Si) thin films at room temperature was developed using neutral beam assisted chemical vapor deposition (NBaCVD) with a neutral particle beam (NPB) source, which controls the energy of incident neutral particles in the range of 1~300 eV in order to enhance the atomic activation and crystalline of thin films at room temperature. In previous our experiments, we verified favorable properties of nc-Si thin films for certain electronic devices. During the formation of the nc-Si thin films by the NBaCVD with various process conditions, NPB energy directly controlled by the reflector bias and effectively increased crystal fraction (~80%) by uniformly distributed nc grains with 3~10 nm size. The more resent work on nc-Si thin film transistors (TFT) was done. We identified the performance of nc-Si TFT active channeal layers. The dependence of the performance of nc-Si TFT on the primary process parameters is explored. Raman, FT-IR and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to study the microstructures and the crystalline volume fraction of nc-Si films. The electric properties were investigated on Cr/SiO2/nc-Si metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1838-1843
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• 2014

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) fabrication process is regarded as the main alternative to existing expensive photo-lithography in areas such as micro- and nano-electronics including optical components and sensors, as well as the solar cell and display device industries. Functional patterns, including anti-reflective moth-eye pattern, photonic crystal pattern, fabricated by NIL can improve the overall efficiency of such devices. To successfully imprint a nano-sized pattern, the process conditions such as temperature, pressure, and time should be appropriately selected. In this paper, a cavity-filling process of the moth-eye pattern during the thermal-NIL within the temperature range, where the polymer resist shows the viscoelastic behaviors with consideration of stress relaxation effect of the polymer, were investigated with three-dimensional finite element analysis. The effects of initial thickness of polymer resist and imprinting pressure on cavity-filling process has been discussed. From the analysis results it was found that the cavity filling can be completed within 100 s, under the pressure of more than 4 MPa.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2014

Li-air cell is an exotic type of energy storage and conversion device considered to be half battery and half fuel cell. Its successful commercialization highly depends on the timely development of key components. Among these key components, the catalyst (i.e., the core portion of the air electrode) is of critical importance and of the upmost priority. Indeed, it is expected that these catalysts will have a direct and dramatic impact on the Li-air cell's performance by reducing overpotentials, as well as by enhancing the overall capacity and cycle life of Li-air cells. Unfortunately, the technological advancement related to catalysts is sluggish at present. Based on the insights gained from this review, this sluggishness is due to challenges in both the commercialization of the catalyst, and the fundamental studies pertaining to its development. Challenges in the commercialization of the catalyst can be summarized as 1) the identification of superior materials for Li-air cell catalysts, 2) the development of fundamental, material-based assessments for potential catalyst materials, 3) the achievement of a reduction in both cost and time concerning the design of the Li-air cell catalysts. As for the challenges concerning the fundamental studies of Li-air cell catalysts, they are 1) the development of experimental techniques for determining both the nano and micro structure of catalysts, 2) the attainment of both repeatable and verifiable experimental characteristics of catalyst degradation, 3) the development of the predictive capability pertaining to the performance of the catalyst using fundamental material properties. Therefore, under the current circumstances, it is going to be an extremely daunting task to develop appropriate catalysts for the commercialization of Li-air batteries; at least within the foreseeable future. Regardless, nano materials are expected to play a crucial role in this field.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.635-643
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• 2016

Graphene has shown exceptional properties for high performance devices due to its high carrier mobility. Of particular interest is the potential use of graphene nanoribbons as field-effect transistors. Herein, we introduce a facile approach to the fabrication of graphene nanoribbon (GNR) arrays with ~200 nm width using nanoimprint lithography (NIL), which is a simple and robust method for patterning with high fidelity over a large area. To realize a 2D material-based device, we integrated the graphene nanoribbon arrays in field effect transistors (GNR-FETs) using conventional lithography and metallization on highly-doped $Si/SiO_2$ substrate. Consequently, we observed an enhancement of the performance of the GNR-transistors compared to that of the micro-ribbon graphene transistors. Besides this, using a transfer printing process on a flexible polymeric substrate, we demonstrated graphene-silicon junction structures that use CVD grown graphene as flexible electrodes for Si based transistors.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.254-259
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• 2013

Herein we present a diagnostic paper chip that can quantitatively detect albumin without external electronic reader and dispensing apparatus. We fabricated a diagnostic paper chip device by printing wax barrier on the paper and wicking it with citrate buffer and tetrabromophenol blue to detect albumin in sample solution. The paper chip is so simple that we dropped a sample solution at sample pad and measure the ratio of two travel distances of the sample solvent and albumin under the name of retention factor. Our result confirmed that the retention factor was constant in the samples with same concentration of albumin and useful determinant for the measurement of albumin concentration. The paper chip is affordable and equipment-free, and close to ideal point-of-care test in accordance with the assured criteria, outlined by the World Health Organization. We assume that this diagnostic paper chip will expand the concept of colorimetric determination and provide a inexpensive diagnostic method to aging society and developing country.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2010

Three-dimensional (3-D) integration is an emerging technology, which vertically stacks and interconnects multiple materials, technologies, and functional components such as processor, memory, sensors, logic, analog, and power ICs into one stacked chip to form highly integrated micro-nano systems. Since CMOS device scaling has stalled, 3D integration technology allows extending Moore's law to ever high density, higher functionality, higher performance, and more diversed materials and devices to be integrated with lower cost. The potential benefits of 3D integration can vary depending on approach; increased multifunctionality, increased performance, increased data bandwidth, reduced power, small form factor, reduced packaging volume, increased yield and reliability, flexible heterogeneous integration, and reduced overall costs. It is expected that the semiconductor industry's paradiam will be shift to a new industry-fusing technology era that will offer tremendous global opportunities for expanded use of 3D based technologies in highly integrated systems. Anticipated applications start with memory, handheld devices, and high-performance computers and extend to high-density multifunctional heterogeneous integration of IT-NT-BT systems. This paper attempts to introduce new 3D integration technologies of the chip self-assembling stacking and 3D heterogeneous opto-electronics integration for realizng the super-chip.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.394-394
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• 2009

Water solubility of conjugated polymers may offer many applications. Potential applications of water-soluble conjugated polymers include the polymer light-emitting diode and new materials for nano and micro hollow-capsules, and bio- or chemo-sensors. We synthesized neutral polyfluorenes containing bromo-alkyl groups by the palladium catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction. Bromo-alkyl side groups in neutral polyfluorenes were quaternized by tri-methyl amine solution. The electrochemical and optical properties of water-soluble conjugated polymers are discussed. This novel synthesized water-soluble conjugated polymers were used as a interfacial dipole layer between active layer and metal cathode in polymer solar cell for enhancement of open-circuit voltage (Voc), which is one of the most critical factors in determining device characteristics. We also investigated the device performance of polymer solar cell with different metal cathode such as Al, Ag, Au and Cu. In polymer solar cell, novel cationic water-soluble conjugated polymers were inserted between active layer and high-work function cathode (Al, Ag, Au and Cu).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.332-336
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• 2009

When NCAs(non-conductive adhesives) are used for adhesion of micro-electronic devices, they often show problems such as delamination and cracking, due to the differences of CTE(coefficients of thermal expansion) between NCAs and substrates. Additions of inorganic particles or flexibilizers have been performed to solve those problems. The effects of silica addition on thermal/mechanical properties of amino modified siloxane(AMS)/silica/epoxy-nanocomposites were examined. The silica was treated by 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane(GPTMS) for better compatibility between silica and epoxy matrix. AMS/silica/epoxy-nanocomposites filled with various amounts of AMS(1 and 3 phr) and various amounts of silica(3, 5 and 7 phr) were prepared. And Tg, moduli and CTE of nanocomposites were analyzed. Tg of AMS/Aerosil(non-modified silica)/epoxy-nanocomposites decreased from 125 to $118^{\circ}C$ with increasing Aerosil contents and moduli increased from 2,225 to 2,523 MPa with increasing Aerosil contents. Tg of AMS/M-silica (modified silica)/epoxy-nanocomposites decreased from 124 to $120^{\circ}C$ with increasing M-silica contents and moduli increased from 1,981 to 2,743 MPa with increasing M-silica contents. CTE of AMS/Aerosil/epoxy-nanocomposites and AMS/M-silica/epoxy-nanocomposites showed decreasing tendency regardless of the surface treatments.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 2009

There has been a rapid progress for flexible polymer-based MEMS(Microelectromechanical Systems) technology. Polycarbonate (PC) and Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA), so-called acrylic, have many advantages for optical, non-toxic and micro-device application. We studied dry etching of PC and PMMA as a function of % gas ratio in the $O_2/SF_6/CH_4$ temary plasma. A photoresist pattern was defined on the polymer samples with a mask using a conventional lithography. Plasma etching was done at 100 W RIE chuck power and 10 sccm total gas flow rate. The etch rates of PMMA were typically 2 times higher than those of PC in the whole experimental range. The result would be related to higher melting point of PC compared to that of PMMA. The highest etch rates of PMMA and PC were found in the $O_2/SF_6$ discharges among $O_2/SF_6$, $O_2/CH_4$ and $SF_6/CH_4$ and $O_2/SF_6/CH_4$ plasma composition (PC: ${\sim}350\;nm/min$ at 5 sccm $O_2/5$ sccm $SF_6$, PMMA: ${\sim}570\;nm/min$ at 2.5 sccm $O_2/7.5$ sccm $SF_6$). PC has smoother surface morphology than PMMA after etching in the $O_2/SF_6/CH_4$ discharges. The surface roughness of PC was in the range of 1.9$\sim$3.88 nm. However, that of PMMA was 17.3$\sim$26.1 nm.